2010, The Year We Make MORE Contact

In an interesting article by Gordon Paddison entitled Moviegoers 2010, the author cites a recent study intended for film marketers and explains how the Internet is mainly responsible for how people choose what movies to see. Traditional media and critics are becoming increasingly less likely to influence moviegoers and the Internet is their chief tool in learning more about a film that they are interested in. Furthermore, the opinion of their peers is an important factor in determining which movie they see, for better or worse. Audiences from age 13 to 49 spend a large amount of their time online and utilize various forms of technology for entertainment from TV, internet and mobile devices. Social networking sites and mobile to mobile communication are also very important as 'word of mouth' for younger audiences.

One unfortunate statistic was that teenagers tend to go to the movies in large groups. Thankfully, I tend to go to the movies at venues which have strict curfews.

Well, what does this have to do with my blog? If you're reading this, then it is statistically likely than your take my opinion into consideration when deciding to go out to a movie. If you happen to fall into this category, firstly I would like to thank you for reading and hope to continue to do so. Secondly, I am proud that you listen to my voice and would like to hear yours more often in any form of feedback. The thought that someone out there is reading my nonsense makes me want to write more of it.

However, if you are one of my movie blogging contemporaries, this study should be of far more importance than it is to the casual movie fan. As the shift from traditional media and critics continues, people who read our blogs and reviews will be more inclined to trust our opinions

more than anyone else. Most of us are already known amongst our friends as 'the movie guy/girl' and as our online readers grow, so will the number of people that will or will not see a movie based on your recommendation. Let's face it, movies such as Transformers 2 will remain critic proof, (the study backs this fact up as well.) but when deciding what else to see or what to see to avoid the lines and crowds they will likely be reading your site or a site like yours in order to help them choose. Remember that sites such as Ain't it Cool News and JoBlo.com started out as smaller sites run by one or two fans. I am not under the delusion that my little dog and pony show I call a blog is anywhere close to that caliber of a website, but some of your blogs that I read certainly have that potential. However, I get a ton of emails everyday from studios and independent filmmakers who are looking for any kind of write up on my site for their movie. I more often than not choose otherwise, but if it were a movie I was already interested in *coughShutterIslandcough then I might be more inclined to consider tickets to a screening or post a link to pictures or trailers.

So, in conclusion to my Jerry Maguire mission statement, the aforementioned article gave my cause for both hope and caution. Hope that someday what I write may be taken in by a much larger audience, who respect and value my opinion on film as a 'friend' rather than a 'critic'. And caution in that I try not to forget why I write and become the very reason that I started writing in the first place, which was to provide a my own unique take on movies.

Thanks for reading.