Comments on: J.J. Abrams Defends His Secretive Approach To Marketing, Says He Wants To Preserve The ‘Special Experience’ Of Seeing A Film Fresh

By: Matt-S

Matt-S — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

I think exactly the same way that he does.
I hate watching trailers. It ruins the experince.

By: cinematic_high

cinematic_high — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

I love that about him and other directors like him. The less I know going into a movie, the better…..unless it's a fucking Rob Cohen or Uwe Boll movie…I'd rather know its shittiness up front.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

With 'Prometheus', there was a shroud of secrecy for a long time and then it was tracking poorly, they panicked and then started spilling stuff. But I digress…I like JJ Abrams a lot as both a filmmaker and a human being. But sometimes, the excessive secrecy does work against him, in my opinion. It's all about expectation management. For example, I think it's funny how many people will tell me they like to be surprised at the movies. But our most popular movies are books first — and if a filmmaker deviates from the book narrative — surprising the viewers — they get really upset. It reminds me of the marketing study where researchers replaced McDonald's hamburgers with top sirloin but didn't tell anyone. The sirloin got more complaints than the standard McDonald's burger. Why? Because it was different than what people were expecting, even though it was better quality. Although if you asked those same people whether they prefer McDonald's over sirloin, they're going to pick sirloin. This is a part of human nature and I think you have to be careful. In contrast to Abrams, Tarantino leaks his own scripts and loves that his die-hard fans read them even before shooting begins. I read Django 3 times. Did it ruin my experience? Not at all. For me, it deepened it. And I grant you that's not for everyone — I respect people who want to go in "spoiler-free." I just caution you that it isn't everything you might consciously think it is…

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

I like not knowing every beat and plot point walking into the movie theater. Good job, Abrams.

By: TheoC

TheoC — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

I love that Abrams does this, even if it underwhelms like Super 8. I got to see a blockbuster which I knew very little about, it's a novel experience these days.

The more I see of this he's go to be Khan or proto Khan or something.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 13 May 2016 10:49:17 +0000

I feel like Khan is the "Holy Grail" of Star Trek villains, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he doesn't appear until the third(presumably final) installment of the Star Trek films. Although, I could be wrong and maybe he is Khan, and his story will carry over to the third film.