Thursday, June 16, 2011

THERE ARE RICH TEAMS, AND THEN THERE ARE POOR TEAMS: Moneyball, the trailer:


(Dan Fienberg tweets: "If the secret weapon of your presumptive blockbuster is SCOTT HATTEBERG, you've got issues.")

19 comments:

  1. Duvall4:22 PM

    According to the film's IMDB page, I could roughly 97 actors as appearing in this film, including Kerry Wing, who plays "Upscale Fan (uncredited)."

    There is no listing for anyone playing Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder or Barry Zito.

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  2. Maret4:25 PM

    The filmed for a couple days at our office. There were constant emails tracking Brad Pitt throughout the building. And you can see one of our parking garages briefly in the trailer.

    I think it looks pretty good, but I have automatic goodwill for sports films and Sorkin, so maybe I'm biased?

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  3. Duvall4:27 PM

    <span>According to the film's IMDB page, I count roughly 97 actors as appearing in this film, including Kerry Wing, who plays "Upscale Fan (uncredited)."  
     
    There is no listing for anyone playing Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder or Barry Zito.</span>

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  4. The biggest problem I see with the trailer is that it does nothing to broaden the audience.  There's a (not insubstantial) audience that's interested in seeing a movie based on Moneyball (largely those who've read the book already).  Who else does this appeal to?  I don't see it bringing in "Brad Pitt fans," who may be turned off by the stats/baseball element, and no one else in the cast can really open a movie on their own.

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  5. Who wants to see a movie about Facebook?  Are there any "Jesse Eisenberg fans"?

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  6. Maret7:16 PM

    I see two audiences (at least based on my knowledge of Moneyball and on this first trailer): Moneyball fans, and fans of sports movies. This trailer plays down the stats stuff and plays up the underdog sports theme. I see it sort of like The Blind Side. That movie combined fans of Sandra Bullock who like her smart and sassy, and fans of the inspirational sports film. Looks like Moneyball people are trying a similar tactic. 

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  7. Third audience: Aaron Sorkin fans. Seriously. It was the main reason I saw The Social Network. In fact, my appreciation of Sorkin's writing and willingness to check out pretty much anything he writes overrides my dislike of Brad Pitt. 

    Admittedly, I'm also a sucker for any kind of inspirational/underdog sports movie and I think you're right, Maret, when you say that's how it's being marketed (at least based on this trailer). 

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  8. Joseph J. Finn7:53 PM

    Did they film at Kauffman? <span> </span> It's just that it's not the ....prettiest of fields.

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  9. Maybe this movie will make me at least tolerate Jonah HIll.

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  10. Dan Suitor11:37 PM

    I'm just upset they scrapped the Paul DePodesta character that Demetri Martin(!) was supposed to play in favor of a standard composite fat-nerdy-guy buddy to follow Brad Pitt around. Not that I don't like Jonah Hill (I do), but I really thought Martin deserved a break like this.

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  11. DePodesta asked that his name not be used in the film.  Martin left the film after Soderbergh did.

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  12. Marsha9:27 AM

    [My comment from yesterday apparently got eaten.}

    This is a baseball movie, and therefore I will see it. The fact that it seems to be a baseball movie that rewards understanding baseball and caring about baseball statistics only makes me want to see it more. (Yes, I know they will water it all down for the masses. I don't care.)

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  13. Genevieve9:39 AM

    Not having read the book yet (and therefore not having expectations other than 'Why wouldn't include the part about Youk?', I can say that I'm going to like this movie, and the kiddo's going to looove it. But since most people don't spend as much time poring over stats and watching MLB Network as he does, I don't know that that says much for its blockbuster chances.

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  14. BeeFan10:18 AM

    The could easily have alienated the "audience that's interested in seeing a movie based on Moneyball (largely those who've read the book already)" you speak of.  If I'm representative of that group, they didn't.

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  15. Tosy and Cosh10:37 AM

    I'm just wondering if they deliberately cut the trailer so that the shadowed shot of Brad Pitt where he looks eerily like Robert Redford (that's who I thought was in the movie at first) falls at the midway point and is therefore the still image you see before you hit play.

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  16. Hobart10:47 AM

    RE: Fienberg's tweet, isn't that what people said about the A's that year?

    Also, picking up on Pitt and Redford, Clooney = Newman and Pitt = Redford for this generation right?

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  17. I actually had some Eisenberg goodwill stored up from Adventureland before I ever watched The Social Network (though I admittedly would have seen it anyway).

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  18. spacewoman6:45 PM

    They had me at "Oakland."

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  19. I don't know how many target audiences there are, but I must be in every one of them.  Can't wait.

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