Message Fail: The Sinking Hippies

Over at IFC’s blog yesterday, Vadim Rizov analyzed why Pirate Radio tanked. The trailer looked fun to me, but I worked in radio for twelve years.

He gives five reasons for the sinking ship of a film. The third one smacked me like a weed-covered shovel:

3. People are tired of self-congratulatory baby boomers.

Remember when “Taking Woodstock” tanked earlier this year and Ang Lee was all like “I am very confused by the failure of my movie”? Let us note, now and forever, that audiences under fifty — i.e., much of the prime moviegoing public — are sick and tired of hearing about how the baby boomers changed the world, saved rock ‘n roll et al. I know this is a cliché, but that’s because it’s true. So stop making movies about it.

This theme repeats itself over and over again in the Wizard of Ads study of generational shifting called the Pendulum.

If you’re very confused by the failure of your movie or your marketing, I can show you what’s changed and why in about an hour.

(Thanks to Eric Rhoads for the heads up.)