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There's a difference between a film series breaking out huge as a fad and one that creates a lasting legacy.

Posted by Reagen (aka Reagen) Nov 19 '09, 14:34

Twilight is obviously a major success but I don't see anyone caring 5, 10, 15 years from now. To me it's something more akin to a larger scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Responses:

You're kidding yourself if you think Twilight is going away. - David Nov 19, 14:54 52
- 5 years is probably on the low side on second thought, but I think you're both over estimating Twlilight's cultural impact and under estimating Star - Reagen Nov 19, 15:03 34
  - If/when Meyer writes more books in 10-15 years, do you honestly believe most of the fans will no longer care? -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:08 33
    - [deleted] 13
      - No, what I'm saying is that Star Wars gained unwarranted historical significance through a fluke...just like, well, you know. -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:27 12
        
        It's actually very similar to The Beatles in that they invented the playbook that everyone uses. - Reagen Nov 19, 15:29 11
        
        Although... I just last year saw utter madness when NKOTB came to town. That apparently never died either. -- nm - TFox Nov 19, 15:34 4
        
        My sister-in-law is *still* a huge NKOTB fan - she has bought backstage VIP experiences at least twice - Roger More Nov 19, 15:37 3
        
        She met Donnie Wahlberg?! -- nm - Will Hunting Nov 19, 15:38 2
        
        pleasepleaseplease let this be Will and not kelly... or, let it be kelly and not Will... - TFox Nov 19, 15:39 1
        
        I figure the only person who'd pay to go backstage 23 times would be one of the members. -- nm - Will Hunting Nov 19, 15:42
        
        I'm nodding in agreement but probably not for the reason you had intended. - David Nov 19, 15:31 4
        
        except your playbook doesn't get copied if there isn't something behind it. - Reagen Nov 19, 15:34 2
        
        No, it's about how the people accepted what you did next. - David Nov 19, 15:39
        
        A lot of movies could have been Star Wars, but there was never going to be another Beatles. nm - Dignan Nov 19, 15:38
        
        twilight is more like milli vanilli than nkotb, I think ... -- nm - Beryllium Nov 19, 15:32
        
        Now you've done it. nm - Dignan Nov 19, 15:31
    - The only adults still buying D&D materials are RC and his nerd friends. -- nm - Max Nov 19, 15:12
    - Yes, they'll have largely moved on. -- nm - Reagen Nov 19, 15:11 10
      - The problem here is that you're painting the fans as universally teens. I would estimate 70% of the fanbase is over 20. - David Nov 19, 15:15 9
        
        I'm actually not. - Reagen Nov 19, 15:19 6
        
        Wait... Mrs. Reagen almost has to use force to keep Twilight books out of her book club? - Dr.Vermin Nov 19, 15:28 3
        
        Regardless of age of the audience, it doesn't mean the books or stories will have any lasting cultural impact. - musubi Nov 19, 15:32
        
        That's... what I was using that anecdote to say, yes. -- nm - Reagen Nov 19, 15:31 1
        
        How is that evidence that fans are bound to move on? -- nm - Dr.Vermin Nov 19, 15:38
        
        When Old Moon opens in 2025, I'm going to remind you of this conversation. -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:26 1
        
        Blood Moon! -- nm - Beryllium Nov 19, 15:31
        
        I've never read the books, barely know the characters names, only saw the 1st movie once and laughed my ass off. And yet I'm going to the midnight - Hotkiss Nov 19, 15:18 1
        
        i totally get this. Event movies are fun just for the event. -- nm - Andie Nov 19, 15:20
    - not really. I suspect most of the teenage girls this appeals too, would have grown up by then. - Jovian Nov 19, 15:10
    - This goes along my belief that if JK Rowling writes more books in even just 5 years, fans will no longer care. -- nm - Hotkiss Nov 19, 15:09 5
      - If JK Rowling wrote a book about post office delivery practices in 10 years, it would sell 10 million copies the first day. -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:12 4
        
        Fans were in love with the characters and the magical world she weaved, not necessarily her specific style. -- nm - Hotkiss Nov 19, 15:13 3
        
        her next book will sell, no question. the book after *that* will depend on the next one. -- nm - Andie Nov 19, 15:14 1
        
        This is correct. To a larger point, it's hard for me to imagine any of her books not selling in that she is not just popular but gifted at her craft. -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:18
        
        true. But to your main point, if JK *ever* decides to continue the Potter books, they will all be best sellers. No question in my mind. -- nm - Jovian Nov 19, 15:14
- 12-15 years from now it will be a blip. -- nm - Spawn Nov 19, 15:01 1
  - A 3 minute segment on VH1's "I Love 2009." -- nm - Cuzzin Todd Nov 19, 15:11
- But the question is will Twilight last through a 2nd gen -- nm - eag Nov 19, 14:59
- it will die a very slow death like Saw -- nm - Jovian Nov 19, 14:58
- Do you really think it's going to create icons like Darth Vader? The John Williams score alone stands the test of time. Twilight is Romeo and Juliet - Max Nov 19, 14:56 10
  - Edward Cullen is just behind Harry Potter for character of the 2000s. - David Nov 19, 15:00 9
    - You're arguing against a point that no one's making. There's not one person that hasn't conceeded that this has been a huge money maker. - Reagen Nov 19, 15:08 7
      - Dude, he asked if it had a Darth Vader character. It does. Arguably, it has two since the werewolf is much beloved. - David Nov 19, 15:11 6
        
        But to become a lasting cultural legacy, you need that secondary reenforcement. Witness Dan Brown and the fall off from Da Vinci Code. - Reagen Nov 19, 15:18 1
        
        We're four books in and the series has concluded on Twilight, so I don't see your point. -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:19
        
        Transformers in 15 years is a 200mil dollar opener in 6 days and not much else. - Will Hunting Nov 19, 15:14 3
        
        It's the #9 film of all time. How is that anything but exemplary? -- nm - David Nov 19, 15:16 2
        
        You're confusing short-term exemplary with long-term IMPORTANT. - Will Hunting Nov 19, 15:19 1
        
        Toy sales are toy sales. Important is a funny word to use in lieu of lucky, which is the point to all of this. - David Nov 19, 15:23
    - it is like the 300 of vampire movies, except for chicks! nm -- nm - groiny Nov 19, 15:02
- [deleted]
- I think it doesn't go away, though I think it might eventually be more comparable to Rocky Horror Picture Show than Star Wars. - Callisto Nov 19, 14:55
Ok so does Harry Potter and LOTR fit into that same category? -- nm - eag Nov 19, 14:41 5
- LOTR certainly has a lasting legacy - it has had fans since the books came out. - Roger More Nov 19, 14:42 1
  - Plus the HP franchise I think has been handled better than the Twilight franchise - eag Nov 19, 14:50
- [deleted] 2
  - Harry Potter is an apt comparison, because what strikes me about Twilight is how the kids and so many parents (mostly moms) are into it. -- nm - Dr.Vermin Nov 19, 14:58
  - [deleted]
Also, the original Star Wars trilogy had to build its own fanbase from scratch. - Dignan Nov 19, 14:39 12
- Disney sci-fi was a novel concept that was easily marketable. Twilight had to stand out in a saturated market of gothic romance stories. - David Nov 19, 14:57 5
  - I'm simply saying that the movie dies on the vine without the established book audience. nm - Dignan Nov 19, 15:01 2
    - Star Wars had the benefit of an exponentially easier marketplace. Every theater in the country wanted to run it for a year. That doesn't happen now. - David Nov 19, 15:06 1
      - I'm not knocking the success of the books. - Dignan Nov 19, 15:15
  - Did the first movie's worldwide numbers outpace domestic by that much? -- nm - Beryllium Nov 19, 14:59 1
    - No, it was one to one. The film wound up with $191 million domestically and $191 million internationally. - David Nov 19, 15:01
- they went to a lot of scifi & comic conventions the year before the first one came out -- nm - peglegpete Nov 19, 14:48 5
  - All nine of them? nm - Dignan Nov 19, 14:52 4
    - their marketing was very ahead of the curve, in the same way Lucas had the foresight to retain merchandising rights -- nm - giganto Nov 19, 14:58 3
      - Still, this would have been a fraction of its eventual fanbase. nm - Dignan Nov 19, 15:02 2
        
        yeah but for a movie that was expected to be a Fox-killing flop, it was crucial in laying the groundwork -- nm - giganto Nov 19, 15:05
        
        (and I would include the marketing as "building a fanbase from scratch.") nm - Dignan Nov 19, 15:04
Which will make it's fall from grace and into shame and embaressm -- nm - Mop on iPhone Nov 19, 14:38 1
- -ment all the greater. -- nm - Mop on iPhone Nov 19, 14:38
[deleted]
*ding* -- nm - znufrii Nov 19, 14:34

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There's a difference between a film series breaking out huge as a fad and one that creates a lasting legacy.

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