in Hollywood, “super fans” will be able to influence the directions taken by producers

The objective is to be able to avoid avalanches of negative opinions when adapting certain franchises. Which may have been the case, for example, for the last episodes of the Star Wars saga.

Hollywood has been organizing “test screenings” for decades, screenings in front of a small group to “test” a film. The studios are apparently going to set up another type of groups, bringing together “super fans” franchises like Star Wars Or Harry Potter, to try to prevent the choices made by producers on new projects from creating controversies.

The specialized weekly Variety discusses this trend article in English, Thursday October 3, without really giving details. The studios obviously want to ask what the magazine calls “super fans” their opinion, but rather on marketing aspects: like, what to highlight or not. A studio executive explains that these fans will be able to alert producers that, if they decide to go in a certain direction, they risk exposing themselves to strong criticism, which can harm the project during promotion. If filming is not finished, we can even consider elements being corrected during production. Variety also mentions “social media boot camps” to prepare the actors for what they will read about them. It even happened that a studio took over an actor’s accounts to manage the storm on the Internet.

Hollywood thus wishes to confront toxic fans, ready to harass and threaten online the creators of a series who, according to them, have lacked respect for the original material or the actor who plays a hated character. For many fans, the director of The Last Jedi, released in theaters in 2017, betrayed the spirit of Star WarsFor example. We have also seen fans publish negative comments even before the project is finished or broadcast, or even organize smear campaigns. When Amazon produced The Rings of Poweran adaptation of Lord of the RingsTolkien fans were furious to see dwarves played by black actors. The movie Ghostbustersfocused on female characters, was attacked. An episode of Last of Usthe adaptation of a famous video game, which featured a homosexual couple, also annoyed. In these cases, the debate no longer really concerns the authenticity of the work.

American cinema also responds to market demand, and “super fans” guarantee to have full theaters on the weekend of a film’s release, so you might as well try to please them. And then the “test screenings”this is not new. The beginning of Sunset Boulevarda 1950 masterpiece, was changed at the time because test audiences laughed despite it being a film noir. Steven Spielberg had to rearrange the ending of AND The examples are numerous. The difference is that with social networks, the studios expose themselves to an avalanche of negative, even toxic comments, and want a little peace of mind, or in any case limit negative buzz, which would not even be related to the intrinsic quality of the project. The question is whether superfans should be even remotely integrated into the design of a project. They can guarantee respect for the spirit of a franchise, but they can also oppose any new idea or demand the return of a character they adore in the name of nostalgia.