Haven’t seen “Captain America” yet? You can skip right past its two-hour running time and see the ending — at home. Marvel Entertainment made available online almost the entire final scene of the blockbuster. The clip is certainly enough to give away the fate of the hero, taking some of the suspense out of picture.
Why would a studio post a part of a movie’s ending, which in many cases delivers a payoff that makes having sat through the film, and its highs and lows, worthwhile? In this case, oddly enough, it’s a ploy meant to get more people into theaters. “Captain America: The First Avenger” is the last of the Marvel films to be released featuring a member of the superhero supergroup before the film “The Avengers” hits theaters next summer.
Marvel hopes the teaser clip that foreshadows “The Avengers” will intrigue enough to get those viewers anxiously awaiting the upcoming film, which will feature, besides Chris Evans’ Captain America, Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Mark Ruffalo’s new Hulk, to see this one.
But most fanboys have already checked out the captain, and those who haven’t are likely to go regardless. It seems odd to bet that an uninterested audience will pay upward of $10 just to see the few seconds of the ending that Marvel has left to the imagination. Especially when there are two other big openings this weekend, Steve Carell’s “Stupid, Crazy, Love,” and Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford’s inexplicable “Cowboys & Aliens.”
Still, Marvel does need to fill more seats: Though the film has made $87 million, its budget was $140 million, so it hasn’t even broke even yet.
Another film trying to rouse audiences through online marketing is “Twixt.” “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola’s next film is a gothic horror influenced by Nathanial Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. He’s asking fans to choose the movie poster by voting for their favorite one out of four on Facebook. All feature the face of Elle Fanning, the young actress at the center of the Tom Waits-narrated film, even though her name is listed in the credits below those of Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern. Kilmer, who hasn’t had a big role in years, plays a writer whose talents are starting to diminish and who becomes involved in an unsolved murder in a small town he visits on a book tour.
“Twixt” looks to be more notable for its presentation than its marketing, though. Coppola talked about the film at Comic-Con, and said he’ll be hitting the road for 30 days to screen it around the country. What’s interesting is that he says he’s planning to include some live features along the film. And not just live music — the filmmaker actually plans to edit the film on-site, in response to audience reaction.
Meanwhile, Kevin Smith is making headlines because he might not be making movies at all — or at least spending less time on them. The “Clerks” writer-director is taking his next film on the road, too, screening “Red State” and answering fan questions afterward. Like Coppola, Smith is making an uncharacteristic foray into horror. ” ‘Red State’ is my version of a Quentin Tarantino, Coen Brothers film, and it was so f—ing liberating, because it’s the movie nobody expects from me,” he said at Comic-Con.
Smith’s last film, “Copout,” was a failure. It appears he’s taken it to heart. He also told the audience that he’ll be putting more time into his podcasting website, smodcast.com. “I’ve been doing films for 20 years this August, and it’s great, but it’s not my first language — talking and speaking is,” he said.
Kelly Jane Torrance is The Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
