The Pendulum Swings?

The big ongoing movie story of 2006 has been the tendency for studios to keep films away from critics. The trend started with a bang early on this year when "Hostel" opened without screenings to the No. 1 slot. This was the year honchos finally began to question the relevance of critics, trusting more in their hype machines to spread the word about their movies. As the year went on, more and more films were held out in the "Hostel" fashion.

This weekend marked a possible turning point, though. New Line was confident the months of Internet hype surrounding "Snakes on a Plane" was enough to fulfill box office coffers, so they decided not to screen the movie for critics. Bad move. The film tanked this weekend, earning only $15 million after the herds of "SOAP"-box derbiers decided to stay behind their computers rather than venture out to see the movie. Most critics caught late-night Thursday or opening-day screenings, and the general review consensus was positive. Had New Line played it the old way and screened the film in advance, they would have been far more successful at pushing their film into the public eye and getting some good buzz going, replacing the "what ifs" that were bandied about online. Maybe this could mark a change in direction, and films that were on the fence of whether to screen in advance might tilt in the direction of tradition.