I’m not sure when teenagers learned to talk. Growing up, we were all supposed to be sullen/uncommunicative/moody. Then all of a sudden, the WB/Dawson’s Creek/Josh Green rolls around, and it’s “complete sentence this” “emotional analysis that.” So it should come as no surprise that The Fault in Our Stars was the most talked about film on social media this summer, a movie made about people who talk, built for an audience of people who won’t stop talking.
A report released on Variety, found that The Fault in Our Stars received over five million mentions the past few months alone. While 22 Jump Street earned the most positive mentions, Let’s Be Cops received the most LMAOs posts (their words, not mine – gross), and X-Men scored the biggest comeback. Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and some nerd who managed to score over three million Twitter followers, was apparently instrumental in helping to build the buzz.
And while Guardians of the Galaxy might have earned the most cash ($281 million, no bigs), it wasn’t nearly as successful as the other films in attracting social media tags. No surprise, given that one of their main characters was “I AM GROOT,” a loveable whatchamacallit who will surely never pass his Verbal SATs. People who love words, like the characters in The Fault in Our Stars, will attract viewers who also love to use words. And magically, all of these losers will get laid.
The report further highlighted gender differences: Godzilla received the most male buzz, while If I Stay received the most attention from women. Analysis? Men like lizards, women like men who like lizards. Conclusion achieved, soul shattered.
Social media presence, it seems, doesn’t always translate to real world capital. While The Fault in Our Stars might have been the most buzzed about movie, it was not the most financially successful one, grossing just over $100 million (It only took $12 million to make, cry me a river Fox studios). Next year, I plan to release a fully materialized version of my middle school diaries. Given all the semicolons I used (and one entry heading written in tears – ouch), I’ll be hitting it big.