Web 2.0 Won't Make Your Movie Better

Stuart Elliot has an article in the New York Times today that uses an upcoming movie, "Take the Lead", as an example of cutting edge marketing using mashups, blogs, social media and other Web 2.0 measures.

So here's a description of the movie... "Take the Lead" stars Antonio Banderas as a professional ballroom dancer teaching New York City school kids how to dance. Blah Blah Blah...

In other words, this movie will shortly be available on DVD.

But for such an awful movie, New Line Cinema really went all out on the site. Visit Taketheleadmovie.com and you'll see a music mashup feature that allows you to blend different songs together, even download your creation as an MP3. There's also a "virtual dancer" feature that allows you to create a video dance routine. There's an advergame for a "virtual dance challenge", similar to dance dance revolution. New Line Also has a blog supporting one of the sweepstakes for the movie.

Now, there are some issues with the way many of these features have been executed. The blog, for example, is published by someone else. The "virtual dancer" is REALLY slow and doesn't quite keep up with the music, and the music mashup application has some usability challenges.

My overall impression? Overkill. It feels to me like the online marketing is clearly trying to compensate for an inferior product. Quality, not quantity...

Link via Jupiter Research Analyst David Card's Blog.