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From the Los Angeles Times
Is this the next cult sensation?
Teenage girls could make "Across the Universe" a hit
of "High School Musical" proportions.
By Chris Lee
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 12, 2007

"All You Need Is Love" may be an abiding principle in
the gospel of the Beatles. But the Fab Four-inspired
romantic musical "Across the Universe" -- in which
winsome young actors and assorted rock stars sing 35
classic Beatles songs vividly re-imagined by acclaimed
opera and theater director Julie Taymor -- needed a
lot more than that after an uninspiring opening last
month.

Then help arrived in the form of an audience whose
parents were their age when the first wave of
Beatlemania hit.

After three weeks in theaters, the PG-13 movie finally
penetrated the top 10 by connecting with a zealous
core constituency: teenage girls, who, anecdotal
evidence suggests, are going to see the movie in
packs, bonding with one another (and the film) through
repeated viewings and popularizing it with their
school chums via word-of-mouth.

Nicole Sacharow, 15, from Culver City, for one, ranks
"Universe" among her "favorite movies ever." She's
seen it twice and would already have notched up
several more viewings were it not for scheduling
conflicts with her friends.

"You go up to a group of people and say, 'Who wants to
see "Across the Universe" this weekend?' " Sacharow
explained. "The songs are addicting. Everyone who goes
to see it has the soundtrack. I listen to it every
day. I hear people singing the songs around school."

Matylda Kerry, 15, from Santa Monica, has also seen
"Across the Universe" twice and feels the film's
stylized depiction of '60s historical touchstones such
as the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement -- as
set to Beatles music and sung by good-looking young
people -- has helped her and her friends make a more
personal connection to the era.

"It puts it in a different perspective. It makes it
more real," Kerry said. "It reminds me of today's
issues. Our government, the war that's going on, how
it affects people around us."

As of today, the $45-million film, which has taken in
$8.5 million at the box office so far, is expanding
from 364 to 953 theaters.

But "Universe's" commercial prognosis hardly looked
promising at the outset. Released to mixed reviews --
many condemning the artistic liberties Taymor took
with the Beatles' music -- the movie had been in the
can for over a year before hitting just 23 screens in
its first week of release. Taymor, the creative force
behind the Tony-winning musical "The Lion King,"
famously battled her production company chief,
Revolution Studios' Joe Roth, over final cut of the
film after he took the unprecedented step of editing a
version of "Universe" by himself. She ultimately won
the right to assemble footage her way after
threatening to take her name off the movie --
tantamount to an act of commercial seppuku in
Hollywood. But word of "Universe's" troubled
production prejudiced industry expectations.

Even at a time when music-driven fare such as
"Hairspray" and "High School Musical" are striking a
chord within the culture, capturing the hearts and
allowance money of teen fans, "Universe" faced unique
marketing obstacles. The movie's stars, indie
trauma-drama princess Evan Rachel Wood and unknown
British actor Jim Sturgess, weren't sure-fire
attractions. And to judge by "Universe's" trailer,
which began screening in front of "Spider-Man 3" in
May, it wasn't immediately clear which genre
"Universe" belongs to. Is it a coming-of-age story? A
rock opera á la "Moulin Rouge"? A surrealistic period
piece? (Answer: all the above.) Worse for marketers at
Sony, the film's distributor, contractual obligations
bound them from hitting home with "Universe's" primary
selling point.

"Yoko Ono, Paul [McCartney], Ringo [Starr] and
[George's widow] Olivia Harrison were all supportive
of the film, but I couldn't use the Beatles name in
any advertising," Taymor recalled. "That didn't make
things easy. And you can't advertise that you have
Bono, Eddie Izzard and Joe Cocker in cameo roles. We
didn't have a real big push from Sony; they were
stumped by it. So nobody was really sure who the
film's audience was."

The division's president of domestic marketing,
Valerie Van Galder, explained that movie musicals are
notoriously difficult to promote. So rather than
employ a traditional marketing salvo -- TV
commercials, billboards, talk show appearances, etc.
-- the studio posted numerous video clips and music
videos to the Web that have collectively been streamed
millions of times, popularizing "Universe" in
cyberspace's most popular kibbitz rooms.

"We gave people the sense that they'd discovered it
for themselves," Van Galder said. "On MySpace, YouTube
and the message boards, there has been a passionate,
vocal following. Young people are discovering the
Beatles' music for the first time and Jim Sturgess has
been a big draw. It's like fans are in love. There
hasn't been a teeny-bopper discovery like this in a
long time."

According to Paul Dergarabedian, president of the
box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers, audiences
are now finding their way to "Universe" thanks to
Sony's textbook execution of what is known in the
industry as a "platform release."

"The movie is so unique. It has an indie sensibility
even though it's a Sony picture," he said. "So
expectations were unknown. But Sony has handled it
perfectly. They got big initial interest in limited
release, then they've been capitalizing on that every
week."

"They're taking their time. On a movie like this,
that's what you have to do."

But while Dergarabedian heaps praise on the marketing
plan, Taymor feels the movie has benefited from a kind
of benign studio neglect. "In a funny way, young
people found the movie because it wasn't marketed
huge," she said. "Young people don't want to be
dictated to about what's the new cool thing."

Curiously, just as the film's hunky-yet-sensitive male
lead, Sturgess, has become the focal point of fan
appreciation -- postings on various message boards
have proclaimed him "the hotness," and "soooo cute" --
the actor's personal publicist has put him out of
reach for "Universe's" new publicity push. Sturgess
was made unavailable for an interview with The Times
partially out of concern he be perceived as a "teen
heartthrob" -- never mind Sturgess' scream-inducing
appearance on MTV's "Total Request Live" on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the movie's soundtrack, distributed by
Interscope Records in both a deluxe and standard
version, has also helped drive the film's popularity.
It peaked at No. 2 on the iTunes album chart and at
No. 24 on the Billboard 200, selling a combined
110,000 copies. "I'm thrilled we can turn on a new
generation to Beatles music," said Robbie Snow,
Interscope Records head of marketing.

As Matylda Kerry sees it, "Universe's" reworking of
the Fab Four songbook has allowed her to appreciate
the Beatles more deeply. "Everyone I know is listening
to [the soundtrack] again and again, comparing it to
the old Beatles songs," she said. "I've heard people
saying they're ripping off the Beatles, but it's also
a tribute.

"Everybody knows those songs. It makes you like them
all over again."

chris.lee@...





Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times

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