Yesterday, MTV published a video clip where J.J. Abrams admitted regret over keeping the true identity of the villain of Star Trek Into Darkness under wraps prior to and throughout the film's release. (Spoiler alert: Benedict Cumberbatch really is Khan, a fact that was never promoted and is revealed halfway through the movie.) When the clip hit, most of the movie websites and online film critics I follow decided it was worth a news post or at least a Facebook or Twitter update, and I noticed that many of them came at it from a point of anger or annoyance. Some folks just wrote a variation of "I told you that was a bad idea!" Others got riled up that J.J. seems to indicate that it was the studio's decision to keep Cumberbatch's true identity under wraps.
Regardless of the reason, anyone still mad about how Star Trek Into Darkness was marketed six months after release really needs to just let it go. Seriously, who gives a shit at this point? Getting all verklempt about how a film is marketed is weird to begin with. Still caring about it a half a year later? That's insanity. And why does it matter whether it was J.J.'s idea or the studio's? Or whether the decision may have affected the film's box office? None of those things have any impact on THE FILM ITSELF, which is the only thing worth continued discussion six months after it opened in theaters. Everything else strikes me as sour grapes over stuff that never much mattered to begin with, like the fact that J.J. fibbed a bit about who Cumberbatch was playing in the film. (A filmmaker lied to protect a twist in his movie? Oh, the horror! How will you poor souls ever recover?)
This is all deeply connected to a disturbing trend I've noticed in film fandom recently — folks' tendency to get more wrapped up with discussing marking, box office and release dates than they do talking and writing about ACTUAL FILM. Nothing makes my eyes glaze over faster than a news post about how some studio's tentpole release got moved from two summers from now to two Decembers from now. That's not film writing. That's film-business writing, which used to be the domain of the trade publications but now permeates even the smallest and geekiest of film sites. I find it all sad. Movie geeks should love movies, not tracking release dates like they're baseball free-agent signings.
I consider myself a film fan. I'm as excited as anyone to go out and see American Hustle and Anchorman 2 this month. But more and more, I find my interests don't align with those who talk and write about film on the Internet. Yes, the occasional look at the business end of Hollywood can be an insightful and enjoyable experience, but it shouldn't be the predominant angle from which we view and cover film. More and more, it feels like the rest of the Internet disagrees with me, and I find THAT to be something worth getting annoyed about. You know, as opposed to how a mediocre-at-best Star Trek movie was sold to audiences six goddamn months ago.
