I came to this conclusion after I saw Up in the Air last night (fantastic film, by the way). As I tend to do after I see movies, I went online to do some research into the film's background, its cast, etc, and, I must admit, into its cute young supporting actress, Anna Kendrick. And lo and behold, when I read about Anna Kendrick I noticed that she'll be playing the role of Stacey Pilgrim in the upcoming comic-adapted movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
Now, Anna Kendrick is a pretty big rising star. Up in the Air is a definite contender for 2009's Best Picture award (a lot of people are saying it'll take it), and Anna's received 18 nominations and 5 awards for her performance in said movie. Anna also happens to be a cast member in the Twilight saga films, which I understand are pretty popular nowadays or something. Scott Pilgrim is her next movie, and there's gonna be a lot of attention on her going into it.
And then I thought a little more, and I realized just how many people involved in Scott Pilgrim have a lot of buzz around them. Maybe not the lead actor anymore (I feel like Michael Cera's days are numbered, although that depends on how Youth in Revolt goes, and I want to see that movie just based on Zack Galifianakis... I can't be the only one who feels that way), but look at some of the other talent: it's directed by Edgar Wright, who's made a string of beloved movies (most notably Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). Playing some of the evil ex-boyfriends we've got Brandon Routh and Chris Evans, which is at least a little funny, as well as Jason Schwartzman, which is straight-up cool. Aubrey Plaza from NBC's Parks & Recreation also has a supporting role as Scott's sister's kind-of-bitchy friend Julie. That's some solid talent right there.
What I'm saying is, all these big names surrounding the Scott Pilgrim movie are going to make people curious. And I'm cautiously optimistic that that curiosity will turn into sales of the graphic novels. I mean, the trailers for Watchmen sold the related comics in a way that hasn't been seen before... Dark Knight, which did way better at the box office, didn't have that kind of effect, nor did Iron Man or any of the Spider-Mans or any other comic film. Granted, Scott Pilgrim is not instantly recognizable as a comic-book film (i.e., little to no tights), so one might be tempted to compare it more to movies like From Hell or Road to Perdition instead.
The thing is, as good and acclaimed as they are, From Hell wasn't winning any sales awards when the movie came out. Ditto Road to Perdition. But Scott Pilgrim is already a hot property in the comic world. As you might have seen in my last blog, Scott Pilgrim vol. 1 was the best-selling graphic novel for all of 2009 at OUR store, while Scott Pilgrim vol. 5 was a huge commercial success last year nationwide.
I'm hoping what we see here is some crazy kind of alchemy where two strands of popularity--comic and film--merge to create an uber-successful franchise in both media. Would I bet on it? No, probably not. But will we be stocking several copies of all available volumes of Scott Pilgrim come summer 2010? Yes, most definitely.
Maybe we won't sell through Scott Pilgrims as furiously as we did Watchmen. But if we did, that would be okay with me.
Comments
bsokol Tue, Jan 12th, 2010 at 10:39 AM Eric wrote:
Maybe we won't sell through Scott Pilgrims as furiously as we did Watchmen. But if we did, that would be okay with me.
Ditto.
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