Fickle "Tweens" Baffle Movie Marketing Honchos

Thinking of raking in the coin by throwing Hillary Duff up onscreen in a retreaded rags-to-riches flick? Think again. Finicky tweens are dropping the formulaic flicks faster than last season's pink Converse high-tops:

New Line Cinema thought it had a surefire hit on its hands this past weekend with the Hilary Duff starrer "Raise Your Voice." The teen pop star/actress recently scored a hit with Warner Bros. Pictures' "A Cinderella Story" -- generating a $13.6 million opening weekend in July before going on to earn $51 million.

...but none of that mattered to the 8- to 12-year-old girl audience over the Columbus Day holiday weekend when the modestly budgeted film earned a paltry $4.6 million. You can chalk some of the disappointment to the box office powerhouse "Shark Tale," which lured in much of that audience as well as their parents. But it also failed to take off because it didn't spark with that whimsical demographic's interests.

So why bother trying to figure out what these kids want?

For one thing, tween girls are fabulous consumers. Once they hit on something, they buy again and again and they spend a lot of time telling others. As well, the production costs on these films are such that if they hit, they can be profitable very quickly. Yet no marketer seems to have the exact answer as to how to reach them.

Quite an informative "must read."

Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com