Legend of the Guardians Gathering Momentum

Legend of the Guardians, based on the Guardians of Ga’Hoole book series, has had everyone up in a stir this first March week. First up: a title change. In a last-minute move, Hollywood decided to rename the movie from Guardians of Ga’Hoole to Legend of the Guardians, because apparently, titles with apostrophes make less money. And, well, because, the majority of non-owl-obsessed people wouldn’t know what or who Ga’Hoole is or how to pronounce it.

A Title Dilemma

It was exactly like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, all over again. Seeing a title as a threat to success is only true to a certain extent. A very exaggerated extent, with more than apostrophe. If the public likes what you give it, if the public demands more, then a title with a strange apostrophed word would hardly stop them from going out to watch it!

I thought this was a bad decision, and not just from a fan perspective (the obvious issue being that fans of the books might not recognize the movie as an adaptation of their beloved series), but also from a marketing point of view. Warner Bros. obviously retitled the movie in favor of marketing purposes, but did they not realize that the word “Ga’Hoole” is a brand in itself? Not on the level of Harry Potter (not yet, haha), but it would make a huge difference for marketing purposes. A unique word with direct ties to the plotline that appears in a title — what else do you need to create a successful brand? Meanwhile, what kind of brand or uniqueness can you find in a title like Legend of the Guardians?

Most fans have wondered why there has been no promotional material for the movie of any sort until this week; no concept art, no images, not even a logo for goodness sake! Some speculated that the producers were intentionally keeping everything quiet, focusing instead on building suspense for some sort of extraordinary animation. While I have no doubt the animation is going to be extraordinary, I also realized that you can’t change a title once hundreds of people had already seen its trailer advertising it as Guardians of Ga’Hoole. Were the producers intentionally keeping all promotion down until they got their titles straight?

A Trailer Announced

If so, the wait was over. Satisfied with their apostrophe-less title, Warner Bros. decided to spice things up by announcing that the first Legend of the Guardians trailer would precede Alice in Wonderland on opening night, Friday, March 5th. The trailer would last a full 2 minutes and 15 seconds, and would play in Digital 3D in accordance with Alice in Wonderland’s 3D. The excitement level suddenly increased a notch and I, for one, vowed to see Alice in Wonderland if only for the trailer.

It was hard to believe that we were actually going to see a trailer of this movie. Not having had a single scrap of promotional material (posters, stills, logos), it almost felt like this movie didn’t exist. I had to remind myself several times throughout the day that, yes, it’s happening; it’s actually happening. Shivers of excitement racked my body. The wait was almost over. Three more days for two minutes and fifteen seconds worth of animated footage. It was a deal.

Gathering Momentum

Somewhere at the back of my brain, I wondered what it must have cost Warner Bros. to play the trailer before Alice in Wonderland, who’s success was already predetermined. For a movie which had no previous exposure or promotion whatsoever, the theatre was bound to explode in oooh’s and aaah’s. Then it hit me: this wasn’t a children’s series anymore than only a handful of kids knew about. This was something on a much bigger scale. Seeing the beloved book series I had “nurtured” for most of my childhood now venturing out into the world of blockbuster movies was a scary and nervous experience.

The movie seemed like a cliche snowball rolling down a hill, gathering speed and momentum. Retitling the movie and announcing the trailer release date was the push, and now it was getting hyped up with articles, images, and publicity. There was no stopping it.

As a long-time fan of the books, my enthusiasm for the movie was understandable – it was the enthusiasm, however, of the hundreds of “outsiders” out there that awed me. For whatever reason – whether they liked Zack Snyder, Happy Feet, Jim Stugress, animation, or movies in general – there were people out there who actually cared, screamed, jumped up and down, and caused a flurry of online articles to erupt across Google News from all the major movie blogs and news sources. I was awed.

First Sight

Then: the day. In an exciting twist that suddenly fast-forwarded all my plans and hopes, ReelzChannel’s Hollywood Dailies announced it would exclusively broadcast the trailer two days early on Wednesday, March 3rd at 7PM and 10PM ET/PT. It was just my luck to work that day, but I was sure of one thing: if there was a trailer, there were bound to be stills. And I was going to find them.

Around 7PM, I sneaked into the staff room and logged on the computer. A quick search revealed the prize: USA Today had published an article not one hour ago with five stills, presumably from the trailer. An owl with an ornate metal mask gazed solemnly into the distance. The face of a loving father’s face glowed with sunlight. A dozen of army-clad owls flew fiercely. A cozy sunlit hollow revealed an excluded brother. And a majestic fire-lit hollow, tree roots snaking up its wall, revealed the owl parliament.

It was the stuff of legend: these weren’t just any stills, these were the stills, the first images of Zack Snyder’s world — heck, this was the first promotional material there was! I allowed myself to gorge on their beauty for a few seconds before sending a batch of emails to Ga’Hoole fans, news sources, blogs, and forums. It had began.

Half an hour later of wrenching distress at what was happening in the online world, I thought “Screw work!” and ran back to my computer. First, I took another look at the pictures. A proper look. I couldn’t seem to get enough of them. They were nothing like I imagined. Bordering on fully realistic owls with just a hint of betraying fantasy, it was an animation style of CGI unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The Tale of Despereaux would be put to shame. With this kind of animation, I thought, there’s no way they’d risk having a bad plot. Changes from the book or not, there was now a guarantee that the trailer, and in turn, the movie, would turn out fabulous.

Now, if I was honest with myself, I’d really go watch this just for the amazing CGI! God knows what these look like in 3D! (I am so going to see Alice in Wonderland on Friday now). And I know this sounds a bit far-fetched, but this could very well be the big movie of 2010, like avatar. It’s unique, it’s a new world, it has fabulous animation… it has a title without an apostrophe haha… what more can you want? It seems weird to imagine our old owl series becoming a huge hit (at least to me) but it’s possible! Your thoughts?