My teenaged daughter, K., and I and a friend of hers, C., hit the next blockbuster, The Fantastic Four, as is our habit (to check out the blockbusters). And the thing that struck me was the audience in attendance, primarily made up of young children–on average from 6 to 10 years old.
Now, on the one hand, FF4 is marketed to children; it’s part of the culture of summer-fun stuff. The story, however, isn’t kid’s stuff, though the dialogue was definitely adolescent. You’d expect a lot of kids in the audience.
Interestingly, the previews, which we failed to miss, were definitely not tailored for the audience. I spent a lot of time during the previews making K. and C. laugh by imagining the questions the kids in the audience might be asking their parents:
“Mama, what is that mean guy going to do with that giant knife?”
“Papa, why was that vicious-looking nurse wearing garter belts?”
“Ma, is our car going to blow up like that on the way home; does it hurt to drown like that, too?”
“Father, does our nurse have an Uzi in her underpants?”
” He’s only angry because he can’t find the giant cake, sweetie.”
“Because she knows how to please her husband, Jimmy…unlike your mother.”
“If it does it’s your father’s fault for not taking to the mechanic, and yes it hurts, all death hurts. Now, eat that ten dollar popcorn!”
“Not if you keep eating your vegetables, Oliver.”
Comic-Con was educational Steve, swing by the site for my Nerd Journals.