9. Slumdog Millionairre
Danny Boyles Indian-set adaptation of Vikram Swarups best selling novel Q&A was always going to be a marketers nightmare. A director who favoured a stylised view telling a dark story that involves torture and eye-gouging with no sign of happiness until the very end would be the sort of thing that would normally only play for a niche audience. But enter the Weinsteins and this gloomy tale quickly became an Oscar contender. I personally love depressing films (I recently had a rather sobering realisation the majority of my DVD collection featured films with awfully downbeat endings), but, of course, depressing doesnt often play well to a mass audience (unless its based on a true story, in which case it gives us a chance to act all noble and understanding; Schindlers List, The Last Temptation of Christ, Titanic), so both the initial theatrical release and the DVD went with a more cheery approach, showing Dev Patel getting the girl and the money; the exact ending of the film. Ive discussed
marketing campaigns that mis-sell a movie recently, but here the DVD ruins a lot of the tension. There is obviously a lot to be taken from watching the journey, but the movie's tone makes victory a lot more questionable than the cover suggests. The only way they could have ruined the film more would have been photoshopping in the image of Jamals brother shot in a bathtub full of money, although that would have probably gone against the tagline of Feel good movie of the year.
