Bruno: “Oh No!”

When Borat came out a few years ago, only two of my friends saw it at the opening day midnight showings, even though all of us were still in college (the ideal demographics?).

It was only when those two returned home with glowing reviews that the rest of us trooped out to see it in a massive convoy.

Fast-forward to last Thursday, when most of my buddies jumped on the Bruno bandwagon even though we had work the next morning. It was too bad, because on Friday at about 2 am, I posted a facebook status saying “Bruno<Borat.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but apparently, I may have helped to knock Bruno off his pedestal.

Bruno earned slightly under 2 million dollars in midnight showings on Thursday. Then, Friday, the movie’s take skyrocketed above 16 million dollars. Things had to be looking good at the studio’s to break 40 million dollars and possibly even scrape up near The Hangover’s numbers in the $50 million ballpark.

But, as more and more people posted tweets and facebook updates like mine, the Bruno train lost steam. Unlike Borat, where the word-of-mouth pushed that movie’s revenue to $260 million. As consumers get more and more up-to-the minute reviews, it’s going to get harder and harder for a bad (or even the average, like Bruno) movie to slip past the CONSUMER review and earn serious money. Especially when people are posting the good, the bad and the ugly on their blog or tweeting their thoughts moments after the credits roll.

For a great in-depth article about the Twitter effect in Time Magazine, click here.

Follow Devin on Twitter at www.twitter.com/devinkunysz.