The Fault in Our Stars is proving you don’t need a giant budget to become a Hollywood blockbuster – all you need is social media.
Bringing in $48.2 million at North American theaters between Thursday night and Sunday, The Fault in Our Stars is crushing the heavily-funded film Edge of Tomorrow, which is straggling behind at $29.1 million in ticket sales. While less than $12 million was spent to make The Fault in Our Stars, Edge of Tomorrow cost $178 million, reported The New York Times.
The difference: social media and an extremely loyal fan base.
The Fault in Our Stars is based on the book of the same name by author John Green. The book has more than ten million copies in print and an almost cult-like group of followers to boot.
20th Century Fox took full advantage of this in marketing the film. Despite a full marketing and publicity campaign, Edge of Tomorrow couldn’t hold a candle to Fox’s social media marketing results.
In addition to Green’s own 2.5 million Twitter followers and 2.1 million YouTube subscribers, the film itself has received more than 22 million views of it’s trailer on YouTube and more than 3.8 million Twitter mentions, making it the most tweeted about movie of the year, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
Image via Facebook from The Fault in Our Stars