Test Audiences facts
While investigating facts about Test Audiences, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Test audiences hated 'Dirty Dancing' and the producer was so disappointed in the final product he said "Burn the negative, and collect the insurance." Expected to be a box office bomb, instead was a smash hit,was the #1 video rental of '88, and was first film to sell a million copies on video.
how are the test audience for an a/b test selected?
Ron Howard stated that, after the first test preview of the film Apollo 13, one of the comment cards indicated "total disdain"; the audience member had written that it was a "typical Hollywood" ending and that the crew would never have survived.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 40 of the best facts about Test Audiences I managed to collect.
what is test audiences?
-
A complaint among test audiences for the film Good Night, and Good Luck, was that the actor playing Joseph McCarthy was too over the top and wasn't believable, not realizing that the film used actual archive footage of McCarthy himself.
-
During the scene for the 2008 film Cloverfield in which the head of the Statue of Liberty falls onto a city street, the head's size is larger than its actual size in real life. Originally it was made properly to scale, but test audiences complained it looked too small and unrealistic.
-
One of the most famous lines in movie history, "You're going to need a bigger boat" from Jaws, was actually an ad-lib on set; furthermore, the audience screams at test screenings obscured the line, leading to a longer pause before hearing the line.
-
Warner Bros held two test screenings of its animated movie "Thumbelina". The first time around, the audience reaction was flat. For the next test, they prefaced the exact same footage with the Walt Disney logo. The test scores soared
-
A test pilot for the Boeing 707 airplane prototype performed a roll in front of the audience attending an international airline summit in Seattle. When asked what he was doing by his boss, he replied "selling airplanes."
-
2 versions of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' were made: a PG-13 version and an R-rated version. Test audiences preferred the R-rated version, so that's what was released.
-
Ed O'Neill was so typecast while on Married with Children, that his scenes were removed from a non-comedy film after a test audience laughed when he was on the screen.
-
The movie "Dodgeball"(2004) has an alternate ending where Average Joe's gym loses, and the movie ends abruptly. It was changed because of negative test audience reactions.
-
A game show has tested the idea of fairness across cultures. In the US, the audience helps contestants. In Russia, they purposefully give the wrong answer. In France, they give the wrong answer if they feel the contestant isn't smart enough to deserve to win the money
Why did spacex send a tesla into space?
You can easily fact check why did spacex launch a tesla by examining the linked well-known sources.
During audience testing for the 2005 movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" a common complaint was that the actor portraying Joseph McCarthy was overacting, not realizing that it was the actual McCarthy through archive footage.
While on a goodwill tour in Beijing, STS-3 commander Jack Lousma displayed a photo he took of a "beautiful emerald-colored lake" and was surprised by the audience's reaction. He later learned that the picture was of an atomic test site for the Chinese nuclear program meant to be kept top secret - source
The James Bond film "License to Kill" was originally titled "License Revoked", but was changed after American test audiences thought the title referred to Bond's driver's license instead of his license to kill from MI6. - source
Rowan Atkinson's character Mr. Bean was tested early on in development by performing in front of a French-speaking audience at the Just for Laughs festival to ensure the character could transcend language barriers.
South Park was in danger of being canceled before it even aired when the show fared poorly with test audiences, particularly with women. - source
When did spacex launch the tesla?
Hancock originally had a much different second half. In the original script, the second half of the movie was much darker, so much so they scrapped it after testing poorly with audiences. It ends with Hancock unloading a full pistol magazine into his head to no avail.
How to test audiences on facebook?
Once the filming of Rambo was completed, the movie underwent a screen test. It included the original ending as written by David Morrell. In this ending Rambo committed suicide by shooting himself after Trautman refused to shoot Rambo. The audience went nuts, so they changed the ending
Loki's death was intended to be final in Thor The Dark World but test screening audiences didn't accept it.
The scene depicting the serial killer's death in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones was reshot to be more gruesome due to test audiences saying the characters death was not violent enough and not and they wanted to see the character in more pain
On the post STS-3 goodwill tour in Beijing, Commander Lousma displayed a photo of a beautiful emerald lake in China and was caught off guard by the audience's reaction. He later learned that the picture was likely of a secret atomic test site for the Chinese nuclear weapons program.
Dirty Dancing was expected to flop on release. The film was poorly tested with audiences and it was originally scheduled to show in cinemas for one weekend before going straight to VHS.