Fountain Of Youth For Film Biz

Teen-agers are vital to the film business, because they make up more than 25 percent of the ticket buyers and are very loyal moviegoers.

The latest entry in the teen sweeps: Down To You, a romantic comedy opening this weekend, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and featuring Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, and Ashton Kutcher.

How does the business go about marketing a film for a teen-age audience? That's the question The Early Show Contributor Laurie Hibberd asked of Mark Gill, the president of marketing for Miramax Films.

"Teen movies are the easiest to market, hands down, because you have an audience that's desperate to get out of the house," Gill explained.

When film companies want to get the word out, there are a number of options.
"Teen-agers are watching a lot of television, and they're listening to a lot of radio, and they read a lot of magazines. They're big consumers of media, so they're pretty easy to reach," said Gill.

For a film like Down To You, star Prinze is the main draw. Miramax is flooding the market with his face. Also, the actor has hosted Saturday Night Live and MTV's Total Request Live. With more than 1 million teen viewers daily, MTV is the best place to get the message out.

Prinze realizes that plugging the film is part of the business, but he insists it is not something that distracts him from his main responsibility.

"My job is just to act, you know? And that's what I really try to focus on, and I don't think about all the other stuff," said Prinze.

A good supporting cast can also make the difference, especially when the players happen to be the hottest stars on the WB and Fox networks, like Selma Blair and Ashton Kutcher.

"The people that come here to the movie well, they know us from our TV shows," said Blair.

Added Kutcher: "That's how we got the fan base."

All these factors are very important, because there are limitations in marketing a teen film.

"Crossover for a teen movie is trying to get anyone over the age 25, and good luck," explained Gill. "The way you can occasionally get them - and the way we got them with She's All That - was to get moms of 8- to 12-year-old girls, because they were going to a PG-13 movie; maybe the mom wanted to make sure everything was OK. And that's how we got someone over the age of 21. But otherwise, forget it."

Teen-agers are also known for their repeat business. If they like a film, they'll go see it over and over again.

Also opening this weekend:

• Play It to the Bone, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, who will be on The Early Show next week.

• The End of the Affair starring Julianne Moore and Ralph Fiennes. The romance is based on Graham Greene's best-selling novel from the 1950s, and the movie garnered four Golden Globe nomination, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Moore) and Actor (Fiennes).
• Angela's Ashes, starring Emily Watson, is based on Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The film tells the story of McCourt's family and the author's own experience growing up poor in Limerick, Ireland, and the sacrifices his mother had to make for the family.