On the Trail of Summer Films' Teen Appeal

By Patrick Goldstein

May 1, 2001 12 AM PT

The Question: When I got seven teens together last week to watch trailers for 17 of the most anticipated summer movies, who was the actor who got by far and away the biggest reaction when he showed up screen?

The Answer: Not Jennifer Lopez. Not Heath Ledger. Not Ben Affleck, Paul Walker, Angelina Jolie, Brendan Fraser or Rob Schneider. Not even Chris Tucker, Jackie Chan or the Rock.

The biggest oohs and aahs went to Snoop Dogg, who plays a nasty, just-outta-prison homie in John Singleton’s upcoming “Baby Boy,” a follow-up to his groundbreaking 1991 film, “Boyz ‘N the Hood.” As Hall, 13, put it: “I’d go see anything with Snoop Dogg in it.” (Memo to Sony Pictures: Got any more Snoop footage you can add to the trailer?)

It’s one of the first lessons you learn about pop culture. There’s nothing as fickle and unfathomable as the changing tastes of young teens, the most ardent consumers of summer movies. So when it came to prognosticate about the summer movie season, which begins Friday with the arrival of “The Mummy Returns,” I decided to bypass the usual suspects--movie industry executives--and go right to the target audience.

Our teenage moviegoers--I call them my Summer Movie Posse--were asked which movies they most wanted to see after watching tapes of current theatrical trailers. Joe Farrell, the Hollywood research screening guru, has nothing to fear. This was a very informal focus group: four boys and three girls, 13 to 15, all white kids from the Westside. The kids talked, I supplied the pizza and soft drinks.

The group dynamics worked like this: The boys loudly cheered the action scenes, chortled at the dumb jokes and then blurted out their likes and dislikes; the girls (who towered over most of the boys) waited patiently until the boys had their say, then voiced their opinion. The parents on hand stuck their heads in the door and watched the trailers--they were just as eager to see them as their children--but I shooed them out during discussion time so they wouldn’t influence the kids’ reactions.

The Posse had two big qualifications: They were friends of Gabe, my 14-year-old neighbor, and they see a lot of movies. Most of them go four times a month--way more often than their parents--which is why studios make so many lowbrow comedies and loud special-effects movies.

Before we talked about each trailer, everyone ranked each film on a 1-to-10 scale of how much the trailers made them want to see the movie. For privacy issues, I agreed to identify them only by their first names.

If Hollywood hasn’t learned by now with such films as “Save the Last Dance” and “Rush Hour,” teenagers are colorblind. If I listed the top five actors in terms of Movie Posse appeal, they would include Snoop Dogg, Chris Tucker and Cuba Gooding Jr., who easily out-polled Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck as the main acting attraction in “Pearl Harbor.”

Here’s another lesson: Teens loathe movies aimed at a younger audience. Most industry experts are predicting “Shrek” will be one of the summer’s biggest hits, but not with this crowd; its trailer had the worst rating of all. Not far behind was “Dr. Doolittle 2,” which suffered from the same kiss-of-death reaction as “Shrek.” As Hall put it: “It would be OK if I was 8.”

These boys have no interest in female action heroes. Both “Tomb Raider” and “Angel Eyes,” which star Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez, respectively, got low scores from the guys; those films got higher grades--especially “Tomb Raider”--from the girls. The girls were also much bigger fans of “Moulin Rouge,” the Baz Luhrmann musical whose trailer showcases Nicole Kidman. On the other hand, action-adventure films such as “The Mummy Returns” and “Rush Hour 2” got high scores from the boys and mediocre numbers from the girls.

Sequels are a dicey proposition. The Posse had a mixed reaction to the “American Pie 2” trailer, but were still eager to see the movie based on the goodwill generated by the original. But everyone who’d seen “Jurassic Park 2” and “Dr. Doolittle” was so disappointed that they had little interest in the upcoming sequels. Of the non-sequels, the ones that generated the most enthusiasm were “Pearl Harbor” and “The Fast and the Furious,” a car-racing drama that got raves from the boys--who liked the stunts--and the girls, who clearly liked co-star Paul Walker. As Riccardo, 14, explained: “They put everything in the trailer that a teenager would love: action, girls and cool cars.”

Here are some highlights from our screening:

“Pearl Harbor”: epic retelling of the World War II story.

Riccardo: “I’d go see it just because of Cuba Gooding. He’s so good in so many movies that you want to see anything he’s in.”

Cassandra: “I really like it that they used young actors like Cuba and Josh Hartnett, because it helps the movie appeal to both young and old. It’s not just an important piece of history, but it looks like a great story.”

Evan: “I’ll go see it. I only hope there isn’t too much of a love story that it drags on forever.”

“The Fast and the Furious”: action drama about the illegal drag-racing scene.

Cassandra: “I don’t normally like action movies, but it has Paul Walker and he was great in ‘Skulls,’ so I really want to see anything he’s in.”

Gabe: “That’s my kind of movie--action all the way through. Vin Diesel is great with his shaved head. He looks really intimidating.”

“Angel Eyes”: a romantic thriller with Jennifer Lopez as a life-saving police officer.

Rebecca: “I like Jennifer Lopez, but it seemed like two separate movies. You couldn’t tell if it was a detective story or a love story or what.”

Evan: “Overall, I’d say way too boring.”

“A Knight’s Tale”: a medieval-era squire becomes a champion jouster.

Gabe: “The trailer gives away too much. You saw everything the movie has to offer, so I worry that everything else is going to be boring.”

Cassandra: “It was confusing. It takes place a long time ago, but it has hard rock music. It didn’t fit. I’m sure girls will go because of Heath Ledger, but I’m not sure about me.”

“Tomb Raider”: the big adaptation of an action-packed video game.

Monika: “I thought Angelina Jolie was right for the role. I’d definitely see the movie.”

Riccardo: “The special effects looked really fake and it didn’t seem very suspenseful. Basically, she’s the tough chick, the dialogue is pretty bad, and you know how it’s going to end.”

Hall: “I’d see it a year from now when it’s in Blockbuster and I don’t have to pay $7. She wears way too much eye shadow for me.”

“Jurassic Park 3”: The Big Reptiles return one more time.

Evan: “They’ve made this movie too many times. I already know what’s going to happen.”

Riccardo: “It’s still Steven Spielberg, so you gotta see it.”

Gabe: “You know almost everybody is gonna die, so what else is there to tell?”

“Planet of the Apes”: the remake of the 1968 sci-fi classic.

Cassandra: “Everyone is talking about it, so it’s one of those movies that everyone feels they should see, whether they want to or not.”

Evan: “The trailer looks dumb. He lands on a planet and they are talking to gorillas--come on!”

Riccardo: “It feels over-exaggerated, but Tim Burton is such a great director that I’d see it because of him.”

“The Mummy Returns”: the sequel to the 1999 action-adventure hit.

Hall: “It looks better than the first one. It has more special effects and more of a story--getting to see two armies clashing looks really cool.”

Evan: “I think [Brendan Fraser] is the worst actor ever. He really annoys me. It’s not just the stupid stuff he says, but it’s the stupid way he says it.”

“Moulin Rouge”: a modern-day musical set in 1900-era Paris.

Rebecca: “I thought it would be more old-fashioned, but the music really makes it feel more modern.”

Hall: “It looks a lot like ‘Romeo & Juliet,’ if you liked that. For me, it’s kinda bad--there are already way too many movies like that.”

“The Animal”: Rob Schneider stars as a half man, half animal.

Gabe: “Rob Schneider’s so funny--who else could act like an animal and be funny doing it?”

Monika: “I have to admit I thought it was pretty stupid.”

Rebecca: “I saw the trailer once before and when you see it a second time, it starts to feel really old. But I guess that’s summer movies--they’re definitely not chick flicks.”

“The Big Picture” runs each Tuesday in Calendar. If you have questions, ideas or criticism, e-mail patrick.goldstein@latimes.com.

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Rating the Trailers

Here’s how the Summer Movie Posse ranked 17 of the most anticipated summer movies, based on how much the trailers made them want to see the films. The highest possible overall score is 70. Several key movies were not included: Miramax said it didn’t have a finished trailer for “Scary Movie 2,” and MGM refused to provide trailers for “What’s the Worst That Can Happen” and “Rollerball.”

1. “Pearl Harbor”: (67)

2. “American Pie 2”: (65)

3. “The Fast and the Furious”: (63)

4. “The Mummy Returns”: (56)

5. “Baby Boy”: (54)

6. “The Animal”: (52)

7. “A Knight’s Tale”: (51)

8. “Rush Hour 2”: (47)

“Tomb Raider”: (47)

10. “Moulin Rouge”: (45)

11. “Planet of the Apes”: (43)

12. “Jurassic Park 3”: (42)