The producers also had to be careful to have a good balance of horror and musical feel to it in the trailers to reach out to the whole spectrum of the audience. "A few posts down came a reaction that may encapsulate the DreamWorks challenge more succinctly: "Whoa, wait -- this is a musical?". The real problem really was that the movie wasn't entirely ready. This caused the trailers and publicity that involved video to be delayed and limited. Although it was given positive reviews, the film was critiqued for not being publicized as a musical. A lot of people did not know that they were going to the movies to see an hour and twenty minutes of singing. Although the misguided marketing, the film depicted the horror and darkness of the Broadway musical and served respects to Sondheim's Tony Award winning master piece.
If the movie was finished earlier, there would have been more time for better marketing, it is most likely that the demographic of the audience would have alternated. If the production would have reached out to more global platforms instead of festivals and conventions mostly, this would have also benefitted it exponentially. Productions like these must use media outlets in smarter ways. It was said also in the marketing article that if the film was established in a different light it could have probably been nominated for even an Academy Award. Publicity in fan-based areas and events is not enough to get such a specific type of film out to the masses. Although this movie premiered in 2007, there could have been more hype and a wiser execution of getting the word out. Now today, there is even more of a reason with the variety of the outlets available. If this movie was made today, there could probably have been multiple more ways to market the project because of the rapid advancements in cross media convergence.
