This past Monday we discussed the reasons films such as Grindhouse have failed to attract their targeted geek demographic. Hear now from Harvey Weinstein, producer of the Grindhouse project, who, at the time of the film’s release placed the problem on marketing by saying, “We didn’t educate the South or the Midwest. In the West and the East, the movie played well. It played well in strong urban settings. But we missed the boat on the Midwest and the South.”

What about the recent geek film, Shoot ‘em Up? Why did a film that can only be described as an over-the-top, violent live-action cartoon fail to catch on, not only with geeks, but with the mainstream action crowd?

It featured two A-list stars in Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti. It was the best Hollywood example of the kinetic, two-fisted gunfights that John Woo made so popular in Honk Kong, but had been unable to replicate in the United States. And it wrapped the whole package in a nicely ironic bow with its tongue planted firmly in cheek.

And it sank like a stone. Was the tone too sardonic with the intentionally cheesy one-liners and outrageous stunts? Was it too violent? Or, was it, once again, poor marketing?

Some have blamed the downturn in traditionally geek-supported films -- genres horror, sci-fi, and action -- on piracy, claiming that the geek base is the kind of tech-savvy crowd that would be comfortable illegally downloading films from the Internet. While a small percentage of the group might be involved in such activity, it would be unfair, not to mention irresponsible, to accuse the entire audience of such activities.

The reason for the financial failure of films like Grindhouse and Shoot ‘em Up might be the simplest one of all. Hollywood may have over-estimated the size of the geek audience. Just because they are among the more vocal and opinionated movie fans, doesn’t necessarily translate to them being the largest demographic.

Either way, the studios would do well to not abandon this group. Recent history has shown that what was once the exclusive territory of the geeks can become mainstream gold. If not for geeks, the recent studio cash cows of comic book and video game adaptations would never have gotten off the ground. Their importance as a barometer for discovering the next big thing may be a valuable consideration.

What might also be considered is the failure of studios to market films successfully to both the geeks and the mainstream crowd. The advertising mindset seems to have been that if a film is made for a niche audience, that is the only demographic the marketing should be aimed at. But what of the rest of the movie-goers?

It’s not impossible for genre films to break out and become cross-over hits. The attitude that a film will only appeal to one demographic is self-defeating. By broadening marketing strategies to include more mainstream audiences, studios can give their geek films a bigger shot at success. But if there is a failure to restructure studio marketing, the very real possibility exists that the geeks will be abandoned by Hollywood. If that happens, everyone loses.