To me the reason Scott Pilgrim failed was the same reason that Kickass failed.
They were advertising films that weren't going to happen.
If you never read Kickass and only saw the trailer then you'd think it was just a comedy on some guy who tries to be a superhero, isn't that good but internet memehood inspires others to take up the mantle as he then gets better and eventually all the heroes team up to face the bad guy with the little girl and dad being the best ones even if no one takes them seriously.
Kickass was alright but it wasn't the film the non-geeks were promised, the general public looked it up and realised it wasn't their cup of tea after they realised the film was going to stay true, they wanted wacky comedy, not dark comedy that abandons comedy by the third act with the torture scene (seriously... why? it's marketing hell). It failed.
Scott Pilgrim also was advertised as just comedy until the above scenario happened.
Basically if people want to make movies like Kickass and Scott Pilgrim then they need to ditch the dark and drama and only make it a spoof of the genre or just comedy if they want the Hollywood cash flowing in.
Sad? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.
They were advertising films that weren't going to happen.
If you never read Kickass and only saw the trailer then you'd think it was just a comedy on some guy who tries to be a superhero, isn't that good but internet memehood inspires others to take up the mantle as he then gets better and eventually all the heroes team up to face the bad guy with the little girl and dad being the best ones even if no one takes them seriously.
Kickass was alright but it wasn't the film the non-geeks were promised, the general public looked it up and realised it wasn't their cup of tea after they realised the film was going to stay true, they wanted wacky comedy, not dark comedy that abandons comedy by the third act with the torture scene (seriously... why? it's marketing hell). It failed.
Scott Pilgrim also was advertised as just comedy until the above scenario happened.
Basically if people want to make movies like Kickass and Scott Pilgrim then they need to ditch the dark and drama and only make it a spoof of the genre or just comedy if they want the Hollywood cash flowing in.
Sad? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.