Based only on the above trailer, would you see Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World? You certainly wouldn't be alone if you said no. Despite almost universal praise, the movie was a box office flop. What could cause a quality film, already well on its way to becoming a cult classic, to be such a failure financially? I think the social learning theory can at least partially explain what factors worked against Scott Pilgrim, most notably in regards to its lead actor and its subject matter.
The social learning theory is a complicated concept, with two primary components: that users imitate attitudes and behavior, and that users select media based on expected outcomes of behavior. The first component is self-explanatory, but the second can be more confusing. For most people who saw The Last Airbender, the outcome was a feeling of complete disappointment, and anger at having wasted money on the film. Users will then expect the same outcome from M. Night Shyamalan's next film and be wary of it, or avoid it altogether. This is a learned expectation, and represents quite a hurdle for any media to get over.
A very similar expectation can be applied to Scott Pilgrim's star, Michael Cera. Cera got his start playing the awkward teenager George-Michael Bluth in the beloved television show Arrested Development. After the show ended, Cera crossed over to film... where he seemingly played the same awkward teenager in every role. It may have worked for him in Juno, but for many people, the shtick was wearing thin. By the time Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Year One, and Youth in Revolt rolled around, almost everyone had had enough. Unfortunately for Scott Pilgrim, the expected outcome of seeing a Michael Cera film had become negative. In much the same manner, the film itself had to fight the stigma of being a "video game movie." Despite being based on a comic book, the film made no attempt to hide its overt video game influences. As such, many instantly dismissed it as another Mortal Kombat or Resident Evil. Scott Pilgrim has almost nothing in common with those films, but years of experience cause viewers to expect a negative outcome from "video game movies." The social learning theory played against the film, and it couldn't rise above the expectations attributed to it.
The images used in this post can be found here:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/2010/03/19/the-scott-pilgrim-movie-poster/
http://www.zath.co.uk/scott-pilgrim-rocks-the-universe-like-no-other/
My personal expectations played against Scott Pilgrim. I had the chance to see it for free at the San Diego Comic-Con, but I refused. This is easily my biggest regret of the summer.
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