Everything Everywhere All At Once, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, is an absurdist dark comedy film that deals with time travel, the multiverse, and themes like nihilism and generational trauma. It premiered at South by Southwest on March 11th of 2022 and a limited theatrical release followed fourteen days later on March 25th.
However, this film quickly shifted from a limited released film from the production studio A24 to a film with a wide release in April of that year that grossed more than $ 50 million at the box office and it has now claimed the spot of the most awarded film of all time.
So, how did this happen? How did this absurdist film that opened up on ten screens reach the level of success it did? Everything Everywhere All At Once is a wonderful modern example of the powerful effects of word-of-mouth advertising.
So, to examine the success of this film, and how word of mouth improved its reception, we need to follow the timeline of the movie’s release. As previously mentioned, Everything Everywhere All At Once premiered at SXSW in 2022. It was the headlining picture for the festival that year, and that is where this begins. For movies, post-release advertising separate from the posters, social media, and trailers, starts in the theatre. If you are not widely releasing a movie, the venue that you premiere in is extremely important because you want to reach as many people as possible and you want to ensure you are reaching people with influence.
SXSW is a renowned festival, and headlining a festival like that definitely helps your film gain some footing. So, once they premiered, the positive critical reviews came rolling in. The hype began to build, and it created the perfect environment for the show to meet its first theatrical releases.
When the limited release hit theatres on March 25th, the reception was immediately overwhelmingly positive, and the Rotten Tomatoes score was in the high 90s (it still has a score 0f 94%). People got talking, and soon the demand to see the movie grew.
With the demand for the movie so high, they were set for a nationwide re-release. The nationwide release brought the movie fully to the public eye. People started talking, and the movie's powerful themes and diverse cast captivated the public. There were social media trends about it, and it constantly had people talking, reviewing, and contemplating its messaging and trippy time travel science. It has now won seven Oscars and was even recently re-released on 1,000 screens across North America in honor of its Oscar nominations.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is the perfect modern example of word-of-mouth advertising. What was a bit of a lowkey A24 release, turned into a megahit that spoke to countless people around the world. It is a wonderful example of why you should never discount the power of people just talking. Sometimes the best investment isn’t posters and trailers and elaborate social media presence, but ensuring your film becomes a talking point in your audience’s everyday conversations.