Fizziology bestows social media buzz awards for summer movies

Now that the summer box-office proceeds have been tallied, with the hits (“Iron Man 3”) and misses (“R.I.P.D”) identified, social media measurement firm Fizziology has weighed in with the season’s social media standouts.

Fizziology has generated its summer “Fizz” list, culling tweets, posts and pics to come up with its own Top 10 list -- based on such criteria as “most fangirl buzz” or “biggest comeback.”

“We wanted to recognize the movies that did well in social,” said Fizziology operations chief Jen Handley. “But we didn’t want to do it just in terms of volume.”

And now, the envelopes please:

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Most anticipated movie: Universal Pictures’ high-octane film “Fast and Furious 6” had the most sustained interest in social media. Starting with a Super Bowl commercial, which elicited more than 230,000 comments in February, the movie remained a regular part of the online conversation. It generated about 3,000 posts or tweets a day until a month before its May release, when social media activity surged -- peaking at nearly 500,000 on the day of its debut, Handley said.

Longest sustained buzz: Warner Bros.’ low-budget horror film “The Conjuring” produced more than 2.3 million social media mentions in the week after its theatrical release, and maintained a volume of more than 1.5 million comments for three weeks after its debut. “‘The Conjuring’ kept going,” Handley said. “There was a lot of word of mouth. People continued to talk about it, and see it a second or third time.”

Biggest comeback: Paramount Pictures’ “World War Z” was plagued with negative pre-chatter from people who had read the book and feared a poor adaptation and industry insiders focused on production problems. Once the film opened in theaters, positive audience reaction changed the tenor of the online conversation. “It was purely an organic thing,” Handley said. “It was a reaction to actually watching the movie.”

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Most positive buzz: Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me 2” received the most favorable comments in its opening week, with 92% of posts praising the animated film. “This is, by far, the standout when it comes to sustained positive buzz, pre- and post-release,” Handley said.

Most fanboy buzz: Warner Bros.’ “Pacific Rim” captured the hearts of male enthusiasts, who talked animatedly about director Guillermo del Toro films, mulled specific details about the set, props and technology used in the production and generally geeked out about the science fiction film. Eleven percent of the conversation in the week before and after release came from these fanboys.

Most kids-at-heart desire to see: Disney/Pixar Animation Studios’ “Monsters University” was the most successful family film when it came to connecting with parents. Some 19% of the social media discussion in the week leading up to release came from adults who proclaimed they wanted to see the movie because they were still “kids at heart.” “That’s important to getting parents to want to take their kids to a movie,” Handley said. “Other animated movies that may not have done so well, you’re getting much less (of this) conversation.”

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Best use of social: Universal Pictures’ “The Purge,” the science fiction film that explores what would happen if, once a year, people could commit any crime without legal consequences, had people on social media talking about what they’d do if the purge were real. The studio’s hashtag (or label), #SurviveTheNight, had fans engaged in a conversation about the movie’s premise rather than merely passing along promotional materials, Handley said.

Most fangirl buzz: Disney/Marvel Entertainment’s “Iron Man 3” generated the most fangirl swoon. Females accounted for more than 57% of the people talking positively about the film, with fans posting enthusiastically (in all capital letters, with emoticons) about their desire to see the film, their love of actor Robert Downey Jr. or the positive reviews.

Most soundtrack buzz: Warner Bros.’ “The Great Gatsby,” the Jazz Age film whose modern soundtrack featured songs by Jay-Z, Jack White, Lana Del Ray and The XX, accounted for 11% of the conversation about the movie in the days leading up to the movie’s release. No other summer movie saw nearly the number of social media mentions about its musical score.

Most positive comedy buzz: Sony Pictures’ comedy “This Is the End,” about six friends trapped in a house after a series of catastrophes, received the most social media love from moviegoers. During the week of its release, 88% of the buzz was positive -- more enthusiastic, in fact, than social media chatter about “The Hangover III.” “’The Hangover’ had more positive buzz going in than coming out,” Handley said. “‘This Is the End’ was pretty consistent, if not more positive after the fact.”

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