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In Tune: Looking glum aboard pop-culture hype train

The cast of "Suicide Squad" poses in a marketing image. Following its release on Aug. 5, the DC comics film was considered by many fans and critics to be a huge disappointment that failed to live up to the pre-release hype.
The cast of "Suicide Squad" poses in a marketing image. Following its release on Aug. 5, the DC comics film was considered by many fans and critics to be a huge disappointment that failed to live up to the pre-release hype. The cast of "Suicide Squad" poses in a marketing image. Following its release on Aug. 5, the DC comics film was considered by many fans and critics to be a huge disappointment that failed to live up to the pre-release hype.

By Casey Phillips 3 min read

When it comes to pop culture, hype is kind of like a fossil fuel and a runaway greenhouse gas, all wrapped into one.

Content creators rely on pre-release hype to raise a project’s profile and boost sales upon launch. But when the final product fails to meet fans’ expectations, that same rampant buildup of anticipation can transform into a poisonous, choking smog that inflames passions and blinds people to a release’s positive qualities.

photo Casey Phillips

This year, has been an especially brutal one for pop-culture letdown.

Films like “Suicide Squad,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Warcraft” were hyped beyond all reason before their release, and all scored 60 or below on review aggregator Metacritic.com.

With average reviews of 52 and 44, “X-Men: Apocalypse” and “Batman v Superman” fell far shy of their predecessors, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” which scored 74 and 78, respectively. Mashable.com even suggested “Suicide Squad” could be the most disappointing film, not just of 2016, but of all time. Ouch.