] "In the old days, there used to be a term, 'buying your ] gross,' " said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at ] Miramax, referring to the millions of dollars studios ] throw at a movie to ensure a big opening weekend. ] ] "You could buy your gross for the weekend and overcome ] bad word of mouth, because it took time to filter out ] into the general audience," he said. "Those days are ] over. Today, there is no fooling the public." High-Tech Word of Mouth Maims Movies in a Flash |