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Ben Stiller‘s next film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, will not be in theaters until Christmas but it’s already having an influence on the band Of Monsters and Men.
“Dirty Paws,” a track from the act’s Republic Records debut My Head Is an Animal, had a significant sales spike in August after it provided the soundtrack to the first Walter Mitty trailer, which runs two minutes and seven seconds. Released a year and a half ago and never worked at radio, “Dirty Paws” sold 34,000 downloads in August — an average of 6,700 per week — after 17 months of weekly sales around 1,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
VIDEO: ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ Trailer
The song’s presence prompted alternative KROQ Los Angeles to give the song 17 spins between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1, according to Nielsen BDS. Republic is exploring a potential radio campaign. The track has been posted on SoundCloud with a tag for the Walter Mitty soundtrack.
The five most popular versions of the trailer uploaded to YouTube have been viewed more than 4.4 million times as of Monday.
“There’s a great feeling of momentum,” says Republic executive VP Charlie Walk. “Come November and December, that’s a big song helping set them up [for their next album] and the soundtrack. [The trailer] is one of the great music videos.”
Universal Music Group’s Republic will release the soundtrack around the time the film opens on Dec. 25.
STORY: ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ to Screen at New York Film Festival
Trailers rarely generate sales spikes for unknown songs, partly because film studios rarely rely on a single song for an entire trailer. Often trailers use a mix of score and song, frequently using music that doesn’t appear in the film.
The unique quality of the Walter Mitty trailer definitely contrasts with music uses in other trailers for December releases. Anchorman 2 is set mostly to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” with a snippet of the Friends of Distinction’s “Grazing in the Grass.” After a score of guitar and bass, the trailer for August: Osage County turns to Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ “Man on Fire” for its second half. And nearly 90 seconds of “Kiss the Sky” by Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra accompanies the trailer for George Clooney‘s World War II film The Monuments Men.
Of Monsters and Men’s “Dirty Paws,” which has an energy and texture similar to advertiser faves Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ “Home” and the Lumineers’ “Ho Hey,” is the rare song to make the transition from a film into a trailer.
CinemaCon: Fox Screens First Footage of Ben Stiller’s ‘Walter Mitty’
“It was borne out of the beauty of the movie,” says Fox Music executive VP Danielle Diego.
Music supervisor/producer George Drakoulias, a longtime musical associate of Stiller’s, prepared a compilation of Icelandic bands for him to review. Stiller, who directs and stars in the movie based on a James Thurber short story (first adapted as a film in 1947), fell in love with “Dirty Paws.” It’s likely to be the only song from an Icelandic band on the soundtrack.
Once the first trailer was cut in July, Fox chief creative officer Tony Sella embraced the track and used it for the entire trailer. It’s also an early arrival, as other high-profile Christmas releases, like Jack Ryan and Labor Day, haven’t yet released trailers.
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