This is actually something that was brought up in one of the AT forums. If you don't know there's a movie being made based off of Cheryl Strayed's book, and some people are thinking it'll cause an influx of people who have no business being out there trying to hike the PCT anyway. Thought it would make a good discussion.

Before I give my thoughts, I'd like to mention another movie called The Way, which in short is about a man hiking the Camino de Santiago. While it was (in my opinion) a fantastic movie it didn't get a lot of exposure and I don't think it caused a huge glut of people on that trail either.

First off I think this movie seems like it might have a larger audience, more blatantly a thing of self discovery and adventure which will appeal to more people. Nothing wrong with that, it's just more accessible. But in the end I think that a lot of people entertain the thought of doing something like this without actually doing it, and just seeing a movie with Reese Witherspoon in it won't push too many more people over that line who wouldn't have done it anyway from reading about it and doing research. And of that small group, probably an above average amount won't be adequately prepared and drop out near the beginning. Anyway, would like to hear your thoughts.