Is The Fog really bad?
Filed under: Horror, New Releases, Sony, Distribution, Exhibition, Movie Marketing
Because I'm kind of like the Cinematical House Mom, when the boys and girls who blog for us want to see a film, they usually let me know and I do what I can to make it happen. When I first started this gig in March, it wasn't so easy for us to get press screenings; my emails to PR folks often went unreturned, and about half of the studio reps who I could actually get on the phone needed me to follow the word "blog" with a definition. But nowadays, most of the PR people we talk to are extremely accomodating – they want us to see the films that we want to write about, and that's great. So I was a little surprised when, early last week, a rep at Columbia called me back to tell me that she couldn't get my writer into a screening of Rupert Wainwright's remake of The Fog. When I pressed her on it, she admitted, "There, um, there aren't going to be any press screenings." Ohhhhhh. "Really?" I asked. "None? At all?" "No," she replied, somewhat sheepishly. "We're, um, we're not pre-screening it."We know that this is not a good sign. A studio is only going to withold a film from critics if they're fairly sure that a) the reviews are going to be mostly bad, and b) the marketing department is fairly certain that they can guarantee a big Friday crowd before word spreads in print or online. We are officially expecting the worst – and we're sending Robert to see it on Friday to confirm our suspicions. Check back on Saturday for his review.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-13-2005 @ 7:42PM
TheMovieGoer.com said...
I just saw a screening last night. Reviews can only hurt this movie, which will make its money based on the fact that its a remake of a classic. The project was greenlit before there was a screeplay, theres no need or effort to make anything great which you can tell in the first minute when a sailor is staring into the water "UH SOMETHING IS HOLDING US BACK", pushing his face so close that whatever thing is obviously down there doesn't have to reach far to grab his dumb ass.
As expected everything fails in this movie when compared to the original. The only parts that stand out are the surprise at the end (weird), the "we from chicago" line by the black guy (lol), the 'twist' in the islands history, and what happens to the old lady watching the boy...
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10-13-2005 @ 7:49PM
Finished.Law.School said...
Damn, if I knew you needed to see it I would have given you my ticket to the free preview that I did not attend last night.
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10-13-2005 @ 8:32PM
Ron Mwangaguhunga said...
Damn. I wa slooking forward to it. Still, with all the rain and fog on the east coast, it should make a lot of money.
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10-13-2005 @ 10:02PM
Scott Weinberg said...
This is the FIRST time you've had to deal with a non-pre-screening flick? It seems to happen 15 times a year. (Did "Venom" pre-screen?)
And here's a piece of advice for Robert: If he goes and buys the new DVD of the original "The Fog," there's a free ticket to the remake in the package. At least that way he'll have a good movie to watch when he gets home.
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10-13-2005 @ 10:20PM
karina said...
Scott: As I said above, we've only been around since March, and we only even attempt to pre-screen movies we want to see. So this is the first time since March that one of the writers (actually, a few of the writers) have wanted to see a film that wasn't pre-screening. But aside from that, I wrote this post kind of a as a public service - I think the audience has a right to know when they're getting snowed.
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10-14-2005 @ 12:02PM
Scott Weinberg said...
"We only even attempt to pre-screen movies we want to see."
Must be nice. ;)
But well done on the PSA. I agree that whenever a studio "hides" a flick from the press, they deserve to be called on it.
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