Summer Movie Preview Show Talks Legend of Tarzan
This is set to play the discussion of Legend of Tarzan on the SK Show’s Summer Movie Preview show in which they go through all the movies coming out in the summer of 2016. Although it begins with a mildy snarky “George of the Jungle” reference — I think this panel, which includes six people, gives a pretty good indication of the kind of thought process that is evolving in, we hope, a lot of people. There is an acknowledgement that the basic idea of a Tarzan movie didn’t excite them — but the combination of cast, director, and what they’re actually seeing of the movie is turning them around and they are enthusiastic. (Thanks to Norman Ray for the tip on this one.)
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Now, as we enter the home stretch, WB has to really push this movie. Release a lot of TV spots, featurettes, things like that, because there might still be someone who has heard of the movie but hasn’t seen the trailer and so their thought process is still probably “Yuck, another Tarzan movie? Who cares?” They’ve done a decent job of promoting the film so far, but they need to go an extra mile now.
I think we won’t see TV spots until about May 1. . . . My sense of it thus far is that they are trying to be pretty strategic in what they do, and are probably not going to give it an “all-out-mega-push” as they will, for example, with Suicide Squad. They will be watching the awareness tracking figures and will definitely want to throttle it up enough to get those numbers where they need to be . . . but it just feels to me like they are going for what they will perceive to be a “smart” balance of getting the promotion to where it needs to be, without overspending and without pushing so hard that it becomes the kind of target that John Carter was. Not exactly “under the radar” — you cant’ do that with a 180m film. But managing expectations and trying to give it enough gas to get it to a $50m opening without overspending. And I’m not saying that’s definitely the right way to go — it’s just how I see them playing it at this point, based on the signals thus far.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Also, I’m slightly afraid that The Jungle Book may have stolen Tarzan’s thunder.
Marketing was always going to be an issue: no, this isn’t Disney’s Tarzan, it’s not George of the Jungle, it’s not the Jungle Book. I like the trailer, and I know the plot outline as has been presented to us, but I think the average person who’s seen the trailer might be wondering if it’s an action/adventure/romance type movie, more in the manner of Raiders of the Lost Ark. If it is, (and I think it is) then WB is really going to have to emphasize that. And of course emphasize that this Tarzan is probably/presumably much closer to ERB’s Tarzan, so no monosyllabic, musical Tarzan (Hint to WB, have him speaking in a trailer would help on this point).
And as much as I’d like them to start heavily promoting it now, it’s still 2 1/2 months from release. Start too soon, it gets annoying, start too late and it gets lost in everything else coming out in the summer and people don’t realize it’s out there.
I’ll thrown in another movie concerning possible bad buzz/trying to avoid overpromoting: Star Trek Beyond. Originally scheduled the week after LOT, it moved to July 22 and the trailer came out a week after LOT. It wasn’t received well. And last week at Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation no footage of STB was shown. Though they are holding a fan screening in May, which will also celebrate ST’s 50th anniversary. So no new footage because they know it’s bad (never mind that we’ve already seen the trailer) or because they’re realizing that they overkilled it three years ago with Star Trek Into Darkness and are realizing the benefits of not making people sick of your product, especially since you’re part of a long-established, and loved, franchise?
A million Black Africans, and a White guy comes in and is automatically King Of The Jungle. I am appalled that they still try to push off White Supremacy as “entertainment.”
I think there are definitely going to be those who react this way. From what we can tell, the writers have avoided the White Savior trope, but for anyone who tends to view this through a prism of racism, there will the reaction you’ve cited. You might want to check out our lengthy post with many outgoing links on the subject of Edgar Rice Burroughs and racism and imperialism. http://thejohncarterfiles.com/2015/12/legend-of-tarzan-reboots-the-debate-was-edgar-rice-burroughs-a-racist/