Quote from Will Streckfus on June 19, 2016, 2:13 pm
Reading this definitely makes me feel better. I'm starting to understand that each theater is run completely independent of each other, even if they're Regal's. The ID4 article confirms what I thought when I first saw the trailer. Money grab. Let's take a classic sci-fi event film and let's do it again on steroids. Easy $. You don't even have to worry about a good story. The masses will show up for old times sake. No need to show advanced screenings. I'm very happy WB has all these advance screenings. This shows they're confident they have a good product. The rave reviews that erupt at the start of the week will catapult LOT into the mainstream conscience. I believe we are about to watch the perfect convergence of how a sleeper hit happens. Start with a long drought of really good event movies. I believe Captain America was the last event movie that scored in the 90's on the Rotten Tomatoes meter. How long ago was that? Next, have the competition be weak like ID4 or not really competition for our demographic like BFG which will appeal to families with young kids. I'd say the Purge is a film that appeals to a specific demographic of young horror splatter films, so put all that together and I believe we are about to witness the world becoming aware of the real Tarzan.
Not knowing anything about the theater industry, but I'm still going to presume that they are managed independently and perhaps yours has a manager who either doesn't think that LOT's going to do well and isn't bothering with even internal promotion and either/or isn't really a good manager.
As for IDR, I'd not really paid that mention to the details of their marketing/tracking: I knew that way they were marketing, with the viral videos, etc., was getting positive results, but didn't know anything about the other marketing, ad buys, tv appearances, etc. So to find out today that they're not screening did come as a bit of a shock. And apparently they're not doing much of anything the final week, if this article is true:
“Independence Day: Resurgence” is not on the cover this week’s Entertainment Weekly, which just landed.
The stars of “Resurgence” are not all over the TV, appearing on “Ellen” or the “Tonight Show” or “Jimmy Kimmel,” showing clips.
In fact, there is dead silence surrounding the hugely expensive, highly anticipated sequel to the massive 1996 Roland Emmerich hit “Independence Day.”
That movie was released on July 3, 1996 to tie in with the actual Independence Day– July 4th weekend. This one is set for June 24th, very specifically NOT that tie in.
There have been no advance screenings, no press. There’s no press junket this weekend. My junketeer friends have received no information. There’s some kind of premiere on Monday in Los Angeles next week, a couple of days before the opening night in theaters. But nothing else is set for New York at all, and that is a bad bad sign.
But the cast did sneak into New York last week for stealth publicity: they rang the opening bell at the New York stock Exchange. They appeared in an AOL Build Speaker series, whatever that is. They were on Sirius XM Radio. On Friday, there was a premiere in Mexico City.
Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone, but “IDR” is coming. The cast must be wondering what’s going on. Or they know.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2016/06/18/independence-day-sequel-fox-bracing-for-200-mil-of-possible-bad-news-with-no-advance-screenings-and-stealth-press
So this is an opportunity for LOT, should the reviews be good, because other than Dory, there's not much out there right now. IDR will have a fan base that'll come out regardless of reviews, but that might be it here in the US. BFG, even it does better than tracking indicates, doesn't seem the type of movie to bring in adults w/o kids the way Pixar movies do. So if you're an adult looking for a non-horror film you might just decide to give LOT a chance, even if you hadn't been paying attention to it before.