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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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In his Friday (4.11) column, Variety's Peter Bart pointed to three recent instances in which distributors seemed to step away from apparent clunkers -- Valkyrie, Leatherheads and Drillbit Taylor -- or at least try to wash their hands of the odor. Their "bad habits," he said, have included the following:

* "Scheduling, then canceling, critics' screenings. As in the case of Leatherheads, this is the equivalent of announcing to the media community that a picture doesn't play. The critics will hammer it anyway, but maybe a couple of days later."

* "Scaling down expectations: As with Drillbit Taylor, the marketing folks created a lowball forecast for the opening weekend, then gloated when they hit that number. None of this gets away from the basic fact that the film didn't perform."

* "Delaying release dates: When studios say they've found a 'more appropriate' date for a film many months later, the subtext usually is they don't want red ink splashed over their quarterly results. Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, has been delayed twice (it's now slated for 2.13.09) and, while United Artists insists the film has excellent prospects, the glimmer of doubt is still put out there."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 13, 2008 at 10:55 AM

comment #1

LADODGERS23 says ...

They never canceled the screenings for Leatherheads for the critics. They had 2 screenings One at the Arc Light and one at the Chinese.

Posted by LADODGERS23 at April 13, 2008 4:52 PM

comment #2

Edward Havens says ...

I guess that's why myself and more than a hundred other critics had our reviews of Leatherheads up by Friday morning... because all the press screenings were cancelled.

*Sigh*

Bart once again goes on a misinformed rant based on false or misleading information and a business-model mind that stopped developing sometime around the release of Rambo and Back to the Future.

And wasn't it Bart who was so certain Titanic was going to bomb that he had a daily "Titanic Watch" which tracked every singe development of the expected debacle?

If the owners of Variety want to track why their is struggling, it's not solely because of the internet. Keeping this dinosaur in the driver's seat far past his expiration date (or charging $3.50 an issue, which sometimes struggles to get to 16 pages on any given day) isn't helping matters any. Not that I could run the paper any better. I just know it's time for some new blood.

Posted by Edward Havens at April 14, 2008 10:06 AM

comment #3

raygo says ...

As a concept, Valkyrie seems straight out of the 70s, when people (including high school boys) might have paid to see something about WW2 and Hitler, like The Dirty Dozen. The failed attempt to assassinate Hitler doesn't seem to spell blockbuster, no matter who they cast. I can't see people getting excited about it.

Posted by raygo at April 14, 2008 3:23 PM

comment #4