The Trayvon Martin shooting is a tragedy any way you look at it, and it's also the latest incident that is going to affect the roll-out of a movie. (That sounds horribly insensitive, but let's just assume that I want to talk about movies instead of ruminating on horrible real-world events.) Spider-Man famously had to have a teaser re-worked and a poster recalled after 9/11 as they prominently featured the Twin Towers, and there have been a few other films that have been delayed out of sensitivity to contemporaneous tragedies. It seems unlikely that Fox is actually going to delay the release of their big summer comedy, Neighborhood Watch, but it's already moving to at least appear cognizant of the fact that it might not be a good idea to market it heavily in Florida right this second.
Because someone apparently might think that Fox, in the two weeks since the shooting occurred, greenlit and made a film intended to mock it (and to be fair, we're talking about Floridians here), the studio is going to some lengths to ensure that everyone knows that that's not the case, removing their teaser poster and trailer from Florida theaters until the whole thing theoretically dies down a bit. As they told The Hollywood Reporter:
We are very sensitive to the Trayvon Martin case, but our film is a broad alien-invasion comedy and bears absolutely no relation to the tragic events in Florida. The movie, which is not scheduled for release for several months, was made and these initial marketing materials were released before this incident ever came to light. The teaser materials were part of an early phase of our marketing and were never planned for long-term use. Above all else, our thoughts go out to the families touched by this terrible event.
The film, which features Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill as neighborhood patrol members who stumble across an alien invasion, isn't intended for release until July 27, and the studio apparently has no intention of pushing that date backwards, as they probably would be forced to do if the shooting had taken place in, say, late June.
Still, good on them for at least realizing that it'd be a bad idea to appear to be cashing in on a hot-button issue. If the Martin case continues to be an issue of conversation through the summer, though, say if there's some kind of trial that plays out or god forbid more violence, one can only imagine what Fox's reaction will be.
Richard Ayaode? I think I have to see this movie. (latetotheparty)
Good on Fox for not overreacting. Unless there are Skittles/Arizona Tea marketing in the movie, it's not really insensitive to what happened.
Also, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. That's insensitive to the human race as a whole.
Richard Ayoade and Jonah Hill balance out Stiller and Vaughn, bringing this movie from a negative to a net zero.
Talk about bad timing. Not that this movie looked too impressive before.
How exactly do you stumble an alien invasion? I guess I'll have to wait and see how they do stumble upon an alien invasion.
What the, huh? There are aliens in this thing?! WHAT?!?
So it's a more highbrow Attack the Block?
That was sarcasm, by the way...
So Mars Needs Moms? Or something to that extent?
@Blubba:
I feel evil now....I laughed a little bit to hard at that
Richard Ayoade is going to outperform everyone in this. Fact.
Before i even clicked on the link and saw the thumbnail in my rss reader i knew this had to be a Ben Stiller movie. I do believe the man must be cursed.
Wait, there was an alien invasion in this movie? I saw the trailer before and got no hint of that.
"Because someone apparently might think that Fox, in the two weeks since the shooting occurred, greenlit and made a film intended to mock it..."
Man, I fucking HATE it when people do that. I remember when Disney bought Marvel, it was like a week before Marvel Super Hero Squad premiered on Cartoon Network, and fucking commenters all over the internet - who apparently missed that this was a toy brand for Marvel for several years at that point - instantly said that the cartoon was Disney's doing, and that that is what they wanted to turn Marvel's properties into. And they whipped up a 22 episode season of the show - a cartoon that takes months to produce - overnight.
It was Madness. I thought internet nerds were supposed to be that; nerds. Smart. They may be unreasonable (like being offended at Michael Bay calling his movie "Ninja Turtles", something we all do already), but flat out stupid? On nerd friendly websites? It was mind boggling.
@vinsanityv22 said:
You confused them. Those were not internet nerds, those were internet geeks.
@TehChich said:
Yeah, Richard Ayoade, Ben Stiller AND Vince Vaughn? I'm sorry, shooting or no shooting, I'm hyped.
i was thinking this was going to be a problem. Maybe they should do like that arnold schwarzenegger film did and release it a whole year later. (the movie was Collateral Damage, and it did decently, but not as well as hoped, especially after all the extra advertising they had to do).
Anyway, I have the Spider-man teaser poster they recalled. Look at Spidey's eyes.