Marketing Without Stars? New Problems due to Actors Strike
Increasingly talent has been skipping press for their films, and the work stoppage marks major test for studios’ promotional efforts.
Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone premiere event took place in Los Angeles ahead of the film’s July 21 release but was without star Jamie Foxx, who has been largely out of the public eye since his hospitalization for undisclosed health issue.
Other stars have recently been absent on the red carpet for different reasons: Jonah Hill cited mental health concerns in declining to promote Netflix’s You People, while Ezra Miller didn’t talk to media for Warner Bros.’ The Flash after a spate of headlines about the star’s personal life.
The SAG-AFTRA strike threatens to make the options even more limited, and talent from this month’s high-profile releases were grabbing every last opportunity. Actors from Oppenheimer and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One were still going through with previously scheduled press interviews on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the strike that commenced early Friday.
“We definitely feel the difference,” They Cloned Tyrone producer Stephen Love says before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. “But Jamie’s such a legend, and he’s so heralded, that as long as he’s in the film, when people see it and they see the marketing of the movie, they still feel his presence.”
Press tour is just one weapon in movie’s marketing arsenal, but it’s viewed as an important one. When Strays’ planned June release date was moved to August 18, one advantage was that the delay would allow time for the WGA standoff with the AMPTP to resolve in hopes that late night could help promote the risqué comedy featuring Foxx, Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher and others voicing a group of dogs. Alas, there’s no end in sight, although insiders were hopeful that Foxx will participate in some press opportunities for Strays.
Promoting film without stars isn’t necessarily new dilemma. Russell Schwartz, associate professor at Chapman University, recalls multiple campaigns facing such issues during his time as president of marketing for New Line. One was for 2005’s The New World, as the feature from press-averse Terrence Malick was also without the support of stars Colin Farrell and Christian Bale after Farrell headed to rehab weeks prior to release.
The film’s team shifted to a limited, Oscar-qualifying run at year’s end before going wide in February, but the absences were felt. “We sort of lost our moment,” Schwartz syas.
His team had to employ a different strategy for navigating 2006’s The Nativity Story due to the real-life pregnancy of Keisha Castle-Hughes, the 16-year-old actress playing the Virgin Mary. Schwartz remembers the bulk of the press opportunities shifting to director Catherine Hardwicke and then-unknown Oscar Isaac, who portrayed Joseph, in addition to a heavier focus on the IP itself. But for original films like They Cloned Tyrone or Strays, there’s no baked-in familiarity to lean on. (Notably, streamers like Netflix tend to put less marketing muscle into titles than traditional studios.)
For Sony’s ribald recent comedy No Hard Feelings, this meant booking Jennifer Lawrence on not only Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live but also YouTube’s chatting-with-wings show Hot Ones. “Even if there were late night shows, I would try to get Jennifer on Hot Ones,” says Schwartz
Discussions over the box office impact of a press tour continues in light of The Flash underperforming. “It’s always debatable whether the star attraction translates into dollars,” says Schwartz.
Paul Dergarabedian points out that the press moments most likely to affect a project’s bottom line tend to come from the top-tier names like Tom Cruise: “The higher the star power, the greater the impact.”
