There’s no doubt about it, this summer sports one of the most cramped, blockbuster release schedules in recent memory. All three of the biggest earning movies of all time have already released threequels this summer and that was just the tip of the iceberg that Hollywood has launched at theaters in the next couple of months. With all the competition it may be hard for even big-budget movies to cut through the noise, but Evan Almighty director Tom Shadyac thinks Universal isn’t even trying to promote his movie.
Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Shadyac went nuts in a recent Universal meeting, railing against the company’s execs for what he sees as an inadequate Evan marketing plan. Shadyac reportedly said, “I'm not seeing any ads, and I don't know why. I'm not getting answers. People are giving me information that isn't true…”
Apparently Mr. Shadyac hasn’t been outside in awhile, because here in Dallas I can’t step out the door without being assaulted by Evan Almighty promotional materials. And it’s not something that just started yesterday. Universal has been promoting the film pretty hard since last fall. There are commercials all over the television, Regal Cinemas has a huge feature on the film showing in their pre-film advertising before every movie, and that’s in addition to the Evan Almight trailers that seem to run before just about everything. I’ve seen billboards and magazine ads, heard radio spots. Granted, maybe it’s not quite at the level that say, Transformers is, but it’s certainly being advertised at least as heavily as Live Free or Die Hard or Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and much more heavily than say Harry Potter or Ratatouille. What I’m getting at here is that Tom Shadyac has lost his ever loving mind. If they market the movie anymore, I’m going to start to resent it’s intrusion on my daily life. You can only watch that monkey drink lemonade so many times.
He may however have reason to be nervous about his movie, and marketing has nothing to do with it. Face facts, there are simply way too many big, must-see movies being released this summer. At least one of them has to flop, doesn’t it? It’s not going to be Transformers and it’s not going to be Harry Potter. Personally, my money is on Fantastic Four 2 or Live Free or Die Hard to fail, but Evan Almighty has a fight on its hands if it’s going to make a dent in an overloaded movie summer. Universal is attempting to set it’s movie apart from the mess by marketing it’s religious content to church groups, the way Narnia was, but who knows if that’ll work as well on a comedy starring Steve Carell. Isn’t having the 40 Year-Old Virgin play Noah blasphemous?
