Warner Bros. yanks TV spots for The Dark Knight Rises
Quote:
Studio in crisis-management mode in wake of deadly shootings
By Cynthia Littleton
Warner Bros. has yanked its TV and radio spots for "The Dark Knight Rises" in the aftermath of Friday's shooting rampage at a midnight screening of the pic in Aurora, Colo.
Multiple sources at two broadcast nets confirm the studio has asked to pull "TDKR" spots that had been set to run this weekend. In at least some cases, those spots will be replaced by blurbs for other Warner Bros. or Time Warner fare.
The extraordinary move comes as the studio undergoes a crisis-driven reevaluation of its marketing campaign for the Christopher Nolan Batman pic in the wake of the mass shooting that left 12 dead and more than 70 wounded. The decision to pull millions of dollars worth of spots on the pic's opening weekend is a vivid illustration of how significant an impact the mass shooting will have on the tentpole that had been the cornerstone of Warner Bros.' summer movie sked.
Sources said WB had asked to pull the spots at least for the next few days and is expected to be in touch with its media partners in the coming days about its long-term plans. TV and radio promotion for the pic, naturally, would be heaviest during its opening weekend.
Warner Bros. could not immediately be reached for comment. News of WB pulling "TDKR" TV spots was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
If the movie were a rom-com it wouldn't be an issue, Alex.
However, it's a rather violent film (although not as dark as TDK), and people could argue that it glorifies the events (obviously not the case, but when the media takes hold of something, they go hard)
It's not going to come near flopping. I really think it's going to be significantly impacted by the shooting though. Watching the news it's all just extremely depressing and sad. There is zero hype to go see this movie being generated by any of this coverage.
If the movie were a rom-com it wouldn't be an issue, Alex.
However, it's a rather violent film (although not as dark as TDK), and people could argue that it glorifies the events (obviously not the case, but when the media takes hold of something, they go hard)
