LOS ANGELES — Trailers for high-profile movies usually arrive with as much noise as studio marketers can manufacture.
To get the footage viewed by as many people as possible as fast as possible — the formula for generating excitement — trailers tend to appear simultaneously online and in theaters. If a film has big stars, comes from a marquee director or focuses on a timely topic, entertainment TV shows often add sizzle by covering the trailer as news.
Not so for “Patriots Day.”
In a reflection of the sensitive subject matter — “Patriots Day,” starring Mark Wahlberg, revisits the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and its aftermath — CBS Films has gone out of its way to ease the first ads into the marketplace. A two-minute trailer was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, with an introduction by Mr. Wahlberg, a Boston native who said he felt “huge pressure” to get the story right. The trailer then began running in theaters on Friday, attached to “Deepwater Horizon.” CBS Films made it available online on Wednesday morning.
“It’s about respect,” Peter Berg, who directed “Patriots Day,” said by telephone. “We want people to understand that we’re taking a complex look at a complex topic.”
It’s also about apprehension. Movie marketing, always a high-wire act, has become more difficult because of the rush-to-judgment nature of the internet. A negative reaction to early footage (or even the basic film concept), even by a small group of people, can create an online brush fire that can be difficult if not impossible to douse, potentially harming the commercial prospects for a film.
In August, a flubbed poster for “Arrival,” a coming science fiction thriller starring Amy Adams, made the wrong kind of headlines for Paramount Pictures. Sony had to battle internet trolls from the minute its female-led “Ghostbusters” was announced. The negative response to an early ad for last year’s “Point Break” proved fatal for that movie, a remake from Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment.
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With “Patriots Day,” set for release in the coming months, the worry is that some people — New Englanders in particular — will view the film as a callous effort to translate tragedy into entertainment. The bombing killed three people and injured nearly 300 others. When Mr. Berg filmed “Patriots Day” in Boston last spring, thousands of people turned out to play extras, but he also encountered resistance. “Exploiting Our Collective Nightmare” read one local headline.
The first trailer for “Patriots Day,” which co-stars Melissa Benoist, Kevin Bacon and John Goodman, is notable for what it does not show: explosions, carnage or mass panic. Instead, the footage, set to a plaintive piano rendition of “America the Beautiful,” emphasizes patriotism and community.
It opens with American flags flying from Boston porches and street poles. Mr. Wahlberg, who plays a police officer (a composite character), walks the marathon route. Runners appear under a perfect blue sky. Crowds cheer. Then the screen goes dark, and there are two muted booms. Appearing on screen are the words, “Some events test our courage. Some people inspire our strength. And some moments define our spirit.” The final image is of two people grabbing each other’s hand.
“It’s a movie about the power of community and how, in the face of horrible events, humanity can come together,” said Terry Press, president of CBS Films.
Early reaction was positive.
”It was very tasteful, and now I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie,” said Lisa Baragiola, a St. Charles, Mo., dietitian who ran in the 2013 Boston Marathon. “I liked that they focused on people and not the bombing. It brought tears to my eyes.”
“Patriots Day,” which cost CBS Films and its distribution partner, Lionsgate, about $60 million to make, is not the first movie to face “how soon is too soon” questions. The 9/11-focused films “World Trade Center” and “United 93” grappled with similar concerns in 2006. There are also other films in the works about the Boston Marathon attack; “Stronger,” planned for release next year, will find Jake Gyllenhaal playing Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs in the bombing.
Mr. Berg, who teamed with Mr. Wahlberg for “Deepwater Horizon,” a disaster thriller now in theaters about the 2010 oil rig catastrophe off the coast of Louisiana, said that terrorist events in Europe and the recent bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood gave “Patriots Day” even greater weight.
“I live five blocks south of where that happened in New York,” he said. “I was angered, and I was horrified. But I was also not surprised. This has now, in a way, become part of society. And that’s why we have to explore it, even if it’s hard. How do we survive and make sense of these moments of madness?”
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Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/business/media/patriots-day-eases-into-promotion-with-solemn-tone.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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