Two weeks ago, we were being told that Universal was about to do something almost unheard of these days with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
The story, first pushed by The Hollywood Reporter and then repeated everywhere else, was that there would be no influencer screenings and that actual film critics would be the first to react to the movie. After years of studios letting social media hype drown out real criticism, it sounded almost too good to be true.
Turns out, it was.
Those first reactions are still going to come from the same junket crowd that’s been part of the studio marketing machine. Whether you call them influencers, creators, entertainment reporters, funkos, or whatever the latest label is, it’s the same formula we’ve seen over and over again.
The influencer-infused social media reactions will hit first, tomorrow afternoon, July 6, while most real film critics won’t even see “The Odyssey” until the night of Monday, July 13 — that’s when I’m also due to catch it. Reviews won’t be published until Wednesday, July 15, a day before the film opens with previews. So much for critics getting the first word.
Which is why that original narrative now looks pretty ridiculous. We were led to believe Universal was breaking away from the influencer-first model, when in reality they’ve just dressed it up differently. The end result is exactly the same. Expect glowing first reactions tomorrow to dominate the conversation, probably some “masterpiece” labeling, all making it sound like “The Odyssey” is the next “Lawrence of Arabia.”
As for how that original “no-influencers” story spread so quickly, I’ll let readers draw their own conclusions. The trades don’t usually stumble into narratives that happen to make a studio look great without some help along the way. Maybe it was optimistic reporting. Maybe it was clever studio messaging. Either way, the “critics first” angle clearly didn’t pan out. The marketing machine won again—it just found a different way to sell the exact same rollout.
The man doesn't stop. James Gunn has confirmed he's already hard at work writing his next film, even as ‘Man of Tomorrow’ makes its way toward theaters next summer.