Here’s an update on Focus’ chaotic marketing campaign currently happening for Paul Greengrass’ “The Uprising,” starring Andrew Garfield.
Just to refresh your memory: yesterday, the social media account for Greengrass’ latest posted a new poster, a handful of stills, and short clips — along with a new title: “The Uprising: The Rise of Robin Hood.” Yes, Focus decided to market a Wat Tyler story, tackling the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, as a Robin Hood movie.
Twenty-Four hours later, Focus is back to just calling the film “The Uprising” in the new trailer, while the UK distributor is outright denying that it’s a Robin Hood movie. Here’s their statement:
Marketing materials posted by other countries that may appear in the UK online and on social media referencing Robin Hood are not issued or approved by us.
Yet … the US press notes sent out this morning, which refer to the film simply as “The Uprising,” mention “Robin Hood” in the synopsis — seen below:
What is going on here? On one hand, you have the US marketing fully embracing the Robin Hood angle, while on the other, the UK reps are flat-out denying it — leaving the film with two very different marketing strategies.
It should be mentioned that in the film, Garfield plays an unnamed “Ploughman,” and Robin Hood may only be an implied inspiration—or, in my own theory, a possible late-film reveal.
It’s quite obvious that tracking must not be good for this film—bad enough for Focus to switch up the marketing this drastically just two weeks before release. Hey, maybe it’s working? “Robin Hood” was trending on X this morning—probably not the way Focus wanted to get the film noticed, but at least there’s more “awareness” around it now.
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