20th Century Fox planned to release the Reese Witherspoon-Chris Pine-Tom Hardy romance/action comedy
This Means War today with the date heavily publicized in print ads and TV spots.
In the eleventh hour,
Fox delayed War to February 17 and hastily proposed its initial Valentine's Day release as a sneak preview in an attempt to save face.
They had good reason to worry.
Last weekend, no studio pitted a romance or rom-com against Sony/Screen Gems'
The Vow for the pre-Valentine's business; Fox was the only maverick then-scheduling
War on the actual holiday to vie for that same audience.
With its tearjerker premise, appealing leads, and promise of
The Notebook's earnest romance and sentimentality,
Vow was a juggernaut to be fear; it had everything going for it to be the ultimate date movie and girls' night out. Tracking for
Vow rode high for months, while
War failed to pick up; on Facebook,
Vow had over 900k fans the day before its release compared to
War's current 23k (no, that is not a typo).
Vow opened last weekend on top with a record-breaking $41.2 million, and is predicted to continue raking business today for Valentine's.
Which will be a sign of the future of your relationship?
(Marquee created at says-it.com)
The McG-directed
War spy vs. spy romance/action comedy by no means has the stench of a stinker and looks like popcorn-fun similar to
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but the timing is off. With love in the air, the distasteful and aggressively-titled picture is not something I picture couples gravitating toward at the marquee when next to the romantic
Vow;
War would better take advantage of its mix of action and light romance-comedy appealing to both sexes in summer or early fall.
Since Fox did not budge and wave the white flag on
War's ill-fated February release, perhaps they could have done more to differentiated their picture.
Here are five suggestions how their digital movie campaign could have recruited moviegoers to fight harder for
War:
1. The ANTI-Valentine's
For every PDA-hands-all-over-each-other couple on the street who adores Valentine's Day, there are more singletons and people who view it as a grossly commercial and sappy day.
The Vow will take Valentine's Day, but
War can put up a brawl for the days and weekend after.
Make opening day an event for people who aren't V-day fans to get excited about and come together on the 14th to watch it together.
A campaign plastering the slogan "THIS MEANS WAR on Valentine's" on RSVP cards and videos all around the web can serve as a dig on the holiday while promoting the movie. Fans can invite friends by sharing the RSVP cards and videos that poke fun at love on their social media networks.
Partner up with sites such as
Meetup.com and
Eventbrite where people with similar interests can get together, and make opening day at a theater a "THIS MEANS WAR on Valentine's" event party. To encourage people to attend, an opening day exclusive Anti-Valentine's freebie or incentive (example: Restaurant.com voucher so the group can dine out after the movie) can be given with each movie ticket.
For Pine and Hardy wage
War over you, the Tweet Cheat-Off, and more
:
