Putting A Movie On The Cover That Nobody Can See
Ah, the glamorous world of movies, this time biting the not-as-glamorous world of journalism squarely on the arse.
The folks over at Entertainment Weekly wanted to make a late-summer splash by splaying Daniel Radcliffe on the cover of its fall movie preview double issue, which hit the stands today.
That would have made eminent sense, given that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was due to crown the competition in November. That was until Warner Brothers announced yesterday it had decided "Half-Blood" could put more fannies in the seats come summer. Now it's slated for a July 17 release.
Which may be all well and good for the studio's bottom line, but it makes EW look a little silly, even if it had no warning.
As EW.com's Sean Smith cheekily notes: "EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information."
Feel your pain, brah. Back in my CBS days, Simon & Schuster would be pushing authors for interviews everywhere but at the radio network, where I toiled. When I casually mentioned to a S&S publicist that we were owned by the same company (Viacom), it sounded like that was news to her. You can't help the team if you don't even know you're on it.
No one expects Warner Brothers to alter its release calendar just because of an EW cover. But a weekly can do some twists and turns at the last minute before it goes to print. Some heads up on the Q.T. from the studio to EW was eminently achievable.
Instead, EW got a whole lot of Silenzio! from the Potter camp, which could make newsstand sales disapparate in a hurry.
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