I just came across a very worrisome detail out there. WB has enacted a review embargo that restricts websites, bloggers and critics who have screened The Justice League movie. The embargo, if this is true, lifts at 1:50AM CST on November 15th. Which means that they can't go to "press" with their reviews until such time.
The Justice League opens in theaters on November 17th, 2017 in the U.S..
That gives movie-goers just over a day or so (a mere 40 hours [One day, 16 hours]) to digest reviews. What is also does is keeps the early ticket buyers totally in the dark about the film, which will give opening weekend numbers potentially false numbers to talk about.
This embargo truly worries me, even with Joss Whedon having taken over the reigns of the movie. Had Zack Snyder stayed at the helm, then I'd not be surprised. His style is killing the WB/DC products with his dark settings, alternate dreams and fantasy scenes.
But in my experience, and probably yours too, usually when a studio enforces a last-minute review embargo, it is never good news. I have yet to see an embargo for a good movie. Ever. It's usually a WARNING to stay away from a film.
IN fact the website Mashable had this to say about that:
"A couple of months ago, we took a look at the relationship between critics' embargo times and release dates (as well as other studio marketing behavior) and found a striking correlation: When they allow more than two full days for critical consensus to gather, the scores tend to be fresh (above 60%). Anything at two days or less trends toward rotten."They also made note that even social media postings are restricted about the film, but if you consider how Wonder Woman had social media postings 13 days ahead of its release date.
They also point out that the time of day, near midnight, is something they've never seen a major studio do.
WTF WB, is it really that bad? They even note that it wasn't just the family tragedy that forced Snyder's hand in stepping down, but that WB asked him to hand over the film to Whedon after seeing early cuts of the film.
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If this were some middle of the road kind of movie with a review embargo, I'd strongly suggest avoiding opening day or weekend until word of mouth starts to float around. But with this film and all the hype being generated, I doubt opening crowds will back off just because of this HUGE WARNING SIGN!
Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!!
It opens on the 15th in other countries like
Brazil,
Columbia,
Finalnd,
France,
Indonesia,
South Korea, and
Sweden.
It opens on the 16th in
United Arab Emirates
Armenia
Argentina
Australia
Belarus
Chile
Czech Republic
Germany
Denmark
Georgia
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Italy
Kuwait
Kazakhstan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Philippines
Portugal
Russia
Singapore
Taiwan
Ukraine
Everywhere else but Japan on the 17th.
Sadly, Japan has to wait like they almost always have to do, until November 23rd.
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I hope this embargo is all for nothing... the film seems to have legs, but then again, marketing is designed to trick you into buying something.
But if you go over to Mashable and look at a chart they've prepared, they strongly demonstrate the correlation between embargo dates and quality of a film.
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