The rise of social media as a primary form of communication across all generations has led to the creation of “influencer screenings” for new movies. Unlike critics, who could potentially give the movie a bad review, the hope is that influencers and social media figures who attend will begin to generate word-of-mouth (loosely defined) popularity. However, for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey film, based on Homer’s epic, Universal has decided to skip straight to critic screenings. This, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Odyssey will follow the story of Odysseus, a Greek king, as he travels back home after the Trojan War. He encounters his fair share of mythological beings along the way, from cyclopes to witches. His journey stretches over ten years, so it being nearly three hours long is understandable. Matt Damon is playing Odysseus, and he will be joined onscreen by an astonishing number of other big names. From Robert Pattinson to Travis Scott, a myriad of unexpected stars will appear as figures of Greek myth.
There are several drawbacks to studios using influencers to promote new movies. First of all, often times there is no complete honesty from studios on whether the promoters they are using even are influencers. Additionally, influencers often give much more fanatically positive reviews of early-screened movies than do professional critics. This can be misleading, and viewers usually see their feedback not as honest reviews, but rather advertisements.
Universal’s choice to do this on a Christopher Nolan film, of all directors, may very well influence the way other studios move when it comes to screenings. Critics and Nolan’s diehard fans alike take his films very seriously, which makes it all the more weighty.
The movie will premiere in London on July 6 and move directly to professional critic screenings. It will come out to the public on July 17.