* Warner set to discuss on Monday possible ‘Gangster’
edits-source
* Change of Sept. 7 release date may also be considered
* Little impact of Colorado shooting seen on other movies
By Ronald Grover and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, July 22 (Reuters) – The Warner Bros. studio is
rethinking its plans for the film “Gangster Squad” in light of a
scene featuring a movie-theater shooting, but beyond that
Hollywood executives expect little fall-out from the mass
killing at a Batman screening on Friday in Aurora, Colorado.
Officials at Time Warner Inc-owned Warner Bros. are
expected to meet on Monday to discuss whether to remove or edit
the “Gangster Squad” shooting scene, or to change the Sept. 7
release date for the film starring Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling, a
person familiar with the discussions said.
On Friday, Warner Bros. yanked “Gangster Squad” trailers
after a gunman killed 12 and wounded 58 at a midnight premiere
of another Warner film, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Trailers had
included the scene in which men open fire with machineguns on an
audience in a movie theater.
Warner Bros. has scaled back promotions for “The Dark Knight
Rises,” canceling a Paris premiere and calling off appearances
by the cast in Mexico and Japan. Weekend box office results for
the Batman movie came in slightly below projections, but the
movie still grossed an estimated $162 million in the United
States and Canada for the third-best opening weekend ever,
according to Hollywood sources.
Industry experts said moviegoers were likely to move on
quickly from the shooting and studios would proceed mostly as
planned. Theaters tightened security over the weekend to
reassure customers and one chain imposed new rules on costumes.
Upcoming releases that feature some violence are set to
debut on schedule. “The Bourne Legacy,” a new movie in the
action series that stars Jeremy Renner in the role made famous
by Matt Damon, is set for Aug. 10. A remake of 1990 science
fiction movie “Total Recall” will reach theaters on Aug. 3.
“The immediate reaction is to go to some dark place when
something like this happens. By Monday that’s forgotten and the
business of releasing a movie takes over,” said one person
familiar with the studios’ thinking.
Especially for big-budget films, studios like to stick with
planned openings as they spend tens of millions of dollars to
raise awareness in advance. Filmgoers don’t dwell on isolated
incidents for long, said Peter Sealey, a former Columbia
marketing chief who now heads the Sausalito Group consulting
firm.
“The public’s attention span is not that long for such
tragedies, and they won’t make the connection the further it
fades into their memories,” Sealey said.
Ronn Torossian, chief executive of New York-based 5W Public
Relations, agreed that the public “has a very short-term memory”
of news events and said the Aurora shooting would not leave a
long-term impact on film promotion. “Reality shows have had
tragic suicides and other incidents, yet reality shows
continue,” he said.
EERIE RESEMBLANCE
“Gangster Squad” presents some unique issues due to the
theater shooting scene, which bears an eerie resemblance to what
transpired in Colorado. Sticking with the Sept. 7 release date
would require the film’s stars to do press interviews in the
next week or two and face questions about the scene and the
shooting.
The studio could decide to go ahead with the debut but
cancel the usual round of celebrity interviews and advance
screenings typically used to generate early buzz about a movie.
A Warner Bros. spokeswoman had no comment on Sunday.
Another studio, News Corp’s 20th Century Fox, had
to regroup earlier this year following the national uproar over
the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by
neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
Fox had already started promoting a Ben Stiller comedy
called “Neighborhood Watch.” After Martin’s killing, the studio
removed from theaters posters and a trailer for the film and
changed its name to “The Watch.” That movie opens on Friday.
Crowds still turned out for “The Dark Knight Rises,” the
finale in a popular Batman trilogy starring Christian Bale.
Hollywood sources estimated that the movie would finish the
weekend with $162 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters. That
would rank as the third-highest opening weekend of all time,
behind the $207 million record set by superhero movie “The
Avengers” in May and the $169 million for last summer’s finale
in the “Harry Potter” series.
Many fans of the Batman series had bought tickets through
advance sales ahead of the Aurora shooting.
Still, the “Dark Knight” opening appeared lower than box
office watchers had forecast before the shooting, suggesting
that some moviegoers decided to stay home in light of the
incident. Ahead of the weekend, projections for the first three
days ranged from $170 million to $198 million.
The major movie studios withheld their usual boasting about
movie ticket sales on Sunday in light of the incident. Warner
Bros. said it would provide “Dark Knight” figures on Monday, and
other studios also were expected to release tallies for their
movies at that time.
One studio, 20th Century Fox, did let reporters know that
animated sequel “Ice Age: Continental Drift” set new records in
international markets. Ticket sales since its late-June opening
reached $442.7 million, the studio said in an e-mail. The film
is now the highest-grossing film in Argentina and Uruguay after
four weeks in theaters, and scored the highest opening in
history in Venezuela.
