Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig premiered The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in London tonight, beginning their carpet tour towards the film’s opening on December 21. Reviews for the film are embargoed until tomorrow. But last week there was a big ass drama over the release of The New Yorker’s - a positive one - a full week before the date, which was agreed upon with the studio before the screening. David Denby, the publication’s film critic, argued that it was a timeline issue to make the print cut-off point. Scott Rudin, the film’s producer, retorted that an agreement is an agreement and that Denby’s violation of it represented a breach of that signed agreement for which he will be punished - in other words, he claims he’ll no longer present any of his future projects in advance for Denby’s analysis.

Not surprisingly, most other journalists sided with Rudin and Sony, seeing as they respected the embargo date and followed orders. They also, obviously, don’t want to risk their relationships with a major player in Hollywood for fear of retribution that would jeopardise their own outlets. I have been to advance screenings before where embargoes have been in place. And they make you feel like they’ll come after your family if you break them.

Media, you must be controlled!

It goes to show how obsessive Hollywood can be about the marketing strategy for a major motion picture. You never want a movie to peak too early. Even with a built in audience as extensive as this, even if most of the critics have good things to say, it also matters WHEN they’re allowed to say it, so as to follow the timing package, meticulously designed by the studio experts for maximum effect. In this environment then, how can you ever believe that there are “accidents” anymore when it comes to photos and reports? These people, they plan EVERYTHING. And when someone comes along and f-cks that sh-t up, the wrath will come, and it will come down hard.

Freedom of the entertainment press? You are out of your mind.

Let’s discuss more tomorrow during the Weekly LiveBlog.