Dear Gossips,
For a while now, the already fractious relationship between movie studios and film critics has been worsening as studios lean harder and harder on influencers to promote their movies. It’s one thing when they’re using influencers to fill a marketing void left by the devaluing of linear TV and the efficacy of the TV spot in reaching audiences, but it very quickly progressed from marketing ploys to blatantly favoring influencer reactions to movies over substantive film criticism.
The latest volley in the fight comes from John Wick spin-off Ballerina, which just kicked off its press tour. A wildly divergent embargo policy was issued for the film, which heavily favors “enthusiastic” social media responses but bars critics from publishing reviews until June 4, just two days before the film opens.
I’m just gonna name names because this is so odious. This is for BALLERINA. I don’t work for @lionsgate.com and if you don’t want me to share my opinions unless they’re beneficial to your movie, disinvite me from your screening.
— Matt Goldberg (@mattgoldberg.bsky.social) 2025-05-22T15:44:17.486Z
Matt Goldberg followed up with the PR firm and they “acknowledged that ‘enthusiasm’ was the wrong word to use”:
Just spoke with a rep at Brigade, a PR firm working with Lionsgate, who acknowledged that “enthusiasm†was the wrong word to use for the social embargo and that they meant to stress more the “spoiler-free†aspect. Do with that what you will.
— Matt Goldberg (@mattgoldberg.bsky.social) 2025-05-22T20:27:27.469Z
If they had left “enthusiasm” out of the policy it might have read more like a typical social reaction/published review split. It’s not at all unusual for films to allow social media reactions days or even weeks ahead of a film’s release, but to limit reviews closer to opening day. But using “enthusiasm” in the policy definitely makes it read like influencers can post ASAP as long as it’s positive press, but bitchy critics have to wait two days till opening day to open their sh-t mouths and ruin our opening weekend.
Because that is what this is really about. They want good vibes only until opening weekend, to guarantee big box office, and don’t want to risk bad reviews tanking it beforehand. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—reviews don’t really effect box office. If people are determined to see a movie, they’ll see it, critics be damned. Likewise, though, if audiences are unsure about a film, they’re likely to wait for the film to come out and see what people have to say before spending money themselves. It’s nice when someone says they watched a movie because of something I wrote, but generally I think people will see or not see stuff based on whatever is personally appealing, regardless of anyone else’s opinion.
Try telling studio executives that, though. Critics remain the bogeyman, which has little to do with the value of film criticism in and of itself, and more to do with the economics of the film industry. You don’t try to protect your word of mouth like this unless you’re worried about box office. I thought Ballerina looked cool, but honestly, embargoing reviews until two days before opening is a major red flag—it’s meant to curtail the amount of time bad reviews have to do damage to a film’s prospects—but the “enthusiasm” of it all only emphasizes there’s a lot riding on this film. Maybe more than we’d previously expected.
The Ballerina budget is a reported $80-90 million, not bad especially given the film underwent reshoots (that lasted either two weeks or two months depending on who’s talking). That’s a lot of money, but in the scheme of things, it’s not the kind of money that usually makes a studio panic about opening weekend, especially panic hard enough to try to manipulate word of mouth so blatantly in their favor.
And they didn’t stop at micro-managing reviews, either, they pulled out all the stops at the London premiere of the film, “all the stops” being Keanu Reeves and Pedro Pascal, who isn’t in the film—as far as we know—but showed up to canoodle with Ana de Armas on the black carpet. Keanu IS in the film, so his support makes more sense.
This is the first spin-off feature film in the John Wick universe, there is pressure on this film to deliver and prove that John Wick can work without John Wick. Except adding a Keanu cameo to the film and putting Keanu front and center at the premiere makes me think YOU think John Wick can’t work without John Wick.
Anyway, I’m seeing Ballerina in a couple weeks, and my review will post after the embargo. :)
Live long and gossip,
Sarah
