The Odyssey: Influencers are persona non grata!

Universal Pictures has reportedly decided against holding influencer screenings for Christopher Nolan's new film, The Odyssey. Instead, the film will have a world premiere in London on July 6, followed by more traditional screenings for film critics. Influence: A promotional strategy backfiring on studios. In recent years, studios have often tried to get ahead of professional critics by inviting fan site bloggers and social media influencers to major releases early on, giving them the opportunity to quickly post short reactions on their own channels. But this strategy now seems to be backfiring. Audiences are increasingly skeptical of the sometimes overly enthusiastic praise from these screenings, as well as of the connections some influencers have with studio marketing departments. Bad buzz for The Mandalorian and Grogu and Supergirl. A fairly transparent promotional video for The Mandalorian and Grogu, along with rave reviews from influencers for Disclosure Day and Supergirl, followed by much more mixed traditional reviews, have recently contributed to putting these screenings under fire. A welcome editorial clean-up. We already liked Christopher Nolan a lot, but now we're going to absolutely love him. It was about time someone finally decided to clean up this wild horde of promotional, often bogus, reviews that too regularly pollute press releases for movies. The feeling that we're finally getting back on track is almost within reach. Of course, critics can also be wrong or defend differing opinions, and that's precisely what makes the debate interesting. But blissful, crass, and unmotivated unanimity has never done cinema much good. Quite the opposite.