You can’t turn on a television or open a newspaper (assuming anyone still opens newspapers) without being hit in the face by a photo featuring Optimus Prime and Megan Fox, yet it seems Michael Bay hasn’t been entirely happy with the way Paramount Pictures has marketed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
TMZ claims to have acquired a copy of an email sent by Bay on May 4th, in which he blasts the way Paramount was promoting the movie. In particular he takes aim at the way they were being treated in print, and accuses Paramount of failing to position Revenge of the Fallen as an “event”.
Here’s the really interesting thing. On June 6th TMZ claims he sent a second letter in which he praises Paramount and talks about how hard they’ve worked, bringin their “A game” for the release of Transformers.
Now note the timing of those two letters. What was happening on May 4th? Paramount was still in the middle of a massive Star Trek marketing blitz. Star Trek was everywhere, heavily in the limelight and with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen still more than a month away the time hadn’t really arrived to start pushing it yet. In the May 4th letter Bay even addresses Trek, comparing the effort put into it to what he felt was a lesser effort put into his film. Sounds like a minor case of jealousy on the part of Bay, jealousy which soon went away once Paramount was able to give him their full attention.
The truth is, at least from where I’m sitting, that no movie studio has done a better job of marketing its films this summer than Paramount Pictures. Star Trek was a massive hit and that was due in part, to the brilliant way in which Paramount positioned it. Meanwhile they’re sparing no expense with Transformers, even though it’s a sequel and let’s face it, people are probably going to see it whether or not they spent a lot of ad dollars on it. Even G.I. Joe is out there, in the public consciousness. Granted it looks like garbage but if it is garbage then there’s only so much Paramount can do for it.
Look Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a massive movie and guess who’s going to be blamed if it somehow flops? The director, that’s who. So it’s understandable that a guy like Bay might get a little nervous about the way it’s being marketed, with so much riding on his shoulders. Luckily Bay calmed down, came to his senses and, is seemingly back on board with the hard working Paramount marketing gurus.
