By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Viewers, Marketers on the Defensive as 'United 93' Trailer Hits NYC Theaters
The Daily News this morning features the first of what promises to be many stories on what we might as well call the United 93 frontlash–visceral negative hype against a film about which everybody seems to have an opinion without having seen it. While I am far more preoccupied with known quantities–e.g. the film’s hacky, self-aggrandizing director Paul Greengrass–than with smacking United 93 down one month before its release, a trio of NYDN reporters hit area theaters to do the next best thing: gauge reaction to the film’s new trailer.
And, oh, the humanity:
At least one theater on the upper West Side has yanked the harrowing trailer for Universal Pictures’ upcoming United 93, saying it reduced one patron to tears.
“I personally received a couple of complaints. Some people were pretty upset,” said a manager at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 12 theater on Broadway. “We pulled the trailer last weekend.” …
“I covered my eyes. I couldn’t watch it,” said upper East Side retiree Gloria Harper, who volunteered as a Ground Zero relief worker shortly after 9/11. “I won’t see the movie. I mean we lived through it.”
The trailer, complete with heart-pounding surround sound, had a similar effect on some moviegoers at the Regal Battery Park theater – located virtually across the street from Ground Zero.
“It was disturbing. It’s always painful and brings back memories,” said Aida Sotelo, 47, a Manhattan homemaker who was working a block from the twin towers on 9/11. “It’s still hurtful to see. And it will always be too early for me.”
The piece also features a few endorsements: At least one victim’s relative invokes the film’s potential to help future generations grapple with the horror of 9/11, and no less an authority than Universal Pictures marketing director Adam Fogelson is 100 percent behind United 93‘s trailer:
“We didn’t use any footage that people haven’t seen before, and we didn’t enhance it,” he added. “It’s truly horrific. So we’re not shocked to hear that some people find it uncomfortable.”
Translation: Get over it, New York.