The "buzz" surrounding the American Idol spinoff movie From Justin to Kelly, starring Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini (the final two from the first season of Idol), continues to signal deep trouble for the twice-delayed flick. The Website FilmJerk.com reports that Fox has declined to make a full theatrical trailer for the film's upcoming June 20 release. In addition, Fox has decided to scrub most of the promotional material that would normally be produced for a probable hit and will produce only a basic press kit, ad slickers and one poster.
ADVERTISEMENT
As a result, the "teaser trailer" for From Justin to Kelly, which was produced to air in television ads (including ads on Idol) and in advance of the full trailer, will apparently be the only trailer issued. By eliminating the full trailer, Fox has shaved between half a million and a million from the marketing costs of the film. Elimination of much of the promotional material will save another sizable chunk of marketing cash.
Two theories have been offered for these changes: (1) From Justin to Kelly (or "J2K," as its fans call it) may be awful, and (2) the shocking failure of The Real Cancun at the box office this spring, discussed in this article, has scared distributors away from reality TV themes. We have no doubt that the second reason is true. Is the first also true? The Web site Box Office Prophets certainly thinks so. However, we'd prefer to let you judge for yourselves. This Yahoo! page contains the teaser trailer, discussed above, and two clips from the movie entitled "Bounce" and "The Girls' Room."
After reviewing these articles and these clips, we simply want to point out that the movie will be released in 14 days, against both potential blockbuster The Hulk and Rob Reiner's romantic comedy Alex and Emma, starring Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson (and based on Dostoyevsky's short story "The Gambler"), with little marketing and no advance press screenings. We predict that it won't open at #1 or #2 for the week.
Discuss this news story on our message boards