Well more on the ongoing saga of the Star Wars trailer, I can tell ya this Snagglepuss fella is on the inside... So hang loose and it looks like the first place to see it will be the big markets, in specified theaters, that one theater in San Francisco will probably get it.. oh well, I won't see it here. Perhaps, it'll get online, like the SWSE trailer, ala RED 5, last time around. Well, theforce.net or jedinet will probably get it first... However, I'll keep my ear to the ground for this one...
Snagglepuss entering -- stage right.
The entertainment world changes so fast, so don't blame me as I'm just trying to keep up with it.
Some people have been reporting recently (on lesser websites, I might add) that the STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE teaser won't be on THE X-FILES print. This is now somewhat true. There was a meeting held on Thursday, May 21st out at Skywalker Ranch where Lucas assembled his crew to watch the teaser. Fox desperately wants the teaser on THE X-FILES to build anticipation just like Sony did with GODZILLA, but Lucas wants to make sure the teaser's just right. The 1 minute, 27 second teaser **is** done, but Lucas wants to change a couple of shots. Needless to say, the teaser will be completely finished on Thursday of this week, yet two things stand in the way:
(1) All prints of THE X-FILES are being struck on Thursday, as well. They'll be shipped to FilmTransit on Friday.
(2) The teaser needs to be digitally encoded, which takes a week to do. X-FILES is officially Dolby Digital, but the DTS/DD/SDDS tracks need to be layered on the X-FILES disc. This won't happen in time. In short, everything isn't coming together fast enough. All theaters rely on special trailer discs sent from DTS itself to back up added trailers not attached to the actual print. The next disc will be coming out the first week of June.
So, where does this leave us?
Fox has decided to hold off on SW:E1's teaser for a week, sending it out to "special theaters," just like they did with the SPECIAL EDITION and INDEPENDENCE DAY. No word on when exactly they'll be shipped out, but I'm guessing the trailers will be digitally-encoded and ready for exhibition on June 12th. Fox is going to slowly leak the trailer out instead of an aggressive campaign right off the bat. The full-blown marketing campaign will take place in November, with Trailer "B," banners, displays, and one-sheets. I'd say that 60% of the marketing materials are completed, with the banners still being designed. The one-sheet teaser is being developed right now. Contrary to reports, it won't be the 3D-animation posters like LOST WORLD and SPECIES II. They **are** going to be high-quality glossies, though.
Personally, I think the department dropped the ball on quite a marketing one-two punch. STAR WARS and THE X-FILES are two of Hollywood's highest-concept, highest-anticipated projects. Why not complement the other? Oh, well. I don't call the shots -- I just work here.
As for other trailer stuff ...
*** A new PAYBACK trailer is being printed right now for THE TRUMAN SHOW, which -- you guessed -- will be attached instead of the STAR TREK trailer. That trailer is still undergoing some changes, but should be ready to program on June 19th. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT was ready for ERASER back in mid-June 1996, but Jonathan Frakes wasn't too happy with it. I guess the marketing dept. is still working overtime on this one to make it a stand-alone, crowd-pleasing trailer.
Snagglepuss has exited -- stage left.
