One of the most influential critics in the us at the time fight club was released was roger ebert
Background information on critical responses
Background information on critical responses
Fight club was originally a book written by Chuck Palahniuk in 1996. The author released the book because
…Bookstores were full of books like The Joy Luck Club and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and How to Make an American Quilt. These were all novels that presented a social model for women to be together. But there was no novel that presented a new social model for men to share their lives.
In 1999 the book was released as a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton.
On screening senior executives did not receive the film positively and were concerned that there would not be an audience for the film. Executive producer Art Linson, who supported the film, recalled the response:
"So many incidences of Fight Club were alarming, no group of executives could narrow them down."
Nevertheless, Fight Club was originally slated to be released in July 1999, later changed to August 6, 1999. The studio further delayed the film's release, this time to autumn, citing a crowded summer schedule and a hurried post-production process. Outsiders attributed the delays to the Columbine High School massacre earlier in the year.
Marketing executives at 20th Century Fox faced difficulties in marketing Fight Club and at one point considered marketing it as an art film. They considered that the film was primarily geared toward male audiences because of its violence and believed that not even Brad Pitt would attract female filmgoers. Fincher refused to let the posters and trailers focus on Pitt and encouraged the studio to hire the advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy to devise a marketing plan. The firm proposed a bar of pink soap with the title "Fight Club" embossed on it as the film's main marketing image; the proposal was considered "a bad joke" by Fox executives. Fincher also released two early trailers in the form of fake public service announcements presented by Pitt and Norton; the studio did not think the trailers marketed the film appropriately. Instead, the studio financed a $20 million large-scale campaign to provide a press junket, posters, billboards, and trailers for TV that highlighted the film's fight scenes. The studio advertised Fight Club on cable during World Wrestling Federation broadcasts, which Fincher protested, believing that the placement created the wrong context for the film. Linson believed that the "ill-conceived one-dimensional" marketing by marketing executive Robert Harper largely contributed to Fight Club's lukewarm box office performance in the United States.
- Why would the Columbine High School Massacre have an effect on the release date of Fight club?
- Why would Fincher oppose the advertisement during WWF broadcasts?
Essay Question over Half Term
Explore some of the ways in which you have gained fresh insight into your chosen film as a result of applying one or more specific critical approaches.
Look at the stars, the violence and the undertone message of fight club
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