Part of the actor’s strike stipulations is that actors who are members of SAG aren’t allowed to promote any of the projects they’re involved in.
That means stars aren’t showing up at premieres and aren’t doing interviews on talk shows or with magazine and TV news outlets. Planned media tours have also been scrapped left and right.
It has often been asked whether that is having an actual impact on box-office and, if so, by how much. Several studio sources have now quantified the figure enough to make an estimate in a story over at THR.
They suggest a movie’s earnings at the box office could be hurt by as much as 15% due to the falloff in talent-driven publicity. Specifically, the recent $43.1 million five-day opening of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” is believed to have taken a hit of $7-10 million because of the publicity restrictions placed on its cast and on co-writer/producer Seth Rogen.
Paul Dergarabedian of Comscore is less certain of figures, telling the outlet: “While the box office impact is difficult to quantify with mathematical certainty, there is no question that this time-honored tradition has value.”
How R-rated comedy “Strays” and DC’s “Blue Beetle” movie perform this weekend will also be observed closely – “Strays,” in particular, has been impacted by the lack of its starry voice cast being able to promote it.
The ticking clock is coming to a crunch time for Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” which will need to begin its publicity efforts in earnest in early September and which its production company Legendary is said to be insistent on a full press tour by the cast.
