[Via Chris Garcia @ Austin360] According to the Hollywood Reporter, a Memphis projectionist named Jesse Morrison was fired after writing a scathing early review of the new Fantastic Four flick for Austin-based Ain't It Cool News. (Because it's apparently some kind of closely guarded trade secret that Silver Surfer is going to blow.)
In his capacity as a projectionist for the Malco Theater chain, Morrison was able to sneak a peek at quite a few big-name movies, and he'd written several other early reviews for AICN under the nickname "Memflix". Morrison claims that he had not signed a confidentiality agreement with Malco, and therefore had not broken any rules by voicing his opinion online. He also suggests that Fox--upset by the negative review--played a major role in forcing his dismissal. But Malco representatives claim that while Fox did initially alert them to the review, they did not influence the decision to fire the 29-year-old projectionist.
So did Morrison violate a tacit obligation to keep quiet about the films he projected? Or was Fox just pissed because their film was (probably accurately) ripped apart on one of the internet's most popular movie sites?
On the one hand, yes, it seems like Morrison was knowingly sliding through a loophole in the press screening process--most "professional" reviewers who attend these screenings are asked to hold their reviews until the day before the film's release, and Morrison existed as a part of that system.
But on the other hand, it's not like he bootlegged the film for sale on the streets of Shanghai or anything, he just typed out his opinion of it. And it seems clear that if the review were positive, Fox would never have made the phone call to Malco in the first place--in fact, they probably would have been elated to get such great exposure for the film.
Recently, quite a few studios have even been going out of their way to encourage early blogosphere buzz for films they're confident about; releasing sneak peeks on youtube, inviting bloggers for set visits and holding advanced screenings specifically geared toward internet-savvy influencers. So this particular incident seems to us like a case of the studios wanting to have their cake and eat it too. But one thing is for sure: projectionists all over the country can expect to be handed confidentiality papers sometime in the very near future.
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Is Tennessee "right-to-work" state?
Do projectionists have a union?
Pretty sure they were not unionized at that particular theatre.
so is this movie going to blow or not?
cause i'm about to see it