The headline felt like a breath of fresh air. The dawn of a new era. A victory for the good guys. “Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey to Skip Social Media Influencer Screenings,” said an article in the Hollywood Reporter last week, and everywhere, people rejoiced. Good riddance to those bought-and-paid-for early reviews. Reviews that, more often than not, are much more positive than those of professional journalists and critics that come later. Only, there was more than one hole in this assertion. Not all the people quoted in the piece were influencers. Some were critics and professionals who had been working in this business for decades. And I know that because it was me. I was among those quoted. Then, on Monday night, influencers, creators, critics, and journalists alike started posting images from a 70mm IMAX screening of The Odyssey in New York City, leaving many confused. What happened to the idea of no social media influencer screenings? Wasn’t Christopher Nolan going to single-handedly reshape the state of entertainment journalism?
Well, the truth is, social media influencers were always going to get screenings of The Odyssey. In recent years, influencers have overtaken more traditional journalists and get most, if not all, of the time with talent when a movie is released, which makes sense. Many more people (especially young people) watch videos on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok than they do read websites like this one. A studio’s job is to publicize a movie, and those influencers do that better than most.
