This voicemail message just in from a Paramount rep: "We are not screening 'G.I. Joe' for critics -- broadcast critics or print critics -- in New York and Los Angeles. We are targeting more for the Middle American heartland for this movie...'' So does that mean they're screening it in Omaha? Paramount didn't return my followup calls. Last week, you may recall, the studio vehemently denied a report in New York Magazine that the film wouldn't be screened and insisted it would be. The film has been shown to undemanding fanboy bloggers (it's currently rating 88 at Rotten Tomatoes), to dubiously credential British reviewers and jaded junketeers on both sides of the Atlantic (star Sienna Miller feels Decca Aitkenhead's pain). It was premiered last week at an Army base in Maryland. There's a promo screening Thursday night in Manhattan. Presumably critics will be shot on sight.
Update: A quote in an AP story that just moved seems to indicate the flick might not be screening for print critics anywhere in the U.S. With a reported budget of $175 million, that would make it the biggest movie to bypass mainstream reviews (even "Ghost Rider'' technically screened in advance, if only the night before opening). "'G.I. Joe' is a big, fun, summer event movie -- one that we've seen audiences enjoy everywhere from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to Phoenix, Ariz.," AP quoted Paramount bigshot Rob Moore, as spinning. "After the chasm we experienced with 'Transformers 2' between the response of audiences and critics, we chose to forgo opening-day print and broadcast reviews as a strategy to promote 'G.I. Joe.' We want audiences to define this film." In this day and age, audiences aren't stupid. They know why studios don't show movies to critics -- they're lousy. And bad reviews didn't exactly hurt "Transformers,'' so that seems like a specious argument to me.
