The “materialists” proved to be a success, but was it the film that people were waiting for?

Some films are easier to get people out of their house and in cinemas than others – suites, franchise films, remakes and restarts of popular animated classics, for example – but it is only to a certain extent. An original film like Céline songthe second year function, MaterialistsPerhaps more difficult, except for its three stars in good faith Dakota Johnson,, Pedro PascalAnd Chris Evans. SongThe previous film, Pastreceived two Oscar nominations after receiving praise of criticism, starting at Sundance Film Festival in early 2023, but A24 decided to adopt a different approach with Materialists By not doing it first in a festival and simply relying on more traditional marketing. It is difficult to imagine that A24 should do a lot in addition to praising the distribution of Big-Name de Song, but The studio decided to adopt a very different approach in the way it sold the last of Song.

Despite the fact of not taking the Festival path, Materialists always received mainly positive criticisms, although criticisms were not as gushing in their praise as Past. Despite this, the second feature of Song opened its doors with an impressive $ 12 million last weekend, which makes it the third largest opening of A24, so it’s great, right? Except that the film ended up receiving a “b-” Cinemascore from the public questioned during the opening evening, which is quite discouraging for those who appreciated the film, including many film critics. Part of this can be due to the two very different bands published by A24, which did not do a very good work of representation fully of the real tone and the intention of the film.

The first trailer for “materialists” was looking like a light romantic comedy

The first trailer for Materialists Arrived in mid-March with a lot of anticipation, not so just because of Song’s first feature film, but also because of his casting. He presents Lucy de Johnson, a new York -based inter -director who is trying to find the best companion for his customers through various dates. While we learn in the trailer, she is very successful in her work with nine customers to get married, but she has her own love life problems, something that changes Harry “Unicorn” from Pascal, essentially the perfect man in many key factors that Lucy’s customers are looking for. We also meet Chris Evans as John, the actor in difficulty of Lucy, ex, Another element of the trailer that seemed to be Point towards the type of Rom-Com in the love triangle that we have seen so many times in the big studios.

The first trailer for Materialists I did everything possible for the film to look more like films than directors Nora Effron (Sleepless in Seattle),, Nancy Meyers (Holidays), Or Garry Marshall (Valentine’s Day) could have done in the 80s or 90s. He came with a blanket of Madonna’s “material girl”, placing her on thick who Materialists It was the type of romantic comedy film that could be more appropriate on a Valentine’s Day. The first trailer also presented “My Baby (Got Nothing at all)”, an unusually cute song of Michelle Zauner aka Japanese breakfastReturn to songs that have been gathered in previous studio Roma. Maybe it didn’t seem to be too big, because Johnson had made his right part of romantic dramas and comediesIn particular the successful trilogy Fifty Shades of Gray, but in the middle of these, Johnson also made his first foray into direct rom-comes with 2016 How to be single.

The second trailer for “materialists was even more confusing

A month before Materialists Released and before the criticisms started to appear, A24 released a second trailer for the film. He seemed even more similar to an A24, and perhaps even further from what Song had wanted as a filmmaker. First, he reduced the comic aspects of the plot and added a traditional trailer narrator explaining Lucy’s situation, for all those who could not understand the first time. Whoever saw one or the other trailer and expected Materialists Being this light romantic comedy can have been blinded by every serious moments later in the film.

To deepen this “b-” cinemascore and why it is such a disturbing thing, we only have to look back some of the most popular romantic comedies of the last forty years. During the longest, it was a kind of very popular film, and in the 80s and 90s, Me Ryan was the queen of the Rom-Com studio with films like When Harry met Sally,, Sleepless in Seattle,, And You’ve got mail. These three films were co-written, written or made by fire, Grand Nora Ephron. These films have received “A +”, “A” and “A-” Cinemscores, respectively, but at least the first two are considered as classics and absolute standards for the kind of romantic comedy. Even Nancy Meyers‘2000 Film What women want,, A huge box office struck Mel Gibson with Helen Hunt In a high concept concept meeting, received a “B +” cinemascore.

There is nothing wrong with a well -made romantic comedy, but it did not look like what song was trying to achieve with Materialists. Instead, this sets up a typical premise of Rom -Com with Lucy having to decide between these two very different men – a Schlub in difficulty by Chris Evans, a rich, beautiful and large, then transforms the film into a serious exploration of relationships and what people consider their perfect companion. And yet, this last song may have been the reason why many criticisms praised Materialists More than they could have a traditional Rom-Com studio. Regardless, Materialists Cinemascore is the real story, and it shows that the public has entered the Song’s film while waiting for one thing, has obtained something completely different. For many, it is not considered a bad marketing, as much as it is considered a false direct advertising.

Materialists

Release date

June 13, 2025

Execution time

117 minutes

Director

Céline song

Producers

Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, David Hinojosa