“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” was a children’s novel written by Judy Blume that was published in 1970. Recently, Lionsgate decided to produce a movie version of it with a star-studded cast in what seemed like a surefire hit.
But it wasn’t. Whether because people are just tired of Hollywood, don’t know about the Judy Bloom books, or thought the movie looked uninteresting, the movie was a total flop at the box office. In fact, as Hollywood in Toto put it:
Yet the film, which boasts an impressive 99 percent “Fresh” rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, is one of the year’s box office disappointments.
So far, “Margaret” has earned just $16 million after three weeks of release, and the drama shed more than 900 screens over the weekend.
So that’s not good. And what is Hollywood doing to promote it? “Lionsgate is bringing out a last-minute paid partnership to draw attention to the film,” Hollywood in Toto reports. And who’s that partner? Dylan Mulvaney, the face of the Bud Light disaster.
“Chatting with one of my heroes, Judy Blume!! Get tickets and take your mom, grandma, or the mother figure in your life to see Are You There God? #ItsMeMargaret this Mother’s Day weekend. It’s the iconic story we all love finally on the big screen! #lionsgatepartner,” Mulvaney’s TikTok channel wrote.
Here’s that:
@dylanmulvaney Chatting with one of my heroes, Judy Blume!! Get tickets and take your mom, grandma, or the mother figure in your life to see Are You There God? #ItsMeMargaret this Mother’s Day weekend. It’s the iconic story we all love finally on the big screen! #lionsgatepartner
Apparently, Judy Blume is woke as, during the discussion they had, she said, “What I am saying now is, having lived through the ‘80s with the book banning, what’s going on now is scarier and much worse,” referring to so-called “book bans” and the removal of Critical Race Theory or Gender Ideology literature from school libraries.
Additionally, at one point Blume had defended JK Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” books, but then backpedaled on Twitter, saying that she “vehemently disagree[s] with anyone who does not fully support equality and acceptance for LGBTQIA+ people.”
— Judy Blume (@judyblume) April 16, 2023
Hollywood in Toto noted that there are a number of problems with the partnership, namely that it’s largely too late for the film to succeed in theaters and Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light was a disaster. In its words:
The timing is awkward on two fronts.
The film is fading, fast at the cineplex so the Mulvaney campaign has little chance of re-igniting interest in the title at the theatrical level. Team Lionsgate may be pinning its hopes on a robust VOD debut.
Plus, Mulvaney’s Bud Light sponsorship sent the venerable brand plummeting in sales.
Parent company Anheuser-Busch reportedly lost $5 billion in market share following the Mulvaney sponsorship deal. The company plans a robust ad spend moving forward to reverse the significant sales slump, emphasizing the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership’s minuscule size and scope.
Here’s the trailer for the movie:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
"*" indicates required fields