At this point, Universal might as well just release
The Adjustment Bureau as a straight-to-DVD fare and just cut their losses (which total around $60-70 million).
George Nolfi's sci-fi/romance adaptation of
Philip K. Dick's short story has troubled studio execs ever since
Nolfi cut that first trailer together, and then red alert truly hit when their
Matt Damon starring $100 million budgeted
Green Zone didn't open to an audience of more than $35 million domestic. Originally set for July this year, The Adjustment Bureau was then moved to September and then quickly into March 2011 (which took U.K. cinema's a while to catch up... I saw a 'THIS YEAR' trailer for this movie attached to The Social Network recently!), with no reason for the move officially given. There
was rumours of a troubled production relating to growing pains from the first time director (co-writer of
The Bourne Ultimatum) but I'm guessing the move was more because Universal just don't know how to market this thing and this film is a head-scratcher for them. The movie finds Damon as a U.S. congressman on the verge of political stardom who falls for a ballerina dancer (
Emily Blunt), but there are upper echelons of humans (or Gods, or something) who in The Matrix or The Box style, really pull the strings in this world and for reasons of deadly consequences, Blunt and Damon can't be together. Like all Dick stories, it's a neat premise and Nolfi's script for this thing is solid - and with
John Slattery and
Terrence Stamp as the Adjustment Team, things were looking good for this cerebral sci-fi blockbuster, at least until Universal started cutting trailers and posters together;
So what can Universal do from here? Well, surely before they released these posters the first thing they should have done was drop the title which is awkward and unappealing. Ask an 18 year old what a Bureau is, and watch his eyes widen in fear of ignorance. The second is they need to define a clear sense of imagery for their film. Two posters, a quad and a one-sheet have been released today and they are aiming for the colour scheme of
Inception but with the running aspect of Matt Damon's
Bourne movies and they just aren't cutting it for me. The latter just looks like Damon is in a sci-fi version of
North by Northwest...
The Adjustment Bureau which opens March 4th worldwide from Universal, opens just a week before Summit's similar themed and identity crisis ridden Source Code just one week later in the U.K. on March 11th. One thinks that both can't survive the close proximity.