Lionsgate's Staggered ‘Ballerina' Embargo For 'Enthusiastic' & 'Critical Sentiment' Irks Reviewers
We're all atune to the increasingly curated early responses to movies from distributors but this was beyond the pale for many.
Lionsgate yesterday sent out an email to Ballerina critics and reviewers in which it told them that 'spoiler-free enthusiasm' on social media is allowed starting on May 22 and that 'critical social sentiment & formal reviews are embargoed until' June 4.
More from Deadline
Lionsgate Confirms It May Split Michael Jackson Biopic Into Two Movies As Release Is Pushed - Update
New Lionsgate Studios Swings To The Black, Revenue Pops In First Quarterly Report As Standalone Company
Kieran Culkin Joins 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' As Caesar Flickerman
Quite rightly, this bent many out of shape. That's an unethical demand for most. Critics we spoke to hadn't heard of an embargo edict going that far before. Many online were also perturbed.
The BALLERINA embargo notice is absolutely unethical: An embargo hold on negative reactions?! Only positive reactions are okay?!Certainly hope none of you will be complicit in this buffoonery. If any of you value your dignity (I know, it's a tough ask), you won't cave.
— Courtney Howard (@Lulamaybelle) May 22, 2025
This is the review embargo for Ballerina. Negative reactions being on hold is absolutely insane. Regardless if the reaction is positive or negative, wouldn't you want people talking about your film anyways? pic.twitter.com/84i0aXOOiy
— Mission Impossible – The Final Alex (@Alex_Madden_) May 22, 2025
The Lionsgate split embargo on BALLERINA has me fired up and I wrote a little rant about the slow death of film criticism.https://t.co/JdpEfAYtID pic.twitter.com/OuwfiRpqt2
— devincf (@devincf) May 22, 2025
We hear from studio sources that this was a case of poor wording and that following the outcry marketers reached out to those who received the note to let them know that they're welcome to express whatever opinion they have of the movie.
That would be a good outcome if it came to pass. Hopefully the rowing back wasn't only a result of the outcry. The early reaction and influencer curated responses to movies have been growing in the wrong direction for a while. We don't need anymore blurring of the critical boundaries.
Best of Deadline
Every 'The Voice' Winner Since Season 1, Including 9 Team Blake Champions
Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far
'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Refinery29
10 hours ago
- Refinery29
Why Love Island USA Watch Parties Feel Like A '90s Throwback
An audience of 130 people cheered infectiously at the big screen as they enjoyed cocktails, bar food and conversation with strangers at 275Park in Brooklyn, a venue typically used as a comedy club. This may sound like the scene from fans watching the NBA Finals, but instead, the crowd was locked in for a Love Island USA watch party thrown by Peak and Pace on Monday night as the highly anticipated Casa Amor episodes began. 'It's usually just me screaming at the TV, but doing it with other people just made it,' said Morenda Jebo, 31, who has been watching Love Island for the past three years. 'I'm not the only one who feels this way.' Since Season 7 premiered in early June, Love Island USA has become appointment TV, racking up more than 1 billion minutes viewed. According to Deadline, about 39% of viewers are new to the franchise. Night after night, conversations flood timelines, FYPs, and group chats with real-time reactions and recaps of the drama that ensued in Fiji, where the show is filmed. On social media alone, the show has generated 54 million interactions across Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube. As a result, Love Island watch parties have been in high demand and are popping up in cities across the country. 'It's basically watching sports, but for reality TV,' attendee David Gilstrap said, an attendee who'd never seen the show before last Friday when his homegirls convinced him to start watching all of the reality show drama. He enjoyed it so much that he ended up binging the latest season over the weekend and pulled up to the party alone, ready to watch, holler at the screen with strangers and make new friends. That's music to Peak and Pacer founder Owen Akhibi Herrera's ears. Herrera started Peak and Pace as a run/walk club to bring people together in a healthy way after his first year moving to New York. Over time, it evolved into a community dedicated to trying new things together, including skiing, hiking, and, now, watching Love Island USA together. ' The parties are a great example of how pop culture moments still drive real-world connection. ' 'It's a cultural moment, and it gave us an opportunity to bring our community together in a fun and unexpected way,' the founder said in a Zoom interview. '[The show] sparked so many different conversations online, and we saw the opportunity to take that digital energy into a real-life thing.' Peak and Pace announced the watch party just 24 hours before the event and packed the venue to a max capacity of 130. Herrera said they will host watch parties at 275Park every Monday for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, on Friday evening, Tyra McAdam also hosted a Love Island USA watch party at RumBar, a Black woman-owned bar in Brooklyn, where she works. Tired of watching the show on her phone behind the bar, she surveyed her TikTok followers to see if they'd be interested in joining a watch party. After receiving more than 26,000 views, 2,700 likes and hundreds of eager comments, that was enough for her boss to sign off on approval for McAdam to start creating Love Island -inspired cocktails for the event. ' Love Island is just the catalyst, but what they're really after is that authentic connection that only happens when you're actually in the same room, fully present with each other. ' 'The girls were like, 'I want it to be where the boys are watching sports games watching Love Island,'' she said. 'It's such a community, and it's such a girly thing. It's so feminine.' She credits the show's real-time reactions and the audience's ability to vote and influence what happens in the villa, making it perfect to watch in a sports bar setting. 'I like that it comes on every day, and we all have to watch it at the same time,' McAdam said. 'It's not like on Netflix, and you watch something before someone else. It's almost like back in the days in the '90s, we all had to watch the show at the same time.' On Eventbrite, hundreds of Love Island watch parties have been listed. Roseli Ilano, the platform's head of community and trends, said in a statement the parties are a great example of how pop culture moments still drive real-world connection. "Young people are craving shared experiences where they can have those immediate reactions together—the gasps, the debates, the collective investment in something happening right now,' Ilano said. 'Love Island is just the catalyst, but what they're really after is that authentic connection that only happens when you're actually in the same room, fully present with each other." A common thread between Herrera and McAdam's parties: They're building welcoming, inclusive and intentional spaces that prioritize joy and connection for Black audiences who can come out and have a great time near their own neighborhoods. Though Gilstrap admits the show stresses him out and the cast makes awful decisions, he's having more fun watching Love Island USA than he did watching the NBA Finals. He's already considering attending another watch party before the season ends. 'The fact that you get to hang out with your friends and then talk about it, that's what makes it fun,' he said. 'That's what keeps me watching every night. It's purely not like the content of the show. It's because I get to hang [out] with my friends and kiki with my homies. That's what keeps me coming every single time.'
Elle
11 hours ago
- Elle
We're Not Getting Another Season of 'Squid Game'—But We Might Get Something Else
Now that Squid Game's third and final season is out in the world, I am personally hoping for one thing: that Hwang Dong-hyuk can get some rest. The filmmaker and series creator has not been subtle about his exhaustion after creating the first season of the Netflix sensation. Imagine how he feels now, two seasons after that. 'Yeah, I'm very tired. I haven't had a deep sleep for a long time. I want to take a rest,' he told The New York Times before the season 3 premiere. 'Then I want to do feature films. I have an idea for my next feature.' There may be someone ready to take up the mantle: David Fincher, the director of Fight Club, Gone Girl, and The Social Network. In October 2024, Deadline reported that the filmmaker was eyeing an English-language offshoot of Squid Game, although neither he nor Netflix have confirmed the news yet. Still, it seems likely, given Fincher's ongoing collaboration with the streamer, which includes films and series like House of Cards, Mindhunter, Mank, and the upcoming Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood sequel. According to Deadline, 'Insiders say the Squid Game series is likely the project Fincher commits his time to in 2025.' The final scene of the Squid Game season 3 sure seems to set up an spinoff. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!) The episode closes with a scene of the Front Man in the U.S. coming across a person in a suit playing a version of Ddakji, the 'slap game' used to recruit players, with a disheveled man in an alley. When the recruiter turns around, it's a surprise reveal: She's played by Cate Blanchett. All she does is exchange a knowing look at the Front Man, their mutual recognition hinting that the Squid Game operation extends beyond South Korea. It's also the perfect setup for a U.S.-based spinoff. It's unclear if Blanchett will be the lead of that new show or just a one-time cameo, but the former is possible, since she previously worked with Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For now though, that's just a theory. No casting announcements have been made yet. As for the creative team, Deadline reported that Dennis Kelly, writer of Matilda the Musical and the TV series Utopia, is supposedly writing the script. Hwang has also voiced his own ideas for an offshoot. He told Entertainment Weekly, 'I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff—not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] looks around for the recruiters,' he said. 'Maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that.' That Hwang's limited series has now ballooned into an international franchise might be a little ironic, considering the show's pointed critiques of capitalism. But he hopes that at least it gets viewers to start thinking about such issues. 'If they do none of that and only enjoy the goods and experiences, that could be a problem. But as long as it entails food for thought, I'm good with that,' he told Times. And if Squid Game comes to America, there will surely be much to discuss.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Selena Gomez Returning To ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place' As Season 2 Guest Star
Fans haven't seen the last of Alex Russo in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. Selena Gomez will return to guest star in Season 2 of the Disney Channel sequel series, the star announced on social media Friday. More from Deadline 'Zombies 4: Dawn Of The Vampires' Trailer Sees Zed & Addison Diffusing Yet Another Monster Rivalry 'Zombies 4: Dawn Of The Vampires' Disney Channel Movie Gets Premiere Date & First Trailer 'Phineas And Ferb' Revival Gets Premiere Date At Disney Channel & Disney+; First Trailer Unveiled 'Just feels right…' she wrote in her post, which features her sitting on the iconic set holding a wand. Gomez is an executive producer on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place and she made a few guest appearances in the first season, introducing her brother Justin Russo (David Henrie) and his family to Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown), a wayward wizard-in-training who needs his help safeguarding the future of the Wizard World. The only problem? Justin has chosen to lead a normal, mortal life with his family, Giada, Roman and Milo. Billie's arrival makes Justin realize he'll need to dust off his magical skills and get to mentoring. The first episode of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place became Disney Channel's most-watched series premiere ever on Disney+ with 3.2M global views in the first 12 days. In addition to Henrie, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place stars Janice LeAnn Brown (as Billie), Alkaio Thiele (as Roman Russo), Max Matenko (as Milo Russo), Taylor Cora (as Winter) and Mimi Gianopulos (as Giada Russo). Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas serve as writers and executive producers, along with executive producers Gary Marsh, Jonas Agin, Selena Gomez and Henrie. Wizards of Waverly Place was created by Todd Greenwald. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter
