You’ve probably seen the billboards, bus-stop ads and television spots for “Killers”: They’re everywhere, featuring Katherine and Ashton Kutcher juggling guns and bantering over super-secret identities.
But critics won’t see the film before it appears in theaters, part of a growing strategy in Hollywood that relies more on social networking to promote new releases instead of riskier movie reviews.
Lionsgate, which is releasing the action comedy, has planned what’s known as a “courtesy screening” for critics the morning of June 4, the day the film opens. It’s a tactic studios normally use when there’s a guaranteed niche audience, such as for horror movies or ones based on video games — the logic being that fans of the genre will show up, regardless of reviews.
But “Killers” is a mainstream romantic comedy with two A-list stars and a production budget of about $70 million — which is high for Lionsgate, known for the Tyler Perry movies, the “Saw” series and the Oscar-winning “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” Robert Luketic, who previously worked with Heigl on last summer’s critically savaged “The Ugly Truth,” is the director.
In “Killers,” Heigl stars as a lovesick woman who thinks she’s found the perfect man in Kutcher’s character, only to discover his secret life as an international assassin once they’ve married and moved to suburbia.
