{"id":378131,"date":"2026-04-06T16:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/378131\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:23:13","slug":"was-the-wedding-promo-misleading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/378131\/","title":{"rendered":"Was the Wedding Promo Misleading?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from A24\u2019s \u201cThe Drama<\/a>,\u201d now playing in theaters.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast Thursday night, Zendaya<\/a> glided onto the black carpet at Regal Union Square in New York City wearing a strapless black-and-blue feathered Schiaparelli ballgown. Fresh off the runway from the fashion house\u2019s spring 2026 collection, the striking look marked the culmination of her wedding-coded wardrobe for \u201cThe Drama\u201d press tour with \u201csomething blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was brainstorming with [stylist Law Roach] about how I would theme dress for this film, and I remembered the saying, \u2018Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,\u2019\u201d Zendaya told Variety\u2019s Marc Malkin<\/a> in March at the A24 movie\u2019s world premiere in Los Angeles, where she recycled the white Vivienne Westwood gown she first wore to the 2015 Oscars.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the Paris premiere a week later, Zendaya donned \u201csomething new\u201d \u2014 a silk cr\u00e8me dress with a long, black bow and train, custom-designed by Louis Vuitton. For the Rome screening, two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett loaned Zendaya a black Armani Priv\u00e9 gown, with its plunging embellished neckline, from her personal archive \u2014 \u201csomething borrowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFashion fans noted how the looks transitioned from light to dark, mirroring the trajectory of the film, a dark rom-com from director Kristoffer Borgli (\u201cDream Scenario\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s something compelling about the suggestion of darkness gradually encroaching upon and consuming the being,\u201d one user wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cEven the first makeup look being more angelic, as if it exists just before the descent begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis level of attention to fashion detail is expected from Zendaya \u2014 as the actress and Roach popularized the concept of method dressing for the red carpet \u2014 but A24\u2019s matrimony-focused promotional strategy multiplied that idea exponentially.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn \u201cThe Drama,\u201d Zendaya and Robert Pattinson<\/a> play Emma Harwood and Charlie Thompson, a couple navigating the stressful final days before their wedding. There are the usual dramas, like writing their vows, learning the choreography for the first dance and finalizing the menu.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the tasting, the wine-drunk couple and their friends, Rachel and Mike (Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie), play a game where they must confess the worst thing they\u2019ve ever done. Everyone reveals something genuinely awful, but Emma\u2019s secret is particularly haunting: as a shy and bullied teen, she\u2019d planned a school shooting but didn\u2019t see it through. Her fianc\u00e9 and their friends are shocked by her admission, which jeopardizes the couple\u2019s future marital bliss as Charlie struggles to reconcile that information with the woman he thought he knew.<\/p>\n

\n\tA24\u2019s campaign went to great lengths to conceal Emma\u2019s secret, opting to advertise the existence of a dark twist without naming it outright. A24 did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tMarketing efforts began, not with a trailer but a save-the-date. Last December, the studio planted a mock engagement announcement in the Boston Globe beside the paper\u2019s romance advice column, Love Letters. There was no studio logo or promotional language on the ad, written in the style of a traditional society page with a candid photo of \u201cCharlie\u201d and \u201cEmma\u201d (sporting a massive diamond ring) \u2014 two invented people announcing their spring wedding, set for April 3, the film\u2019s release date. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe following day, A24 dropped a teaser trailer that revealed the tense circumstances around this meant-to-be happy occasion. The clip showed the shocked aftermath of Emma\u2019s revelation, as well as Emma wielding a knife and Charlie with a bloody nose.<\/p>\n

\n\tPromotion for the film ramped up in earnest in February. Keeping with the love theme, on Valentine\u2019s Day, A24 launched the website charlieandemmaforever.com, presenting itself as the official RSVP portal for Emma and Charlie, complete with engagement photographs, ceremony logistics and a travel guide to Boston (where the film is set. The website also featured a collaboration with Nuuly, a popular clothing rental website.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, the studio opened a one-day wedding chapel in Las Vegas<\/a>, inviting lovebirds to get married \u201cthe A24 way.\u201d Haim was the DJ while Zendaya made a surprise appearance to serve as a witness to the nuptials. There were also souvenirs on site, including \u201cThe Drama\u201d hoodie, which features garbled text outlining the plot and a garish, oversized graphic of Pattinson as his \u201cTwilight\u201d character Edward Cullen alongside Zendaya from a \u201cChallengers\u201d red carpet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA24<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s posters charted their own arc. Early versions of the one-sheet presented the couple warmly lit and mid-laugh. By the final image, that pretense was abandoned entirely, showing Pattinson battered, bloody and bruised while Zendaya looks on with something closer to irritation than concern. It looked less like a wedding announcement and more like two people gearing up for their mugshots.<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, though, the marketing and press tour largely focused on love-themed shtick, like having the cast give fans advice on navigating their real-life relationship troubles. Zendaya and Roach also surprised an unsuspecting bride by buying her a wedding dress. With gags like this, A24 wasn\u2019t just inviting audiences to the wedding; the studio immersed moviegoers in the drama itself. <\/p>\n

\n\tOn one hand, the tailored campaign is masterful marketing. But given the storyline\u2019s controversial nature and the fact that it was never named outright, was the promotion misleading? Moreover, would audiences even mind a touch of bait-and-switch?<\/p>\n

the marketing becoming more sinister as the release date approaches and in turn mirroring charlie and emma’s story leading up to their wedding\u2026 genius https:\/\/t.co\/1GKvH5rQ4W<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 h \u2740 (@AY0DAYA) March 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIt doesn\u2019t seem so. The twisted romance tale grossed $14 million in its opening weekend<\/a> domestically, a figure in line with movies that appealed to similar demographics, like A24\u2019s \u201cMaterialists\u201d ($11.3 million opening weekend) and Zendaya\u2019s last film \u201cChallengers\u201d ($15 million). Variety\u2019s Rebecca Rubin reports \u201cThe Drama\u201d also launched overseas with $13.6 million for a global tally of $28 million, which is an impressive start for the R-rated movie, which carried a budget of around $28 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tRussell Schwartz, associate professor of film and media arts at Chapman University\u2019s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and a veteran entertainment marketing consultant, described the approach as a deliberate construction of anticipatory tension, one closer to Hitchcock than to a standard genre campaign.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou\u2019ve got to promise there\u2019s some big secret that\u2019s going to be revealed,\u201d Schwartz says. \u201cOtherwise, people think it\u2019s just a regular romantic comedy, and you lose half your audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDr. Laurena Bernabo, assistant professor at the University of Georgia\u2019s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, specializing in entertainment and media studies, described the technique as \u201cpurposefully incoherent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s not like the whole ad sets it up as a light and fluffy rom-com, and then we\u2019re going to be surprised when we get to the movie and suddenly it\u2019s darker. The theatrical trailers are doing what they should do: They build that suspense,\u201d Bernabo says. \u201cBut getting people happily married in Vegas is a little skewed. I\u2019m not sure what it really accomplishes in terms of tapping into the larger themes of the film. That approach is more rom-com-esque and generic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s effective to \u201cdraw audiences into the lore\u201d with marketing, Bernabo adds, but awareness of \u201cThe Drama\u201d was aided by two coincidences. The movie is the first of three films this year pairing Zendaya and Pattinson (followed by \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d and \u201cDune: Part Three\u201d), plus Zendaya\u2019s engagement to her \u201cSpider-Man\u201d co-star, Tom Holland, did half the work in captivating the pop culture-literate and chronically online crowd.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the context of this film, the fact that Zendaya is engaged to Tom Holland and there are all the rumors about their wedding amplifies that aspect,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe lore of Zendaya and our love for her and interest in her nuptials can blend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe challenge for the studio was always going to be navigating around the film\u2019s major twist. During an appearance on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live!\u201d Zendaya told the late-night host that she hoped audiences would go in \u201cunknowing and really experience the drama.\u201d But Emma\u2019s reveal circulated online ahead of the release, leaked through early screenings. At that point, containment was impossible, and criticism began to creep in.<\/p>\n

\n\tTom Mauser, whose son Daniel Mauser was killed in the 1999 Columbine massacre, publicly condemned<\/a> the film, calling the twist \u201cawful\u201d and accusing it of humanizing school shooters. At least one critic published ahead of the embargo<\/a> specifically to alert readers. Others wrote that A24 owed audiences an apology<\/a> for not including a content warning and for failing to alert press to the subject matter before screenings. March for Our Lives, the youth-led organization focused on ending gun violence, posted a warning on social media and criticized the studio for not warning audiences.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe way this film has been marketed is deeply misaligned with the reality it engages,\u201d the statement from the organization reads. \u201cWe expect better from A24 and the artists behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat criticism fits a recent pattern of films marketed as romances with their heavier themes obscured. One example is Sony\u2019s \u201cIt Ends With Us,\u201d which was based on Colleen Hoover\u2019s bestseller. The movie\u2019s domestic violence storyline was promoted so lightly that survivors spoke out about being blindsided in the theater, generating a backlash that nearly overshadowed the film itself. To a lesser degree, A24\u2019s \u201cMaterialists\u201d was critiqued for not quite delivering on the rom-com tropes the promotional materials played into; the film also included a sexual assault storyline. (Both \u201cIt Ends With Us\u201d and \u201cMaterialists\u201d were particularly successful at the box office, grossing $351 million and $107 million, respectively).<\/p>\n

\n\tSchwartz suggested the controversy surrounding \u201cThe Drama\u201d was inevitable. \u201cI don\u2019t know any other way they could have done it,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen a film is deliberately marketed around a secret, the backlash that follows its reveal becomes part of the conversation, and conversation, at this stage of a release, is indistinguishable from publicity. Word of mouth becomes the campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPlus, Zendaya and Pattinson\u2019s general goodwill cannot be denied. \u201cThese two are so likable, they\u2019ll probably get a much more positive reaction even if the movie doesn\u2019t live up to expectations,\u201d Schwartz adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, Bernabo says her students \u2014 whom she planned to take on a field trip to see the movie \u2014 were eager to see two of their favorite stars paired up on the big screen in an off-kilter story.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis generation seems to have a lot of faith in A24,\u201d she says. \u201cI think the gamble is presenting this generation, that has grown up with school shootings, with having their beloved Zendaya be the one who was plotting something out. I\u2019m curious to see how many students RSVP.\u201d<\/p>\n