Guillermo Del Toro Says Three of His Films Were ‘Hobbled by Misguided Marketing’ Campaigns

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
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Guillermo del Toro is calling out the “misguided marketing” campaigns that impacted a trio of his past films.

The Oscar winner tweeted for the 11th anniversary of 2012 animated film “Rise of the Guardians,” directed by Peter Ramsey, that the DreamWorks feature was “hobbled” by its marketing materials.

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“In 30 years, I have seen three wonderful films hampered and hobbled by misguided marketing – this is one,” del Toro wrote. “As producer, it hurts. But those that know – know. It still made over 300M globally and announced the feature arrival of my brilliant pal, Peter Ramsey.”

“Rise of the Guardians” followed mythical figures Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and Jack Frost as they protect the children of the world from the Boogeyman. Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher, Chris Pine, and Jude Law voice-acted in the movie. The film debuted at AFI Fest and went on to have the lowest opening box office in DreamWorks’ history since 2006’s “Flushed Away.” Del Toro executive produced the film and told IndieWire at the time that he was heavily involved in the creative elements, including storyboarding the animation.

The “Pinocchio” director recently also defended Christopher Nolan’s comments about the importance of physical media, such as Blu-rays, especially in the age of streaming. Del Toro tweeted, “Physical media is almost a Fahrenheit 451 (where people memorized entire books and thus became the book they loved) level of responsibility. If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love…you are the custodian of those films for generations to come.”

Nolan had said during an “Oppenheimer” screening that owning the film on Blu-ray is key so “no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.” The director later went on to clarify his comments in a follow-up interview with The Washington Post, saying, “It was a joke when I said it. But nothing’s a joke when it’s transcribed onto the internet. There is a danger, these days, that if things only exist in the streaming version they do get taken down, they come and go.”

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