Based on the marketing, recapped at The Hollywood Reporter, Night School doesn’t look all that different from most of the rest of Kevin Hart’s filmography. That’s likely the point, though.
Online and Social
Nothing particularly notable happening on the movie’s official website, which just has the trailer, a sub-par story synopsis and links to its social profiles.
Media and Publicity
Hart shared a story of his long-time friendship with Haddish just as the trailer dropped, a story he told again on TV later on in the campaign. Haddish later appeared during Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation to promote the movie to exhibitors and generally charm the room. The movie was also part of the later CineEurope presentation from the studio.
There was a THR cover story on Haddish that covered the comedian’s career to date but which focused on how Girls Trip acts as a dividing line in her career, with this movie coming in the second part, part of her expansion into a cultural phenomenon and box-office draw in her own right. She kept showing up on the late night shows to talk about how frugal she is and expand on some of those stories.
Another spotlight profile of Haddish made it into Glamour and she later did a “3 Ridiculous Questions” segment with Jimmy Kimmel that didn’t address the movie directly but was part of her overall public persona. Both Haddish and Hart later appeared at the MTV VMAs.
Haddish talked about how the story made her laugh when reading it in a story covering the many films she’s appearing in this fall.
Hart co-hosted “The Tonight Show” one night last week and later chatted with Seth Meyers while Haddish appeared on “The Late Show” to banter with Stephen Colbert.
Adweek put Hart on its cover, and featured him during its “Brandweek” marketing summit event, recently to spotlight what a valuable marketing personality he is. Right after that the movie’s premiere featured Haddish leading the audience in prayer along with a few jokes.
One more big feature on how Hart came up with the idea and assembled the cast and crew to make that into reality.
Overall
You kind of have to wonder how much longer Kevin Hart can sustain this. He’s certainly staying on brand, but whether or not that works depends so much on the material. In this case the campaign winds up seeming like a greatest hits package of his various ticks and go-to personas. Your mileage may vary regarding how much that works for you.
What strikes me, though, is how people still don’t know what to do with Tiffany Haddish. I mean…why is she the straight woman in this story? It’s great that she’s getting steady work, and you can certainly see how the campaign shifted to give her more of the spotlight, but she would seem to deserve more.
PICKING UP THE SPARE
Hart spoke here about how he didn’t go crazy celebrating after the movie did so well in its opening weekend.
IndieWire reviews the very successful career of producer Will Packer, including his ability to target audiences through grassroots and targeted campaigns.
Cinematic Slant 