Commentary

Why RUSH will succeed

Reviews have not been great but the marketing department is doing its job!

Rush, the Ron Howard movie about the epic 1976 Formula 1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt will definitely be successful in the short term.

There are people who will go to any film Howard makes; there is no race fan anywhere that doesn’t want to see it – or should miss it.

Rush tells a true story that was filled with drama, trauma and pathos when it played out in the flesh. It was compelling then; it’s compelling now. It was the thinking man’s racer Lauda, the Austrian battling against the party animal whose bile coated every pit he ever worked in. (There isn’t a woman alive who doesn’t want a piece of Chris Hemsworth as he plays Englishman Hunt).

Ron Howard, Film Director

Photo by: XPB Images

But enough of the plot. This movie will be successful because of its marketing. TV ads are everywhere – not just on racing shows – and are something you will raise your eyes to see and hear. Chris Hemsworth is doing “Ellen” and who knows what other shows prior to release of the film nationwide on September 27th.

The reviews haven’t been the greatest but the film will overcome them. It will do so by transcending the racing universe and becoming a mainstream film. It will do so because it is beautifully photographed, delightfully performed, nearly accurate in its telling of the story – and artfully marketed.

One could only wish the American sanctioning bodies that are grasping for eyeballs both on the small screen and in person, will watch the film more than once and fix their collective eyes on the marketing programs Howard and his producers have developed.