A lot of A-listers in Hollywood go to the screening of their movies in theatres to see how the fans react to their work. Dwayne Johnson also used this to join the fans at an early screening of his superhero debut movie, Black Adam last year.
However, the Fast & Furious star was not the first actor who has gone to their superhero movie’s screening to see how fans react to it. Tobey Maguire used to go to theatres back in 2004 to see the screening of Spider-Man 2 and the reaction of the fans.
Tobey Maguire talks about sneaking into theatres to watch his own movies
Tobey Maguire played the iconic role of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. However, just reading the reviews of his movies from fans and critics was never enough for the actor and he wanted to have first-hand experience with the reaction of fans in the theatres. Therefore, ahead of the release of Spider-Man 2 in theatres, Maguire revealed in an interview that he would be sneaking into theatres to watch his own movie. He said,
“It’s exciting. I’ll sneak in one night. You want to go when the fans are crazy into the film, and that’s when it’s fun, to catch that energy. I’ve done it a few times. I’ll go and just watch 15 minutes of the movie in two or three different theaters, just to feel how the audience is digging it, get that immediate reaction.”
The actor further talked about how he would disguise himself by wearing a hat and the fans will hardly even notice his presence in the theatres. He said,
“I’ll be fine. I’ll wear a hat and go in, wait until it’s dark, stand there for 10 minutes and leave. They’ll never know.”
Fast forward to 2021, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield sneaked into theatres to catch the reactions of fans in the screening of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Dwayne Johnson also sneaked into an early screening of Black Adam last year
Dwayne Johnson made his long-awaited debut in the superhero cinematic universe after he portrayed the titular character in the movie, Black Adam last year. The American actor also sneaked into an early screening of his movie last year and even uploaded the experience to his Instagram and captioned the video,
“INVALUABLE learnings and takeaways from our BLACK ADAM test screenings that I always secretly participate in. I LOVE surprising our audiences afterward and once the emotions level out. I can take my time and really engage and learn from my #1 boss – the audience. BLACK ADAM is my passion project to the bone and I’m so grateful to get these early reactions. Much work still to be done.”
Although Dwayne Johnson largely received positive responses from the fans present at the early screening of the movie, Black Adam was a massive critical and commercial failure and was even categorized as a box office bomb.
Source: Today
