Be adaptable, especially at the last minute

Many people believe that shooting a movie is very structured and has little wiggle room due to budgets. This is very true. Actors are expensive and busy, the crew and sets are hard to logistically get into place and the release schedule is almost always permanent.  These things can be set aside however, but on very rare occasions.

Image Credit - Warner Bros.

One of these occasions took place last year with the movie "Gangster Squad".  This highly anticipated Warner Bros.  movie, staring Ryan Gosling, was initially scheduled to be released in early September. Then tragedy struck. Aurora, Colorado was the scene of a horrific cinema shooting which caused a crisis within the Gangster Squad family.  This movie had a very important scene that featured a cinema shooting. Leaders of the team took a long time mulling over what to do. On one hand this would be a very costly venture to change the movie as well as implement a new advertising campaign. On the other there was a huge chance that this scene could cause a firestorm of bad press once released.

Knowing the gravity of the shooting and the impact that it had on the american public the decision was made to postpone the release and rework the film. Many people were displeased with the decision but the staff at Warner Bros. felt it was the proper action.  The movie went back into production and the release date was moved back to reflect the work that needed to be done.  Though the movie did not perform exceptionally well in the box office it did not cause a stir that negatively affected it.  Some viewers actually respected the decision because of the relationship it would have given to the Aurora shooting.

Overall the change may have lessened the bottom line of the box office pull but the change may have been more beneficial overall. This late adjustment showed many that Warner Bros. does care about the world around it not just making money. It also showed us that late changes are possible setting a future precedent that may be of use to other productions in the future. Lastly it gave a big Hollywood studio a more human connection.  The adjustments were made to avoid reminding people of the horror that happened in a place were people go to escape the outside world.