Columbia Pictures, and the fake movie critic of the early 2000s

Megalopolis’ fake critic quotes are nothing new – Columbia Pictures invented a whole movie reviewer in the early 2000s. Here’s an odd story from the turn of the century, when the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures decided it needed a bit more control over what critics were saying. More to the point, more control over what poster ... Columbia Pictures, and the fake movie critic of the early 2000s

Megalopolis’ fake critic quotes are nothing new – Columbia Pictures invented a whole movie reviewer in the early 2000s.

Here’s an odd story from the turn of the century, when the Sony-owned Columbia Pictures decided it needed a bit more control over what critics were saying. More to the point, more control over what poster quotes the studio gleaned from said critics.

Currently, there’s an odd story about seemingly-invented quotes for a selection of Francis Ford Coppola films, attributed to some well-known film critics, in the now-deleted trailer for his upcoming opus, Megalopolis. That’s a film whose name doesn’t get easier to type over time, incidentally.

Yet back in the early 2000s, Columbia Pictures didn’t just make up poster quotes, it made up an entire film critic. A man by the name of David Manning, who seemed to be rather keen, wouldn’t you know, on a bunch of Columbia Pictures movies.

As such, Hollow Man was “one hell of a scary ride”, according to the mysterious Manning. The Forsaken, meanwhile, was “a sexy, scary thrill-ride”. Manning lauded praise on The Patriot too, and, er, the Rob Schneider comedy vehicle The Animal. He also declared the late Heath Ledger as “this year’s hottest new star” for A Knight’s Tale.

Read more: Quentin Tarantino’s The Movie Critic and its connections to the work of Paul Schrader

His reviews were being credited to the Ridgefield Press, which at the time was a small weekly publication being published in the Connecticut area in the USA. The problem though was that the Ridgefield Press had never heard of David Manning, let alone published any of his work. The paper was utterly oblivious to what was going on.

It took a while for the truth to come out, but David Manning was a creation of the Columbia Pictures marketing department, and the studio was eventually forced to admit as much. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia’s parent company, came clean to Newsweek magazine back in 2001 that Manning wasn’t real, with a spokeperson admitting, “it was an incredibly foolish decision, and we’re horrified.”

The story didn’t end there, though. Columbia removed Manning’s quotes from its advertising, and quickly pulled associated publicity materials. But it also faced court action from two Californian movie-goers. In 2005, they brought a case against the studio, accusing it of the “intentional and systematic deception of consumers”. Sony didn’t admit liability, but did cough up $1.5m, and offered a $5 refund for anyone who had bought tickets for the films concerned.

Figures aren’t available for how many took it up on the offer, but it’s hard not to imagine that those who’d sat through The Animal may not have been tempted…