New ads for movies tend to not be that thrilling, except to maybe die-hardiest fans and industry types. But on Wednesday, there was one that sent social media into a frenzy. Variety meant to publish an awards-themed ad for Cherry, the new crime drama starring Tom Holland as an opioid-addicted vet-turned-thief, and which is also the Russo Brothers’ gritty follow-up to no less than Avengers: Endgame. There was just one problem: The title was inexplicably illegible.
Tom Holland in…Cherk? Herb? Best Picture Cheek? I give up.
🎥#AMovieGuy pic.twitter.com/Wpyw00f59V— Leo Brady (@LeosAMovieGuy) December 23, 2020
It’s admittedly an otherwise eye-catching ad — minimalist and bold, comprised of a close-up of its buzz-cutted star looking ragged, caked in crimson red. But below the words “Best Picture” were an abstract array of what looked vaguely like English letters, forming what may or may not be a word. Did it say “Cherk”? Maybe it’s our hero’s name? Or if you squint hard did it in deed say “Cherry”? It seemed like the kind of stylized silliness dreamt up by a fearless graphic designer, hoping to get our attention.
The truth was far more bizarre than the image itself: According to Apple, who are releasing the film on their streamer in February, there was a glitch in viewing the PDF of the ad that warped the text, but only when viewed in Chrome. Variety was quick to put out an explanation as well.
Variety apologizes for our mistake in the digital misprint of the ad for the film “Cherry.” This is not up to our standards. Here is the corrected version of the ad pic.twitter.com/yRr1uEfMNo
— Variety (@Variety) December 23, 2020
Bizarre accidents like this happen! (And note: This is an awards ad, not the official poster.) But by the time the snafu had been fixed, social media had already had its way with it.
is it a gritty CLERKS sequel?
— Isaac Feldberg (@isaacfeldberg) December 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/PlainOldWoofles/status/1341804398213677056
so I filled in the gaps but still not sure why there's no Y pic.twitter.com/xGpCstgv3a
— Michael Knepprath (@mknepprath) December 23, 2020
Me when im watching Cherk and i see Cherk pic.twitter.com/SsmcytNPyb
— 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐍™ (@Devon_OnEarth) December 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/JamesFrye/status/1341803890639994880
This is an appallingly bad poster, good lord pic.twitter.com/YYAss1Ot0W
— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) December 23, 2020
Is this the poster for:
🍒 Cherry
🎤 A dark Cher biopic
🧟♂️ CHERK, from Shrek director Shams CharaniaI’m going with “neither” pic.twitter.com/8FTsLF1t4A
— Scott Thomas (he / him / his) (@OGScottieT) December 23, 2020
Kudos, by the way, to the devoted cinephile who took the time to go into Photoshop and make a Cherry gag involving Abbas Kiarostami’s great A Taste of Cherry.
https://twitter.com/bostondialect/status/1341844075536936962
Even the Russos got involved in the fun.
https://twitter.com/Russo_Brothers/status/1341841042501369857
Cherry doesn’t hit Apple TV+ until February 26 — plenty of time for social media to forget about the brief time when it had a bad poster.
