In mid-June, star-producer traveled to Dallas to attend author Colleen Hoover’s Book Bonanza for a Q&A in the lead-up to the August release . Lively surprised the 2,000-plus attendees when she announced they could screen a rough cut of the movie adaptation the following night. The screening of the movie — the first of Hoover’s popular novels to hit the screen — proved to be a stroke of marketing genius for Sony, which bought rights to release the movie from Wayfarer Studios, whose co-founder, , both directed and stars in the film.
“Colleen Hoover’s Book Bonanza and her fans sparked the fire that was the beginning of the cultural movement,” says Josh Greenstein, a veteran marketer and president of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group Absent, however, from the Dallas gathering was Baldoni. The version shown that night was Lively’s preferred rough cut of the movie. By the time the movie opened Aug.
9, an ugly war had erupted on TikTok and other social media platforms pitting Baldoni and Lively against each other. Many took aim at Lively, despite reports that some cast and crew members, including Lively, felt uncomfortable over Baldoni’s behavior on set. The rift became undeniable when Baldoni didn’t appear in any cast group photos with Lively, Hoover and the other lead stars at the New York premiere (many had also unfollowed him on Instagram).
He later didn’t attend the U.K. premiere, and instead stayed in New York for several appearances on and.