Ram Product Placement Film Looks Awful, and the Studio Knows It

Having your vehicles prominently featured in a big-ticket Hollywood film is any automaker’s dream, but Ram’s starring role in the upcoming movie Monster Trucks has turned into a nightmare.

Apparently, the film is so awful that Paramount Pictures has delayed its release three times and taken the odd step of booking a $115 million impairment charge, Automotive News reports. A write-down, in other words.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles wants the promotion, but could it end up gaining notoriety by starring in a mega-dud?

When the studio basically states loud and clear that it expects to lose money on a box office stinker, it’s not an ideal place for any automaker. FCA chief marketing officer Olivier Francois might want to leave it off his list of accomplishments.

The movie stars Lucas Till (born in 1990) as a high school student who shelters aliens with the help of his friends, including a girl he’ll totally kiss by the end of the movie. Oh, and the aliens take up residence inside Ram trucks, giving them super powers. Monster Trucks…get it?

The movie’s trailer, which is unwatchably bad, only broadcasts to would-be viewers that this flick is an epic turkey in the making. We’re talking about a “10” on the Pluto Nash scale. According to the Wall Street Journal, the movie’s plot was hatched from the fertile minds of a former studio president and his four-year-old son, so Paramount has no one to blame but itself.

For FCA, the situation couldn’t be more different than 1996, when its Dodge Ram pickup warranted third billing alongside Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in Twister. That role helped Dodge move its recently redesigned merchandise, because who doesn’t like watching flying cows?

Not everyone is convinced Monster Trucks is a bad thing for Ram. Stacy Jones, CEO of Hollywood Branded, tells Automotive News that FCA’s gambit could still pay off.

“There is a lot of value there, even if the film is a horrible bomb,” Jones said. “As a marketer, you can hit a segment audience, target a specific consumer demographic” with a movie product placement.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]