Lionsgate hires Dylan Mulvaney to promote ‘Are You There God? This is me, Margaret movie

Controversial influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been added to the promotional campaign for Lionsgate’s tough adaptation of Judy Blume’s seminal novel “Are You There God?” It’s me, Margaret.

The film, which stars Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates and tells the story of the title character dealing with faith and puberty in New Jersey, has struggled so far at the box office, earning just 16 million dollars in three weeks.

Despite the film’s critical rating of 99% on Rotten Tomatoes — as well as an equally impressive 94% Audience Score — the film hasn’t come close to recouping its $30 million budget.

This led studio Lionsgate to offer ‘a last-minute paid attention-grabbing partnership’ with Mulvaney – whose Bud Light ad has seen sales drop by up to 20% a week – publishing an interview with famous author Blume on TikTok, according to Hollywood in Toto.

‘Are you there God, it’s me, Dylan!’ Mulvaney enthusiastically begins the clip, which she captioned by calling out Blume – who backtracked after receiving backlash for saying she was ‘100%’ behind Harry Potter writer JK Rowling – “one of my heroes”.

‘Get tickets and bring your mom, grandma, or mother figure in your life to see Are You There God? #ItsMeMargaret this Mother’s Day weekend. It’s the iconic story we all love finally on the big screen! #lionsgatepartner,’ she added in the caption.

Mulvaney spoke to Blume about free speech and the banning of books like his.

“What I’m saying now is that after living through the 80s with the banning of books, what’s happening now is scarier and much worse,” Blume explained.

Blume, 85, known for his teen novels Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret and Deenie said she wanted to empathize with Rowling as someone ‘who has been harassed online’.

The New Jersey-born author said her comments to The Sunday Times were “taken out of context” in a tweet today defending herself against the criticism she received for the interview.

“I support the trans community and vehemently disagree with anyone who does not support LGBTQIA+ equality and acceptance. Anything to the contrary is bullshit.

Even so, when asked by Mulvaney about how “young creatives” should share their stories despite their “fear of societal backlash,” Blume said he ignored the censors.

Rowling has come under heavy criticism in recent years for her trans rights remarks, amid backlash from LGBTQ groups, but has denied being transphobic.

Blume has also been abused online in the past for themes in his books, which are typically coming of age stories highlighting teenage sexuality and puberty.

The author of the article, journalist Hadley Freeman, has previously described herself as a “gender critical feminist”.

Seemingly agreeing with Freeman on his love for the Harry Potter author, Blume said of Rowling in the interview: “And I love her…I’m behind her 100 per cent as I watch from afar. ”

She added that she had not contacted Rowling about the online backlash, saying: “I met her very early in her Harry Potter career, and she was like, ‘Oh my sister and I used to read all your books,’ and she talked about Deenie.

“I think once or twice we’ve texted each other. But I was not in contact with her during this difficult period. I probably should.

In a tweet last night refuting the Sunday Times characterization of her comments, Blume was clear about her feelings about the article.

She went on to say, “What are you protecting your children from? Protecting your children means educating them and equipping them with knowledge, reading and supporting what they want to read.

“No child will become transgender, gay or lesbian because they read a book. It’s not going to happen. They can say, ‘Oh, that’s just like me. That’s how I feel and think.’ ‘

‘Or, “I’m interested because I have friends who can be gay, bi, lesbian.” They want to know!

“I have just read a book which enlightened me marvelously. It’s called “Gender Queer” [a memoir by Maia Kobabe]. It’s probably the #1 banned book in America right now.

“And I thought, ‘This youngster is telling me how he became who he is today. And I learned a lot, and I became even more empathetic. That’s what books are for.

Blume has been criticized by some for sympathizing with Rowling, with transgender rights supporters saying “people need to stop calling criticism harassment”.

Bud Light sales dropping up to 20% week-over-week could become the ‘new normal’ after Dylan Mulvaney’s disastrous debacle.

Industry analysts have warned that unless something drastically changes, the negative volume trends will continue through the summer months, due to the beer brand’s partnership with the transgender influencer.

For the week ending May 6, in-store sales of Bud Light in the United States were down 23.6% from a year earlier. And the previous week, ending April 29, sales fell 23.3%.

This follows the drop in sales for the week ending April 22, which was 21.4%. And seven days earlier the drop was 17%, according to NielsenIQ data provided to Dailymail.com by Bump Williams Consultancy.

Dylan Mulvaney, 26, released his first collaboration with Bud Light on April 1.

The controversial trans influencer received a can of Bud Light with her face on it to celebrate one year since she transitioned from male to female.

The data – showing US sales falling 20% ​​every week – has since been called “poor” by industry experts.

Bump Williams of Bump Williams Consultancy told DailyMail.com: “I don’t think the sales/volume decline will get any worse, but I do think their negative volume trends will continue.”

He said the 20% drop in sales seems like the new “normal” for Bud Light.

But he added that experts are waiting to see what happens to sales over Memorial Day and the summer selling season to assess whether the damage will continue.

Williams, who specializes in the alcohol industry, told the St Louis Business Journal: “This seems to be where the brand’s weekly declines have started to set in, falling into that range of -20% at the course of the last week.”

“I wonder if this will be the ‘bottom’ for Bud Light’s expected declines in the future unless something drastically changes.”

DailyMail.com has contacted Lionsgate and Anheuser-Busch for further comment.