We've all known for months that it would be hard for United Artists to get anyone to go see Valkyrie, given the terrible early buzz and the lasting hilarity of Tom Cruise in an eyepatch. And despite the fact that the movie is actually pretty good, and has good-ish reviews to show for it, apparently the marketing troubles aren't yet over. The New York Post is reporting that MGM and United Artists are spending $70 million just to market Valkyrie, which is twice the usual amount a movie of its size would get, and nearly as much as the movie itself cost.

"They are betting the ranch and spending every available penny they have on advertising trying to make this film work," said one anonymous source, even as another one argued that the money was "a healthy amount to get through the Christmas clutter, but appropriate for the season and the type of film." Of course, that source also argued that the marketing costs were $35, which is way more reasonable by any yardstick.

It's true that the studio has a lot riding on Valkyrie, given that United Artists hasn't had a real hit yet and a lot of money has been poured into it thus far. But its prospects of becoming a hit are iffy at best, and you wonder if dumping another $70 million on top of everything else will actually be able to solve the problem. I'd tell people to see Valkyrie over pretty much every other release, but that still doesn't mean they'll do it. This will either turn out to be one of those gambles that looks brilliant in hindsight, or yet another black mark on Tom Cruise's revamped United Artists.