The challenges of marketing a cerebral science fiction film like 'Arrival'

The new science-fiction film, it says, has created word-of-mouth, wowed audiences and earned a 100% Fresh rating on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes. Denis Villeneuve's latest work, starring Amy Adams as a linguist chosen to communicate with alien visitors, may well be that. But it isn't easy to market a masterpiece -- especially a sci-fi masterpiece with spaceships that don't engage in dogfights, aliens who don't fire lasers and protagonists who don't throw punches. When "Arrival" touches down at 2,200 theaters this weekend, it will do so not only as one of the most well-regarded science-fiction movies in some time but as one of the greatest marketing puzzles in recent memory. The Paramount release is quiet, subtle and patient -- an artisanal offering in a time of studio fast food.