Pre-release and marketing

In early 1999, after filming concluded the previous December, David Fincher edited the footage to prepare Fight Club for a preliminary screening with senior executives. They did not receive the film positively, expressing concern that there would not be an audience that would watch it. Two months later, Fight Club was screened to second-tier executives, who also negatively responded to the film.[30] Fight Club was originally slated to be released in July 1999,[31] later changed to August 6, 1999. The studio delayed film's release again to autumn due to a crowded summer schedule and a hurried post-production process.[32]

Marketing executives at Twentieth Century Fox observed difficulties in marketing Fight Club. They considered the film primarily geared toward male audiences, and that the presence of Brad Pitt in the film would still not attract female filmgoers based on the film's violence. Research testing showed that the film appealed to teenagers. The marketing executives also considered marketing Fight Club as an art film. Fincher refused to let the posters and trailers focus on Brad Pitt, encouraging the studio to hire Weiden+Kennedy, an advertising firm, to devise a marketing plan. The firm came up with a bar of pink soap as the film's main marketing image, which was considered "a bad joke" by Fox executives. Fincher also released two early trailers that were faux public service announcements presented by Pitt and Norton, which the studio did not find appropriate to open the movie. Instead, the studio financed a $20 million large-scale campaign to provide a press junket, posters, billboards, and trailers for TV that highlighted the film's fight scenes. Fight Club was also advertised on cable during World Wrestling Federation broadcasts, which Fincher protested, believing that the placement created the wrong kind of context for the film.[30