Kevin Smith To Distribute “Red State” Himself, Forgo Any Advertising Dan Koelsch, January 24, 2011January 24, 2011 The big buzz late Sunday night was Kevin Smith’s surprise announcement at the Sundance Film Festival. After screening his latest film Red State, Smith was supposed to hold an auction for potential distributors. However, Smith instead chose a very unique distribution method. Get the details after the break. When the movie, Smith’s first action horror, ended, the geek-favorite director told the audience (among other things) how he was unhappy with the current studio/distribution system for films. He explained that he didn’t want to spend $20 million marketing a film that only cost $4 million to make. So, Smith decided to buy the rights himself for only twenty bucks in a rather theatrical manner. The film will be self-released under his own Smodcast Pictures on October 19th, 2011 to mark the 17th anniversary of the release of his first film Clerks. He also won’t spend any money on “conventional” advertising, which is obviously extremely rare for a relatively high profile film. One of the things he will do to promote the film will be a roadshow called “The Red State USA Tour”, which will take place mostly in March. Smith expects to make about half of the film’s production cost from that alone. Hopefully the buzz from that and Sundance will be enough to make the theatrical release successful enough to make up the other half and more. Here are the dates of the tour: March 5th – Radio City Music Hall March 6th – Wilbur Theater in Boston March 8th – Harris Theater in Chicago March 9th – State Theater in Minneapolis March 10th – Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor March 11th – Indianapolis, IN March 12th – Midland Theater, Kansas City March 14th – Springfield, OH March 22nd – Paramount Theater, Denver March 26th – McCalister theater, New Orleans March 28th – Paramount Theater, Austin March 29th – Cobb Energy Center, Atlanta April 4th – McCaw Hall in Seattle Get all the details of the tour here, where you can even request a screening in your home town. What do you think of Smith’s distribution and marketing plans? Fortunately for us, viral marketing isn’t conventional, so we may see more from this film. Source: /Film UPDATE: Below is a video of the post-screening announcement. News Viral Marketing Viral News Kevin SmithRed State
Win Tickets To An Exclusive UK Screening Of Terry Gilliam’s New Film “The Zero Theorem” March 5, 2014Any fan of Terry Gilliam will tell you that whenever a new film from the notoriously cursed director is released, it is time for celebration. Not only do most of his films find themselves a victim of studio meddling, some never even see the light of day (although there seems… Read More
“Into The Woods” Trailer: Be Careful What You Wish For July 31, 2014July 31, 2014We haven’t seen much of anything from Into The Woods – except a teaser image of Meryl Streep as the Witch – until now. Disney is firing up the marketing machine for the upcoming musical mashup which takes some of the most iconic characters from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales… Read More
The Mark Of Batman: The Evolution Of An Icon [Infographic] July 16, 2014July 16, 2014On July 23, DC Comics will mark the 75th anniversary of Batman with “Batman Day,” a day-long celebration of all things Dark Knight at comic shops, book stores, and libraries nationwide. In anticipation of the big day, HalloweenCostumes.com has released a fun infographic that chronicles the many versions of the symbol Bruce… Read More
He’s also offering his fans a chance to become filmmakers!!! That’s the real story!!! Why is everybody ignoring that?! That should be headline news!http://wp.me/p1gK9Y-er
Probably because that’s a “tomorrow” statement. He’s going to tour Red State, then wide-release it 9 months from now, then make Hit Somebody and all the accompanying follow up work for that movie, *then* he’s going to help others make and release films. That statement’s a loooong ways off (relatively speaking).I’m not saying it’s not going to happen, but a lot is capable of happening or not happening between now and then.Keep kicking ass, Kevin!
Yeah that part of the story was buried in the lead to the point where I even forgot to mention it. VanGoghX is right though, it’s a long ways off, and it doesn’t seem as unique as it sounds.