How to NOT promote a movie in Bismarck, North Dakota:
1. Do NOT advertise in the news paper
2. Do NOT put the name of the movie on your outdoor sign
3. Do NOT display promotional posters in the mall hall way.
4. Do NOT show the movie playing at the ticket booth
5. Have only one showing for the grand opening night.
6. Have the movie share a theater screen with another movie
7. Have a homemade sign over the theater-screen door entrance.
The story:
I was aware that ???American Carol??? was supposed to be released nationwide at the beginning of October. On Monday (October 6th) I drove to the Grand Theater (15 screens) to see if the movie was playing there. I went into the Grand theater and looked at the posting of all the movies currently showing, which are displayed above the ticket counter. The ???American Carol??? title was NOT listed. I assumed that it must be then showing at the Carmike 8 Theater (8 screens). I drove to the Carmike theaters, by way of the Sears north parking lot (thereby not driving by the outdoor sign). I entered through the west door. I noticed that there were NOT any posters showing the ???American Carol??? playing. I approached the ticket booth and looked at the list of movies playing, which did NOT show the ???American Carol??? playing. I then asked the person at the ticket counter if they had ???American Carol???. He said they have the movie but he was not sure when they would be playing the movie. He said he could go find out that information, which I asked him to do. He returned and said that they would start showing the movie the next day (October 7th) one time at 7:30. I thanked him and told him I would return to see the movie. When I left the theater, I decided to drive by the outdoor sign to see if it was listed. The movie ???American Carol??? was not listed anywhere on the outdoor sign.
On October 7th I returned to Carmike to watch the movie. On my way to the theater I drove by the outdoor sign to see if the movie was listed. It was still NOT listed. When I entered the theater to see if there were any posters promoting the movie. There were NONE. When I purchased the ticket I looked to see if it was listed above the ticket booth. It was NOT. I was told the movie was being shown on Screen #1. When I went to Screen #1 I was not sure if I was at the correct screen since ???Step Brothers??? was prominently displayed above the door. I then walked to Screens #2,3,& 4, which showed other movies playing. I returned to Screen#1, and then realized that Carmike had made a ???hard-to-read??? sign made out of 3 pieces of taped together paper which said ???American Carol??? in blue ink from what appeared to be an ink-jet printer. I entered the theater at 7:30, and the screen was not showing anything ( no previews or advertising). I was the only one in the theater. I waited for about 5 to 10 minutes before the previews started. During the entire course of the movie, I was the only person in the theater. It was obvious I w
Liberal Laughs
Filmmaker David Zucker on his new satire, 'An American Carol,' and why he converted to conservative politics.
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David Zucker made his mark in Hollywood as the madcap brain behind the spoof-comedy classics "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun." But now for something completely different: post 9/11, Zucker experienced a conservative political conversion, and his new film, "An American Carol," is a satire of the Charles Dickens tale featuring a liberal documentary filmmaker named Michael Malone who learns the true spirit of America. Zucker spoke with NEWSWEEK's Sarah Ball. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Your movie is filled with jokes about Hollywood liberals. Was this a hard sell in town?
David Zucker: Hollywood studios did not want to make this. We finally found a French company, of all things, to distribute it. This ends all my snide remarks about the French.
You know, my boyfriend's name is Michael Moore.
Well, I hope for your sake he's slimmer. The real Michael Moore has just ballooned. We cast Kevin Farley, who's just pleasantly on the heavy side.
Why a political film now?
Once I went over to the dark side, I did a couple of political ads. And when I showed them to some live audiences, we got big laughs. I thought, Why not a feature? "Saturday Night Live," Jon Stewart and the rest—they're all funny. But we can make fun of the left, just like they make fun of the right.
Does spoof cancel out message?
No. Back in the early 1980s there were crazy airplane disaster movies that were taken seriously. So we made "Airplane!" and said, "Look, guys, the emperor has no clothes." I'm always trying to find new targets, and the loony-left really appealed to me as a source.
What does Moore think of it?
I saw him on "Larry King Live" and they put him on a split screen with a clip of the movie. He looked pretty surprised by it. But he did come up with a good line: "I thought they cast Viggo Mortensen."
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