Update: I’ve had many requests on where you can see the film. I’ve had luck with Moviefone, not Fandango. Let me know your experience in the comments below.
It isn’t abnormal for a studio to hold a special sneak preview of a screening a week or so before. Now these are different that the free word-of-mouth or press screenings like DreamWorks is currently doing for Steven Spielberg‘s War Horse. Rather to build buzz, the studio will actually distribute the film to play for one night only (usually a Saturday) where theatergoers can go pay full price and see the film as they would the opening day.
20th Century Fox unveiled today they would be doing this for Cameron Crowe‘s upcoming drama We Bought a Zoo, and instead of the usual week early sneak, they are planning to show it an entire month before in unprecedented fashion. On November 26th, the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, theatergoers can go to over 800 locations nationwide and get tickets for one of these weekends. [THR]
Partnering with the social media platform TOUT, theatergoers can post user reviews of the film and enter to win a trip to the San Diego Zoo for the whole family. In a neat addition, Crowe will also participate in a live chat after the film. With strong test screening results, Fox president Oren Aviv had the following to say:
“Once in a while, we’re lucky enough to have a picture to which audiences of all kinds and all ages respond so strongly, that it demands a big and unexpected event. We Bought a Zoo is that kind of picture — and Thanksgiving is a great time to share it via this special very early preview.”
I believe the reason is two-fold, as the Christmas season is absolutely packed with films, with War Horse falling in a similar demographic, not to mention The Adventures of Tintin, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked all being family fare. If all goes as planned, these screenings will give just a slight edge to Zoo and not let the cat (er, tiger) completely out of the bag. Check out the trailer for the film below and let us know if you are going to attend.
We Bought A Zoo stars Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning and John Michael Higgins and will officially hits theater December 23rd, 2011.
Will you check out one of these sneak preview screenings for We Bought a Zoo?