The News: Come for the Hype, Stay for the Commercial

By S.T. VanAirsdale

Some of today's movie news of note from around New York:

--Remember the episode of South Park where the boys, in search of an available TV, sprint from Stan's house to Chef's house to a nursing home to Cartman's fumigated living room for a look at the trailer for the new Terrence and Phillip movie? And they have to sit through the entirety of Russell Crowe: Fightin' 'Round the World just for a glimpse at a 30-second spot? That's what yesterday's New Line press release reminds me of: "The most highly anticipated film for the holidays, The Golden Compass, will have its exclusive worldwide trailer debut on October 9th at the opening of the celebrated Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center, officially kicking off the 2007-2008 holiday season." Folks -- it's a commercial. Of course, Sam Elliott is hosting tonight, so maybe hooky is in order after all.

--Shilling for a better cause is Joe Angio, director of the fine Melvin Van Peebles documentary How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). To wit: Those "Rated X by an All-White Jury" T-shirts that Van Peebles popularized around the time of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song are now available for sale on Angio's Web site. "Your $14.99 (cheap!) will not only help two indie filmmakers get out of debt, but will hasten our return to the film business from the schmatte trade," writes Angio and producer Michael Solomon in a note to their supporters. And believe me -- they'll look fabulous at the Golden Compass Worldwide Trailer Premiere.

--IndieWIRE reports that IFC Films went and bought a couple more New York Film Festival titles, bringing its grand total of festival purchases this year to 2,943. Claude Chabrol's A Girl Cut in Two and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's Actresses are the latest to join the First Take pipeline, with release dates to be set in New York and on VOD.

Posted at October 9, 2007 5:29 AM