Browse around the majority of geek film blogs today and there's only one clear topic that is the subject of conversation;
Kevin Smith and his $20 purchase of the rights to his own film - the religious horror
Red State - that was supposedly present at the Sundance Film Festival in order to auction off it's U.S. distribution rights. Instead Smith blatantly lied to his loyal fanbase for a cheap publicity stunt on his behalf but one that cost some of the attendee's a fair whack for the hot ticket (Smith auctioned off two tickets on Sunday night for $1,000 dollars, the proceeds he gave to charity) and were instead delivered a farce.
The L.A. Times have called it a 'media circus', the powerful geek writers
Drew McWeeny (Hitfix) and
Steve Weintraub (Collider) have vowed never to publish anything about Kevin Smith and his films ever again once their Red State reviews are published, and the whole internet seems to be in uproar. The twitters are angry! In any event, Smith achieved what he wanted, for now, and Red State is on the lips of everyone in the industry and all publicity is good publicity, well for at least as long as he has it. As far as Red State goes, Smith's newly formed Smodcast Productions (named after his popular podcast) will release the film in the U.S. on October 19th but the movie will play around the country as it gets wheeled out from city-to-city, beginning on March 5th at the Radio City Music Hall.
Smith told the audience at Sundance;
Were starting over... Its not just about making the movie, its about releasing the movie. True independence is not about handing your work over to some jackass.
Expect tickets to be pricey and will be accompanied by a Q & A no doubt;
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
Smith also let it be known that he plans to quit film-making soon and become a distributor of other people's work (he has looked recently like an artist who has lost the voice to say anything). His next movie will still be
the hockey drama Hit Somebody, which had a news reveal of it's own last night;
Almost this entire cast will return in Hit Somebody. Coming across the boards in 2012.
Nicholas Braun will lead the film once attached to Seann William Scott,
Kyle Gallner will play a Wayne Gretzky-type character,
Michael Parks will play the French Canadian coach of Buddys first pro team
John Goodman "Blue Jay Jennings Buddys first coach and
Melissa Leo will also have a role. Shooting will begin later this year.