"Bridesmaids" would like its poster back.
How good does Universal feel about their upcoming a capella group comedy “Pitch Perfect?” They’re moving the release up a week to build on the positive response they’ve received to the trailer. It will hit theaters on September 28th, instead of October 5th.
“Pitch Perfect” is set in the world of competitive college a capella singing groups. Ah, yes, a capella groups. It’s equally fun to be in them and make fun of them. And the people who are in them know there are people who make fun of them and they’re okay with that, because they’re pretty convinced their cool. You know what I love about a capella groups? Their names are so often based on terrible puns that it can be impossible to tell which is a real name and which is a parody name. Like when Ed Helms’s character on “The Office” talks about his Cornell singing group, “Here Comes Treble.” I would bet anything that the first time he said that in an episode, there was some singing group in a tiny college who said, “Hey…that’s us…”
Anyway, “Pitch Perfect” stars Anna Kendrick, with Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, Alexis Knapp, Adam DeVine, and Freddie Stroma also in the cast. Jason Moore of “Avenue Q” fame directed a script by Kay Cannon and Jeff Roda.
Here’s the lengthy press release from Universal. Look out for the ticket deal they offer in the last paragraph:
Universal Pictures announced today that it will release Pitch Perfect in select theaters across North America on Friday, September 28, 2012—one week earlier than expected. This early release of the new movie from Gold Circle Films and Universal Pictures will precede the musical comedy’s wide release, which continues as previously scheduled on October 5.
The decision to open the film in select theaters early resulted from a number of factors, led by the wildly positive moviegoer feedback for Pitch Perfect from early screenings and indicators of a very engaged core audience avidly anticipating its release. Universal is promoting Pitch Perfect with the most extensive screening campaign in the studio’s history. Over the past few weeks, hundreds of screenings of Pitch Perfect across the country have consistently received raucous audience response.
Those screenings have also created regular spikes in social-media conversation that far outpace similar films at the same stage. Fizziology, the leading social-network monitoring company, notes that the sentiment for Pitch Perfect in social media conversation is more than 90 percent positive. Just last week, following the airing of a single television ad for the film in the mid-season finale of ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, three separate topics related to Pitch Perfect became trending topics on Twitter: the film itself, the character of “Fat Amy” and the song “No Diggity” that was featured in the spot.
Universal hopes to further galvanize the growing positive buzz for the film with this early release strategy, giving early audiences of core fans the opportunity to accelerate the velocity and expand the reach of the word-of-mouth for Pitch Perfect after they see it starting on September 28.
“You have to be willing to break the rules for a film that you deeply love, and supporting Pitch Perfect in this unorthodox way is a result of our passion for the movie and confidence in its reception,” said Nikki Rocco, President of Distribution, Universal Pictures. “After every screening, we’ve seen levels of reaction similar to how audiences responded to American Pie and Bring It On, other comedies for a young audience that grew into great success stories for Universal.”
“The social conversation surrounding Pitch Perfect on Twitter, Facebook and blogs has been loud and incredibly positive,” said Ben Carlson, President, Fizziology. “We have measured these types of metrics around every major movie in the last three years, and this film is one of the strongest comedies that we’ve seen this far ahead of release.”
To encourage fans to grab their friends and see Pitch Perfect, Universal has teamed with Fandango and MovieTickets.com on exclusive offers for the early screenings. Those who buy three or more tickets on Fandango to any showing of the musical comedy will receive one additional ticket to the same showing at no charge. As well, those who purchase tickets at MovieTickets.com will get $5.00 off their purchase of two or more tickets to the show. For more information about the promotions and a list of theaters showing Pitch Perfect, visit www.pitchperfectmovie.com/tickets.
