‘Bully’: Which town wants it more?
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What city in America can’t live without “Bully”?
According to a poll commissioned by distributor Weinstein Co., Cleveland is hot for the documentary— hotter than any other locale.
We don’t know what that says about the best location in the nation, but more than 3,000 people in the city’s metro area have registered their preference that the company bring the movie there. Close behind is Indianapolis, followed by Paducah, Ky., and DeKalb, Ill., residents of which think it important that the expose of teen bullying be shown in their towns. (And here we thought everyone in the Midwest was a sweetheart.)
The poll is being overseen by Eventful.com, a company that conducts national surveys on behalf of entertainment companies to gauge how much a given city wants a movie or performer. Then it reports back to the studio. (Paramount famously used it for its “Paranormal Activity,” then turned the results into a “you demanded it” ad campaign.)
It’s up to studios and promoters how to use the information; in some cases they’ll change their release or live-event strategy as a result, giving a town that might get overlooked in a traditional roll-out an opportunity to make the case that they deserve a stop. Fox used it for its found-footage superhero movie ‘Chronicle’ this year, bringing pre-release screenings to towns that requested them.
In this case, Weinstein Co. will bring “Bully,” which performed will in limited release last weekend, for one-off screenings to the top 10 cities int he Eventful poll, and director Lee Hirsch to the top three. (If cities in the top 10 are already in the company’s release pattern, Weinstein will jump to the next spot on the list; you can see the full poll results here.)
‘Bully’ will open in 50 markets on April 13, regardless of whether anyone in those places demanded it.
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--Steven Zeitchik
