Want to see Kevin Smith's Red State early? Now's your chance!

Indeed, the controversial filmmaker is bringing his latest work to the On Demand spectrum for a limited run following its Oscar qualifying run recently in L.A., all in advance of its slightly more standard theatrical debut and DVD/Blu-Ray release in October. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of this movie, and it's not everyday that you can essentially watch a film before it hits theaters. Check it out and join in on the conversation about one of my very favorite pieces of cinema in 2011!

-Thoughts on the film if/when you see it?

Kevin Smith's final film 'Hit Somebody' will be a 2 part farewell?

Indeed, according to this Hour Montreal report from his recent Red State screening/Q and A:

During the Q&A portion of tonight’s Montreal stop of the Red Provinces Tour, Kevin Smith‘s Canadian series of screenings of his flick Red State, he dropped a juicy tidbit of information:

Hit Somebody, his next and final film, will be a two-parter. The filmmaker revealed that while writing his screenplay, which is based on the Mitch Albom-pennedWarren Zevon song about Buddy, a Canadian kid who dreams of becoming a hockey player even though he’s “not that good with a puck,” he realized that it was getting way too big to fit into one movie. He thought of turning it into a HBO series, but finally settled on doing a two-part film, à la Kill Bill.

From what he said, it seems like the split will happen when Buddy finally makes it into the NHL; the first part will mostly be about his youth in Canada.

-Joey's Two Cents: More on this as it develops, but from the bit of the script I've seen and the song it's based on...it's one epic project. Thoughts?

Kevin Smith is going to have a talk show?

So it seems, according to Vulture:

Filmmaker Kevin Smith has never had an issue speaking his mind (just ask the folks at Southwest Airlines). So perhaps this news isn't so surprising: Vulture has learned that the director ofClerks and the upcoming Red State is developing a daily, half-hour, syndicated talk show that would blend celebrity chat and comedy. Work has already begun on a pilot for the potential talker, with Smith asking his legion of Twitter fans Tuesday to e-mail him if they want to be in the audience. So just what would a Kevin Smith talk show look like? Vulture got its hands on an e-mail the show's booking staff has been sending to potential guests, and it provides a pretty good idea of what's brewing.

According to the message, Smith's reps are telling celebs that the tentatively titled Kevin Smith Project will be "a daily 30-minute entertainment talk show for syndication ... The idea is a Regis and Kelly talk show at the opposite end of the day for the opposite kind of audience — the 12-34 demo. Kevin and his co-host will talk water-cooler topics at the top of the show, followed by a celebrity interview and a comedy segment from the field (a la The Daily Show). Each show will feature one celebrity interview." The message also gives a hint as to which studios might be behind the project: "The show is being positioned to air following TMZ, in the 6-8pm time period on the Fox stations in all the major markets." TMZ hails from Warner Bros. Television's Telepictures unit, so that studio could be a likely home for Smith; the Fox stations also could be behind the show via their sister studio, Twentieth Television. (Vulture is in the process of contacting those studios and we'll update you if we find out more specifics, including the identity of the aforementioned co-host: Will it be Scott Mosier, his partner for his online SModcasts? Or a reunion with Jay?)

Smith has been dropping hints about this career direction. Just last week, he told USA Today that he'd love to be paid to just be himself and talk. But at first blush, Smith does not seem an obvious fit with the usual syndicated talk-show archetypes: He's not aspirational like Oprah, journalistic like Anderson Cooper, or downmarket like Jerry Springer. His fame also isn't nearly as widespread — or mainstream — as past celebrity chatters, from Whoopi Goldberg to Tony Danza. But he does have a core audience of younger, slightly more male fans who might welcome a daily dose of Smith's unconventional, somewhat Howard Stern–esque manner. He's gotten lots of experience in a talklike format via his regular SModcasts and recent Internet radio show. Smith is also friendly with tons of celebs, giving him access to potential guests. The potential problem we see with this show: Smith has a dirty, dirty mouth, and loves to talk very openly about his sex life and fantasies. While stations could air the show in late night, broadcast TV could be a somewhat tougher sell for Smith than, say, a show on Spike or G4. That said, we're pretty sure his show will be a lot more fun than Katie Couric's.

-Joey's Two Cents: Count me in, as you no doubt could guess...thoughts?

Take a gander at the new Trailer for Kevin Smith's Red State!

It's no secret that this is one of my favorite films of the year so far, but here's a much more appropriate trailer for the type of flick that it is (though I still love the original teaser). Behold:

-Joey's Two Cents: I dig it a lot, obviously...thoughts?

Kevin Smith reveals his unique release plans for Red State!

/Film did a better job of collecting the information from his morning radio show than I did, so I'll defer to them:

The innovative, controversial but undeniably successful distribution of Kevin Smith‘s Red State will enter its next phase this Labor Day. On Smith’s morning Smodcast Plus One Per Diem Tuesday, he announced Lionsgate will exclusively handle the video on demand and Blu-ray rights to the film and that audiences can watch it beginning this Labor Day. Then, when the film opens in October, theaters showing the film will follow the screening with a live, digital, interactive Q&A and a live Hollywood Babble-On Smodcast. Read more info after the break.

AMC is developing a reality show with Kevin Smith?

So it seems, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

AMC, the network that has found success with the comic book-based The Walking Dead, is developing a reality project set in the comic book world with Kevin Smith.

Smith, an avid comic fan and writer who continued his big-screen features Jay and Silent Bob and Clerks in comic form, would executive produce the project, which will take place in and revolve around the two guys who run his New Jersey comic book store The Secret Stash, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

A casting call for the project posted on Facebook noted that Smith was not looking for actors, but instead comic book fans -- men and women ages 21-35 -- who live in the tristate area.

AMC announced plans to expand into unscripted programming in November and in April revealed series orders for two docu-series: Inside the DHS, from Dirty Jobs producer Craig Piligian and following Department of Homeland Security employees including Janet Napolitano; and Pitch, from Undercover Boss duo Eli Holzman & Stephen Lambert and revolving around ad agencies pitching clients and prepping ad campaigns.

-Joey's Two Cents: Kevin Smith wouldn't actually be on it, the guys who run the shop would be, and from their podcasts I know that they're interesting guys, so this could be something to keep an eye on...thoughts?

Kevin Smith continues to move Red State towards a worldwide theatrical release...

...by acquiring some Canadian distribution for the flick (he always said he'd only be self-releasing the film through SModcast Pictures in the U.S.), according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Phase 4 Films has acquired Canadian rights to Kevin Smith’s Red State, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

Written and directed by Smith, Red State, about a group of American teens who receive an online invitation for sex, stars Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Kyle Gallner.

Phase 4 plans to release the film, produced by Jon Gordon, in the coming months with a marketing and distribution campaign that will include a tour across Canada.

Red State has earned more than $850K in the box office on 15 one-night engagements.

The deal was negotiated by Larry Greenberg, svp of acquisitions for Phase 4, and Cinetic Media’s John Sloss, Sloss Eckhouse LawCo LLP’s Jerry Dasti and D2 Films’ David Dinerstein on behalf of the filmmakers.

-Joey's Two Cents: It's no secret by now I'm a fan of the film, so it's very good to know that a wider group of people will soon be able to see this unique work...thoughts?

Did Kevin Smith already make his budget back with the Red State Roadshow Tour?

It certainly appears as such. In his latest post to The Red Statements (found here), he goes over the numbers (after a passage about how much Quentin Tarantino enjoyed the film) that the movie has made so far, and what it's got coming its way. Here's the relevant data from Kevin Smith himself:

Over the course of the 15 shows of the Red State USA Tour, we made almost one million dollars from ticket and merchandise sales. A few times, we had the highest per screen average in the country. We started out with a record-making show at Radio City Music Hall and went on to average 1100 people per screening. Had we booked ourselves into smaller houses, we could’ve SOLD OUT every show; but being in the larger houses cost us nothing extra.

And apparently, we managed to pull 1100 a night solely from our podcasts: when asked nightly if they heard about the show from a show at SModcast.com, an overwhelming 85/90% of the audience indicated yes (Jon swears it was 100% in Seattle). That bodes well for SIR.

You take what we made on the tour, you add that to the $1.5mil we’ve pulled in from foreign sales thus far (with a few big territories yet to sell). Add to that $3mil we’re on the verge of closing for all North American distribution rights excluding theatrical (which means VOD/HomeVideo/PayTV/Streaming).

The flick cost $5mil to make, but $4mil after the California tax incentive. One of the only things Jon and I promised the Red State investors in exchange for letting us handle American theatrical distribution ourselves was that their $4mil would be covered as soon as possible – something very few other production entities can promise or even offer. Invest a million dollars in almost any production, and you rarely if ever get your money back within five years, let alone the one year it’s looking like it’s gonna take for our guys to make their money back.

Add up all those figures above and you’ll notice our gains are higher than our spending. And without any dopey marketing figures to have to recoup, once we close the aforementioned deals (which Jonn Sloss & LawCo are working to close as we speak), simple math dictates Red State is in the black – long before any wide release. That’s music to the ears of any investor who only put up their money in September.

Ta-da!

Behold our exclusive Early Review of Kevin Smith's Red State!

You can take a look at my thoughts on the film here with my early review. There's not a whole lot of reviews out for the film yet, so consider this one of the first official takes on Red State, as well as the first early take of the year for The Awards Circuit. Big things are to come on the site, so stay tuned!
-Thoughts?

The Red State premiere last night set a box office record...

...as told in this story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Surrounded by a few thousand fans, Kevin Smith kept his cool as he unveiled his new film Red State at Radio City Music Hall Saturday night. He was in fine, foul-mouthed form as he kicked off the first of 15 sneak preview dates of his "Red State USA Tour" before approximately 3,800 of his supporters willing to fork out anywhere from $40 to over $100 per seat.

"Let this be a lesson to you that anyone can rent Radio City Music Hall," he told the crowd, "even a fat kid from New Jersey."

Smith first screened the film at the Sundance Film Festival in January -- at a debut that left a lot of distribution executives annoyed after he staged a faked "auction" for distribution rights. Having "sold" the film to himself, Smith is now distributing the picture via his Smodcast Pictures, and thus far seems to be pulling out all the stops and gimmicks to get the publicity he needs to make the $4 million picture profitable. At Radio City, that included merchandise such as posters, soundtrack dropcards (with Smith signature, $20; without, $10) and his book Kevin Smith Sells Out, which sold at a rapid pace.

Saturday turned out both buzz and a fair profit margin -- the $161,590 ticket sale earnings were the "highest per-screen for any film this year," according to producer Jonathan Gordon. If you subtract the $60,000 for the theater rental, that's a tidy one-day profit.

Kevin Smith brings Red State to the Blue State tomorrow...

...and I will be there at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to cover the premiere! Look for an extremely early review of the film (and follow me on Twitter here for up to the second coverage), and perhaps more! Whatever you think of Smith, this is an extremely interesting experiment in terms of indie film, so it's going to be fascinating to see how the film does on the road show and then in general release in October.