News Corp All-In for Simpsons Movie

Simpsons News — Posted 21 Jun, 2006 by DisgruntledGoat

Slated for theatrical release on July 27, 2007, the highly anticipated Simpsons feature film will reportedly get a huge promotional push across all divisions of Fox Broadcasting’s parent company, News Corp. A story in today’s Hollywood Reporter mentions that News Corp is hoping to take in several hundred million dollars in incremental revenue from the movie over the next couple of years.

News Corp president and chief operating officer Peter Chernin spoke at the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecommunications Conference in Santa Monica, informing investors that Simpsons exec producer James L. Brooks met with a virtual army of News Corp exec to discuss worldwide strategies for licensing and marketing the film across a number of platforms including home video, publishing and network and satellite TV.

Chernin hopes that the promotional blitz for the Simpsons movie will in turn benefit all News Corp entities involved, and pushed the importance of synergy by pointing out the recent worldwide box office success of 20th Century Fox’s animated feature Ice Age: The Meltdown and the effects-laden X-Men: The Last Stand. With The Simpsons feature, he plans release details and promotions three waves that will hit in November, February and May.