truTV Creates Enhanced Film Messaging for Universal Studios

truTV has unveiled two custom promotions with Universal Pictures to expand awareness for Universal’s highly-anticipated theatrical releases of the political thriller State of Play and comedy adventure Land of the Lost, it was announced today. The promotions build upon an ongoing relationship between the film studio and the television network, which have recently worked together to promote the DVD releases of Universal Pictures’ Role Models and Focus Features’ Burn After Reading. The first custom promotion kicks off this week.

“Universal is a valued partner that continues to challenge us to think creatively and develop strategic marketing platforms for its high-profile releases,” said Katherine Johnson, senior vice president of Turner Entertainment promotions and marketing. “Universal recognizes that truTV is a growing network with a diverse programming lineup that continues to attract young movie-going audiences.”

truTV will promote Universal’s political thriller State of Play, in which Oscar® winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast, through a custom promotion built around a mini-marathon for Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege & Justice, which airs Sunday, April 12, from 12-3 p.m. (ET). truTV will feature an exclusive 90-second sneak peek at the film, as well as branded tune-ins and in-show graphics that integrate a character’s image from the film. Custom vignettes airing during the stunt will be created to feature State of Play cast commentary that highlights first-person accounts of e actors’ roles in the film. For the blistering thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in a case of seemingly unrelated homicides, Crowe is joined by Oscar® winners Ben Affleck and Helen Mirren, as well as Rachel McAdams. State of Play arrives in theatres nationwide Friday, April 17.

This summer truTV will drive awareness for Universal’s comedy adventure Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell, through unprecedented custom promotions that will air across the two full weeks that lead up to the film’s nationwide theatrical release on Friday, June 5. The promotional package will be wrapped around the Thursday primetime programming lineup on May 28 and June 4 from 8-11 p.m. (ET), which feature the series The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest. Each evening, truTV will feature a 90-second exclusive sneak peek of Land of the Lost for viewers. The network will drive viewers to the sneak peeks through custom integrated tune-ins each week and integrated in-show graphics leading up to and airing throughout the night. In the film, Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, sucked into a space-time vortex and spat back through time. Now, Marshall has no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world—a place of spectacular sights and super-scaled comedy known as the Land of the Lost.

Featured in March, the truTV/Role Models promotion was wrapped around a marathon for the original series The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest and included a special behind-the-scenes look at the unrated DVD. In December 2008, truTV promoted the DVD release for Focus Features’ Burn After Reading through custom marketing elements around the Saturday night The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest programming block.

truTV is television’s destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective. Currently seen in 91 million U.S. households, the 17-year-old network enjoyed its best deliveries ever in key demographics in 2008. truTV features high-stakes, action-packed originals that give viewers access to places and situations they can’t normally experience. truTV’s primetime fan favorites include the original series The Smoking Gun Presents World’s Dumbest; Black Gold; Speeders; Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice; and Forensic Files. During the daytime, the channel features expert trial coverage under the name IN SESSION.