Kevin Smith's 'Red State' debuts at Sundance; promises to take film on tour

Kevin Smith's religious horror, Red State, premiered at Sundance last night and yes I'm jealous I couldn't go! So far the reviews of it have been mixed, but if there's one thing that isn't it's Smith's disgust with Hollywood's film distribution system. After the film he went off on an unusually blunt and serious rant on the topic, revealing that he's done with letting others market and distribute his movies, and announcing plans to distribute Red State on his own.

Smith's original plan was to auction off Red State after the screening to the highest bidder, and...well, that sorta happened. Smith called up producer John Gordon onto the stage who immediately announced the beginning of the auction. Smith bid $20 and Gordon announced the film "sold"! Smith says that the film will release traditionally in theaters on October 19th, but before then he'll take it on a 'Red State Tour' to major cities in the US. For information on where you can see Red State, click here. No, DC is NOT on the list, dammit. The tour starts March 5th at Radio City Music Hall, and will cost considerably more than your average moviegoing experience. Think upwards of $50 per ticket, but Smith promises it'll be worth it.

The way Smith describes it, everything sounds perfect. Red State only cost $4M to produce, and it would've cost many times more than that to traditionally market it. The movie has already gained a ton of notoriety just from the limited self promotion Smith has been doing. The only part that doesn't sit right with me is the tour. Smith expects to make up nearly half the production budget during it, but I think he's being generous. Especially when people know that the film will likely be released in their town for considerably cheaper in just a few months, close to Halloween no less.  I think that's when the serious bulk of the film's budget will be recouped.

He also reiterated the idea that Red State will be his next to last film, with the hockey comedy Hit Somebody being his swan song. I still think he's got one more Clerks left in him, but he seems pretty steadfast on focusing on the production side of things.

If you go to the Red State website, there's an option to request that the tour come to your town, so I'll be spending the next ten minutes crafting an email to convince them to pass through Washington, DC. How can you leave out the Nation's friggin' Capital??  If you're interested in seeing the film and Kevin Smith(who will be along for the tour), then start emailing today!