Fox has engineered a unique promotional platform for its Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line' across four MTV Networks channels.
Twentieth Century Fox has secured an unprecedented platform on the MTV Networks to promote its Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line."
For the first time, four of MTV's channels -- MTV, VH1, CMT (Country Music TV) and VH1 Classic -- will simultaneously carry a seven-minute scene from a movie. Segment will play across all four networks at 11 p.m. Sunday under the umbrella title "Sneak Peek."
"Johnny Cash is an icon to our viewers," said John Shea, exec VP of integrated marketing for the MTV Networks Music/Logo Group.
The star wattage of Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who play Cash and his wife June, made the deal a no-brainer, Shea said, particularly with Witherspoon, who starred in the MTV Films-produced "Election" and whose Tennessee roots make her a fan of CMT.
Pam Levine, co-president of domestic-theatrical marketing for 20th Century Fox, said it's appropriate for four different nets to carry the promotion because "Johnny Cash himself didn't fit neatly into one category of music. He's in both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame."
Shea said each of the four nets will cut its own 30-second spots to promote the "Sneak Peek." MTV and Fox decided to carve out a continuous seven-minute slice of the film instead of shorter scenes taken from various parts of the movie for a specific reason: Shea said he didn't want merely a longer version of the "Walk the Line" trailers that will saturate the multiplexes and show up in advertising spots in advance of the movie's Nov. 18 release.
Individual MTV networks in the past have done seven-minute "Sneak Peeks" from movies including "Ray" (VH1) and "Hustle & Flow" (MTV).
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