Back in the day, New Line made a name for itself by taking movies with appeal to college students and marketing them to campuses. Now that New Line is out of the business entirely, it looks like Blowtorch Entertainment is trying to do the same thing. The newly established production company is making their first feature Tenure, and Variety has announced that Luke Wilson will star.
Wilson plays a professor who, as you might guess, has to compete for tenure against a colleague: an attractive young woman. David Koechner, known to many as the sportscaster from Anchorman, will play a fellow professor.
The idea seems to be to make these movies for practically nothing, then tour them around to campuses with live events related to the movie—appearances by the actors? Professor vs. professor tenure contests? I would think Luke Wilson might cost a bit of money to get in your movie, but his presence probably means a whole lot more eyeballs than you would get with just David Koechner or someone else with a low profile.
All in all, not a bad idea. College kids love to be made to feel special, and you can see something getting attention just by being a “special event” that the company probably won’t spend much money on. Who knows if Blowtorch can parlay this idea into mainstream success, a la New Line, but it’s not gonna hurt anyone if they try.
