In a closely fought contest, Springfield, Vermont, has emerged as the winner of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE Hometown Movie Challenge. Twentieth Century Fox will roll out the âyellow carpetâ at Springfield, Vermontâs Springfield Theaters on July 21, 2007, for the premiere screening event of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, where attendees will get the V.I.P. treatment and be among the first in the world to see the long-anticipated movie before it hits theaters.
Vermont's Springfield was one of 14 âSpringfieldsâ around the U.S. that competed to win the filmâs Hometown Premiere.
USA TODAY invited its readers to vote for their favorite Springfield Hometown Movie through a website and voting page on USATODAY.com. The contest was termed an enormous success with 109,582 votes cast online, and more than 20,000 reader comments; a new record for USATODAY.com. Springfield, Vermont, won the competition with 15,367 votes. Springfield, Illinois, came a close second with 14.642 and Springfield, Oregon, was third place with 13,894 votes.
The filmmakers behind THE SIMPSONS MOVIE commented, "Congratulations on proving the old adage that when you put a bald guy together with a giant doughnut, the world will beat a path to your door.â³
The 13 other Springfields will each be given a screening of their own the night before the movie hits theaters July 27. âItâs a futile attempt to prove that Hollywood has a heart,â the filmmakers added.
The 14 participating Springfields were: Massachusetts, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, Kentucky, Nebraska, Colorado, Louisiana and Vermont. Each participating Springfield submitted a short film showcasing the communityâs âSimpson Spirit.â
Twentieth Century Fox provided entrants with key SIMPSONS' filmmaking tools, including a digital video camera, THE SIMPSONS MOVIE couch theater display, THE SIMPSONS MOVIE posters, digital files of the filmâs logo, character art and SIMPSONS' yellow paint.
Starring in the animated film are Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille and Albert Brooks.
Producing the feature are THE SIMPSONS series exec producer James L. Brooks, creator Matt Groening, current showrunner Al Jean, Mike Scully and Richard Sakai. The script is written by Groening, Brooks, Jean, Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti. David Silverman (MONSTERS, INC.), the seriesâ supervising animation director, is helming the feature.
One of the worldâs largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Fox Filmed Ent. produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of FFE: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Atomic and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.
