Moviegoers who drink wine are moviegoers with discerning taste.
Or so the logic may go for the folks marketing Lisa Cholodenko’s new film, “The Kids Are Alright.”
While other strands of the Focus Features marketing campaign underscore the film’s story of a pair of lesbian mom’s and their two kids whose family is turned upside down when their sperm donor father returns, mainstream marketing for the specialty release — which opened in theaters this weekend — seems aimed at luring wine lovers.
The main promotional image on Focus’ website features the film’s unconventional family sharing wine (although they’ve been transported from their suburban backyard to a pastoral scene in the country).
The film’s apparent core demographic — print subscribers of the Sunday New York Times — were met this weekend with a special full color, four page insert hyping the new film while also touting the New York Times’ Wine Club.
The headline read:
CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF THE ACCLAIMED FILM “THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT” WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES WINE CLUB — just in time for those lazy days of summer socializing with your loved ones.
Meanwhile, back at the Film in Focus website, writer Howard Rodman continued the wine thread in a special feature for the site. He wrote about “The Kids Are Alright”, “While the film is not about wine, the pairing of wine to scene––for those in the know––spoke magnums about the characters.” He also offered a recommendation on drinks to savor with variety Focus Features films.
“When Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) invite their newly discovered sperm-donor (Mark Ruffalo) home for dinner to meet the kids––Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson),” wrote Rodman, “They keep things simple and fresh: a hot-dog barbeque with a Petite Sirah from Kalyra, a Santa Barbara boutique vineyard.”
Of course, the wine hook for “The Kids Are Alright” evokes another specialty film from a few years ago, namely Fox Searchlight’s release of Alexander Payne’s “Sideways.”
UPDATE:
“The Kids Are Alright” opened very well this weekend, earning more than $500,000 in 7 theaters, for an exceptionally strong big per screen average of $72,127. More at indieWIRE.
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