You know, the release of an upcoming movie is supposed to get you anxious, riled up, and pulling out your hair in anticipation of it's opening night. It's no secret as I pointed out yesterday that weeks ahead of time, places of business try to get the whole thing kickstarted. Now, it's one thing to place a toy from Shrek in with your food order at McDonald's, but what 7-11 did is "leaps and bounds" ahead of everyone else despite the fact this is only going on in 12 Nationwide stores. I'm talking about the upcoming release of "The Simpsons" movie. After being on the air for so many years entertaining us all, going back to the early to mid 90's, creator Matt Grohenig spoke with reporters from newspapers, magazines, and television about any possibility of an animated feature length film. At that time, he suggested the possibility that somewhere down the line when ideas are running out and he gets burned out, a movie would possibly made to tie-up loose ends and close the book on a successful run. Latest I heard, "The Simpsons" aren't going anyplace at least for a few more years. It may be good, but let's not call this a "franchise" on the big screen yet. It's no "Toy Story, or Shrek". Regardless of the fact, the folks at the movie studio thought it would be a perfect match to team 7-11 and the movie together. (By the way, the only one around here is on 63rd Street in Chicago). You'll find all the signs changed to "Kwick-E-Mart" and once inside, you'll find inflatables of some of Springfield's most famous that you can pose for a picture with. No more Slurpees either...They're Squishees now and the flavor of the month is raspberry-vanilla. They've also got Krusty's Cereal and Buzz Soda. There is not however, any Duff Beer. It is available in Europe though. It sounds like a pretty good marketing gimmick but, there's a real person that was used as a model for Apu at a 7-11 in California many years ago. If this thing is a success, this guy will be showing up at FOX with his Attorneys with his hand out. They better pay him off now or the real 7-11 signs will be going up before the movie opens and this could very well be the big finish for "The Simpsons".
