For those not in the know, the G20 summit — where the world leaders get together for a nice chat — is happening this coming weekend in Toronto. Roads are closed, security is on high alert, and protesters have already started marching down streets. Needless to say, unless you have a really good reason to be downtown, you shouldn’t be.
There’s something else happening this weekend too. Saturday to be exact. It’s a partial lunar eclipse. What a great opportunity for the distributor of the Twilight films in Canada, E1 Entertainment, to promote the upcoming Twilight sequel, Eclipse, by hosting a free screening of the last film to come out in the series, New Moon. This would be a great idea if the event was somewhere far from the G20 security zone (like the East end of the city). Instead it’s a terrible idea. They’ve put it at the Harbourfront Centre, just outside of the high risk zone, and they want you to come dressed up as your favourite Twilight character. That doesn’t sound safe considering you’ll be around military guys looking for crazy people to shoot.
My beef with this whole event is that the Twilight movies are aimed at young teens. Shouldn’t the studio and distributor be more responsible in protecting them? It is in their own interest after all since these kids will be the ones paying for the next three movies to come in the saga. I guess they’re only seeing the potential marketing gimmick and not the safety of their core audience. They did have this warning in their press release: “To avoid G20 road closures, take the TTC! : 97/320 Yonge Bus, 509 Harbourfront or the 510 Spadina Streetcars.” Gee, thanks.
If you do attend you’ll have the chance to get turned into a vampire at the “Sparkle Station”, receive a fake Twilight tattoo, play Twilight trivia, and of course watch New Moon for free. Doors open at 6 p.m. Screening is at 9 p.m. More details can be found at twitter.com/E1films and at facebook.com/E1films.
Top image: A scene from The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Courtesy E1 Entertainment.
