Kevin Smith's Tusk Has a Medical Marijuana Promotional Tie-In
This might be a first. Kevin Smith's upcoming horror film, Tusk, will have a branded medical marijuana tie-in to promote the film. Tusk's distributors, A24, has teamed up with the Los Angeles-based medical marijuana dispensary Buds & Roses to create two new strains of marijuana, the aptly titled "Mr. Tusk" and "White Walrus." In addition to teaming up with Buds & Roses, A24 has also teamed up with The World's Best Ever to create packaging to further promote the film. The limited edition strains and packaging will only be available until September 26th. The World's Best Ever will also have a contest starting tomorrow for patients to show off their best "walrus breath" photos on Instagram. You can find more details on that on their website.
As off as the promotion sounds, it kind of fits, given Smith's long-lasting support of weed. With acceptance of marijuana growing more and more popular, it was only a matter of time before film studios began reaching out to dispensaries to promote their films, especially those that are heavily associated with the drug. Remember, you only have a few short weeks before Mr. Tusk and White Walrus go up in smoke, so get on it, smokers.
[Trailer] Tusk
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There's something about Kevin Smith that I know I should love, but I can never find. Clerks holds iconic status in the indie scene, but it didn't captivate me the way I think it should have. This isn't a knock against Smith or the cast by any means, but I've always felt disconnected from a film that I knew I should have appreciated more. Everything that followed was essentially hit or miss: I liked Mallrats and Chasing Amy a lot and enjoyed Dogma, but everything afterwards was very bland and fell into these weird un-funny films that were stretching too far to be funny. Ironically enough, I enjoy Smith's ventures outside of film (like the SModcast and Comic Book Men.
Unfortunately, it seems like Smith's off-beat sense of humor is still being utilized with his next film, a horror starring Justin Long called Tusk. Amidst all of the bad Canada jokes is a story about Long's character, a podcaster that travels around interviewing interesting, off-beat characters. However, when traveling to Canada to interview a seafarer sharing his adventures, he finds himself held captive by a maniacal man. Tusk also stars Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment.
Tusk will be in theaters on September 19th.