HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Paramount Pictures,
Participant Media and Walden Media announced today the addition of
two new partners in the online "Take the Pledge" campaign
supporting the national release of the award-winning documentary
film WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN" this fall. DonorsChoose.org and
Chicago-based office supply
retailer OfficeMax® have joined the WaitingforSuperman.com
"Pledge Progress Meter" at the 30,000 and 40,000 levels,
respectively.
When 30,000 people pledge to see WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN,"
thanks to the generosity of its funders, DonorsChoose.org will
donate $5 gift cards to every person
who pledges to see the film by September
15th. The gift cards can be used to fulfill requests made by
public school teachers from every corner of America who post
classroom project needs on DonorsChoose.org. The mission of
DonorsChoose.org is to improve public education by empowering every
teacher to be a change-maker and enabling any citizen to be a
philanthropist.
The efforts to reach a milestone of 40,000 people pledging
to see this important documentary film will get an additional boost
with OfficeMax aligning their "A Day Made Better" program with the
movie campaign. Now in it's 4th year, the OfficeMax program helps
defray the out-of-pocket expenditures on school supplies by
dedicated teachers by awarding 1,000 outstanding teachers with
$1,000 in school supplies. To
help build awareness of the new film, the retail giant will now
boost the annual award to include 40 additional deserving U.S.
teachers when the pledge level reaches 40,000.
"I made this film for and about kids and their parents,
struggling to get a quality education in the United States, and it is inspiring to see
the momentum pick up as people really begin to rally behind it,"
said Director Davis Guggenheim.
"Organizations like First Book, and now DonorsChoose.org and
OfficeMax, are generating innovative ways to join the conversation.
My hope is that people continue to pledge, demonstrating to
teachers, parents and children that they have support and real
change is coming to the public school system."
WAITING FOR "SUPERMAN" directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth") will
be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by
Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public
education in the United States
through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national
conversation, the movie and corresponding "Take the Pledge"
campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term
solutions to help change the course of our kids' lives for the
better. The "Pledge Progress Meter" launched in May as a way for
non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual
pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both
students and public schools. First Book was the first organization
to take the pledge, by agreeing to donate 250,000 new books to
schools and programs in low-income communities across the country
once the pledge meter reaches 50,000 pledges.
People who have pledged are encouraged to see the film when it
opens in their area beginning September
24.
For more information about the movie, or to take the pledge go
to http://www.WaitingForSuperman.com
To join the conversation visit us on Facebook at
http://www.Facebook.com/WaitingForSuperman
What does your school need? Tell us by Tweeting #MySchoolNeeds
at http://www.Twitter.com/WaitingSuperman
About the Film
From AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH director Davis Guggenheim comes WAITING FOR
"SUPERMAN," a provocative and cogent examination of the
crisis of public education in the United
States told through multiple interlocking stories—from a
handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the
balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and
lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system. Tackling
such politically radioactive topics as the power of teachers'
unions and the entrenchment of school bureaucracies, Guggenheim
reveals the invisible forces that have held true education reform
back for decades.
The film is produced by Lesley
Chilcott, with Participant Media's Jeff Skoll and Diane
Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by
Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.
About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and
distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE:
VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected
film, television and digital entertainment brands. The
company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage,
Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC
operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount
Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount
Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio
Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.
About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los
Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially
relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and
television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant
Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and
was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff
Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky
Strauss is President.
Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that
bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For
each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action
and advocacy programs, which provide ideas and tools to transform
the impact of the media experience into individual and community
action. Participant films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson's War, Darfur Now, An
Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard
Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist, Food, Inc. and
The Informant!
About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family.
Past award-winning films include: the "Chronicles of Narnia"
series, "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Nim's Island" and
"Charlotte's Web." Upcoming films include "Ramona & Beezus"
based on the best-selling book series by Beverly Cleary and starring Selena Gomez, and the latest installment in
"Narnia" franchise: "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the
Dawn Treader."
About DonorsChoose.org
DonorsChoose.org is an online nonprofit that enables anyone to
connect to a public school classroom in a personal and direct
way. Launched out of a Bronx
high school in 2000, DonorsChoose.org has been profiled as "the
future of philanthropy" by The New York
Times and as "a revolutionary charity" by Oprah Winfrey. On DonorsChoose.org, public
school teachers from every corner of America post classroom project
requests on DonorsChoose.org. Requests range from pencils for a
poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope
slides for a biology class. In the past ten years of operation,
residents of 50 states and 10 countries have funded 88,926 student
projects, channeling more than $54.3
million in resources to 3,323,384 students.
About OfficeMax
OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both
business-to-business office products solutions and retail office
equipment. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers
do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper,
in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress®,
technology products and solutions, and office furniture to
businesses and individual consumers. OfficeMax customers are served
by more than 30,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs,
e-commerce and approximately 1,000 stores. For more
information on "A Day Made Better" visit
www.adaymadebetter.com.
SOURCE Paramount Pictures Corporation