We Bought a Zoo (trailer)

Love it: “It’s a zoo.” “Yea!”

I just hope the animals don’t decide to help Matt Damon improve his love life.

I am a teensy bit concerned, actually, about the notion that you don’t need any special knowledge to run a zoo. Cuz, you know, you kinda do.

I am a teensy bit concerned about this, too: Fox is doing something unprecedented with We Bought a Zoo. The film will have sneak previews across the U.S. over Thanksgiving weekend, on November 26, a full month before its official Christmas opening. No critics will have seen the movie before Thanksgiving, so you’ll have nothing but the marketing of the film to rely on in making a decision about seeing it.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes Fox president and chief marketing officer Oren Aviv:

Once in a while, we're lucky enough to have a picture to which audiences of all kinds and all ages respond so strongly, that it demands a big and unexpected event. We Bought a Zoo is that kind of picture -- and Thanksgiving is a great time to share it via this special very early preview.

If it’s so great, why not let critics see it?

(Also: Seriously? Not till March for the U.K.? Looks like I’ll have to add this to the list of movies to take in over Christmas in NYC.)