Movie News: Tugg and New Balloon Form Multi-Million Dollar Event Cinema Fund

TUGG AND NEW BALLOON FORM MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR EVENT CINEMA FUND

Partnership to Invest Marketing and Distribution Resources Toward Next Wave of Impact-Focused Event Cinema Programming

AUSTIN (January 23, 2015) – Tugg, Inc. (“Tugg”), which allows individuals to choose films that play in local theaters across the United States, announced today that it has partnered with New Balloon, a cross-platform media company focused on advancing innovative storytelling technologies, to form a multi-million dollar Event Cinema Fund. Through the fund, both companies will provide high-impact investment capital, expertise, and other resources toward marketing and distributing culturally significant films.

Specifically, the fund will seek to promote films that engage and inspire audiences to cultivate healthy discussion, strengthen community, and strive towards positive change. Each film should demonstrate a direct relationship with its audience through some of the following: crowdfunding campaigns, regional and national organizational support, and corporate partners. Furthermore, each film should show a willingness to innovate through original means of storytelling, hybrid distribution models, and an understanding of the importance of community-driven screenings toward their overall campaign goals.

The fund will collaborate with studios, mini-majors, entrepreneurial independent filmmakers, and distributors to enhance traditional release strategies. It will capitalize on the proven capabilities of the Tugg platform, which includes theatrical, non-theatrical, educational, and new product offerings to be announced in 2015. The Event Cinema fund will partner with seasoned service providers and Impact Producers to build the infrastructure necessary for filmmakers to succeed within the current marketplace. Partnerships will be announced in the coming months.

“We’re thrilled to announce this partnership with New Balloon. The goal of the Event Cinema Fund is to match selected filmmakers – whether a studio or independent – with premium marketing resources and strategic partners custom-tailored to each campaign’s specific goals and opportunities,” said Tugg Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Gonda. “The Event Cinema Fund launch is a significant milestone in the movement to re-establish the collective movie-going experience,” added Co-founder and COO Pablo Gonzalez.

“New Balloon is dedicated to supporting innovative content and technologies that have the potential to bring about positive social change and our partnership with Tugg fits well with these objectives,” said Kristi Kendall, New Balloon Executive Vice-President. “We’re also looking forward to forming highly-productive and impactful, long-term working relationships with the innovative storytellers and entrepreneurs who will benefit from working with Tugg and the Event Cinema Fund.”

About Tugg, Inc.

Tugg, Inc. (“Tugg”) is a web-platform that enables fans, content owners, and brands to turn their passion for movies into action by choosing the films that play in their local theaters and community venues. Tugg has relationships with over 85% of the theater screens in the US, including independent cinemas and exhibitors Alamo Drafthouse, AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Studio Movie Grill, and Regal Cinemas. These individually curated events across all 50 states showcase Tugg’s growing library of 1500+ studio and independent films. Users choose the film, date, time, and location for their screening, and then spread the word to their immediate and online community. For additional information visit http://www.tugg.com.

About New Balloon

New Balloon, launched by Elizabeth Koch, is a cross-platform entertainment media company dedicated to groundbreaking storytelling that celebrates life in its continuously evolving, spontaneously re-arranging development of possibilities. Through collaboration and strategic investment, New Balloon seeks to develop emotionally rich experiences that land us squarely, concretely, in someone else’s shoes. New Balloon is especially interested in vanguard platforms and projects that innovate the means by which stories are created, told, and shared, with an emphasis on the convergence of technology and entertainment. The company has offices in Los Angeles and New York.

Source: ©2015 Tugg, Inc. All Rights Reserved.