Charlotte

This page is designed to compile all known ways to attend a free advanced movie screening, both online and offline. If you live in Charlotte and know of other providers or offers in your area, please leave a comment and help us out.

General Providers

When you attend enough advanced screenings, you start to notice that the same providers keep sponsoring them. So it's in your interest to find out more about these providers.

1. Local Radio

Generally, local radio stations can give out screening passes six ways:

• Listen to win: "Our 29th caller gets tickets for two to see.."
  
• Pass pick-up: "Drop by our station office and pick up passes..."
• Expo or festival: "Stop by our booth and be sure to grab tix..."
• Follow the van: "Our wacky afternoon DJ has driven the prize van over to some local business and is giving away free hot dogs and movie passes!"
• Point system: "Join our listeners club, and when you earn enough points..."
  
• Online contests: "Enter by Monday. We'll select five winners then to attend..."

K104.7 offers online contests to win screening passes, usually for family movies. Kiss 95.1 has a movie club that gives away sneak preview tickets to its members; you'll have to sign up to learn more. You can also try Power 98, WSOC 103.7, and V101.9.

Feel free to find other local stations by using Radio Locator or your favorite Internet search engine.

2. Local Print

The Charlotte Observer is of no help online, but maybe there are movie screenings available in the print version.

You should also look for any weekly or community papers that you might find in libraries or in colorful boxes along city sidewalks. There's Creative Loafing, for example, which updates its online offers every Tuesday. When they offer an advanced screening, sometimes they make you enter online to win tickets, and sometimes they tell you where and when to pick up passes from a local business. And don't forget to check the print edition to see if movies are offered there.

3. Local TV

ABC 9 includes contests to win movie-related prizes, but not screenings. And we haven't seen anything yet from CBS 3 or The CW.

4. Local Internet

Once or twice a month, Charlotte Vibe will offer passes to an advanced screening. The offer usually gets posted a week or so ahead of time.

5. Regional and National Internet

Shakefire is based in Atlanta, but often stretches throughout the Southeast, including Charlotte. Register to win for any of several screenings offered each month. As we understand it, they reward those who participate in their forums most frequently, but you may want to look into it for more details.

CHUD also comes from Atlanta, but may include Charlotte when it offers screenings in multiple cities. Usually they provide a Charlotte-specific e-mail address for you to send your entry. Presumably, the winners are later notified and mailed passes.

Film Metro has gone national and may offer screenings just about anywhere. Take a look and see if your city is included.

Be sure to check the national forums at Fat Wallet and Slick Deals as well. THE MOVIE OUTSIDER has a representative that posts offers on each of those forums, and compiles a list of screenings by city that links back to here. More importantly, other members in the forums will relay info about multi-city screenings sponsored by the movie studios and PR firms. Use these sites in tandem, and you'll get about as much publicly available information as possible.

Specific Offers

THE BUCKET LIST (already in limited release)

Film Metro screening
Monday, Jan. 7, time and location unknown

CLOVERFIELD (otherwise opens January 18)

Shakefire screening
Wednesday, Jan. 16, time and location unknown

THERE WILL BE BLOOD (already in limited release)

CHUD screening
Thursday, Jan. 17 at 7pm in The Manor