Centennial, Colo. – Nov. 17, 2008 – Glenn Beck brings his recently released novel, The Christmas Sweater, to life during a LIVE in-theatre event that tells the story of love, tragedy, redemption and the power of faith this holiday season. The Christmas Sweater, featuring theatrical animation, specially-created projections and a powerful Christmas musical score from a 10-piece orchestra and Broadway gospel singer will be presented LIVE in more than 420 movie theatres nationwide from the Charleston Performing Arts Center in Charleston, S.C. on the final night of Beck’s 11-city tour. Glenn Beck reveals his softer side next month during this “living play” about a boy who stares heartache and tragedy in the face, only to come out of the storm understanding the true meaning of Christmas.
Presented by NCM Fathom and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater comes to the big screen LIVE on Wednesday, Dec. 17th and taped encore on Thursday, Dec. 18th at 8:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm CT / 6:00 pm MT and 8:00 pm PT (tape delayed). Tickets are available at www.FathomEvents.com and presenting theatre box offices. For a complete list of theatre locations and prices, please visit the website (theatres are subject to change). This special, in-theatre event is the last chance to see this touching tale this holiday season.
“The Christmas Sweater is a story that actually started writing itself when I was 13 years old,” Beck said. “It is something that really shaped my life and is something I didn’t really begin to understand until I was in my thirties. This is one of the most important things I have ever done – I had to get this story right.”
Based on a deeply personal true story, Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater is a narrative of a boy named Eddie who wanted nothing more than a new bike for Christmas from his mother. What he got instead was a sweater, a “stupid, handmade, ugly sweater” which Eddie crumpled into a ball and left in the corner of his room. That Christmas morning started a tragic and painful road to manhood for Eddie. It takes a battle with himself, his family, and his faith to help Eddie fight through the storm to the realization he already had life’s most valuable treasures, and the simple sweater from his mother was given with a love more valuable than any gift.
Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater will be shown in select movie theatres including AMC Entertainment Inc., Celebration! Cinema, Cinemark Holdings, Inc., Georgia Theatre Company, Goodrich Quality Theatres, Hollywood Theaters, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, Malco Theatres, Marcus Theatres, National Amusements and Regal Entertainment Group movie theatres, as well as Palace Cinema 9 (South Burlington, VT) and Penn Cinema (Lititz, PA) through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network – North America’s largest cinema broadcast network.
“NCM Fathom is very pleased to bring Glenn Beck back to the big screen this holiday season to present families with the opportunity to share in The Christmas Sweater tale at their local movie theatre,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. “Glenn Beck reveals a very different side of himself during this event that his fans won’t want to miss.”
In addition to his work as a novelist and stage performer, Beck is also the host of a nationally-syndicated radio program which reaches over 300 radio stations across the country. Beck appeared in his first Fathom event in movie theatres earlier this year in his touring one-man stage show, Beck ’08 – LIVE.
About National CineMedia:
National CineMedia (NCM) LLC operates the largest digital in-theatre network in North America through long-term agreements with its founding members, AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC), the three largest theatre operators in the U.S., and through multi-year agreements with several other theatre operators. NCM LLC produces and distributes its FirstLook pre feature program; cinema, lobby and online advertising products; comprehensive meeting and event services and other entertainment programming content. NCM LLC’s national network includes over 17,000 screens of which approximately 15,000 are part of the company’s Digital Content Network (DCN). NCM LLC’s network covers 176 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50). During 2007, approximately 689 million patrons attended movies shown in theatres currently included in the network (excluding Consolidated Theatres and Star Theatres). National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 42.3% interest in and is the managing member of NCM LLC. To learn more about National CineMedia Inc., visit the company’s website at www.ncm.com.
About Mercury Entertainment:
Glenn’s entertainment endeavors are coordinated by Mercury Entertainment Group. Mercury is a leading provider of entertainment for the radio, television, print, stage, and online mediums. As an integrated media company, Mercury uses each of its business units to strategically promote the others. For radio, Mercury produces the nationally-syndicated “Glenn Beck Program,” syndicated to over 300 radio stations across America by Premiere Radio Networks. In Print, Mercury publishes Fusion Magazine, a subscription based publication filled with unique and entertaining articles on the news of the month, along with both fiction and non-fiction books. On Stage, Mercury produces two live tours per year featuring Glenn Beck, one in June and one in December. In total, over 100,000 fans have seen Glenn live on stage, in nearly 40 different markets across the country. Online, Mercury produces the GlennBeck.com web site which receives millions of visitors a month, the Insider monthly subscription service, which allows fans to stream live audio of the Radio program, or podcast it to their computer, and an email newsletter that is sent daily to nearly than 600,000 people each day.