In a promotional move billed as the first of its kind, cable television’s USA Network said Monday it will air the first 10 minutes of horror film “Dawn of the Dead” on TV before the movie hits theaters.
USA said it would air the uncut clip on March 15 between 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., ahead of the film’s March 19 opening. Both USA and the film’s distributor, Universal Pictures, are units of Vivendi Universal Entertainment.
The R-rated movie, which tells the story of a group of plague survivors defending themselves from a zombie onslaught, features graphic violence and gore. The network will air the clip toward the tail end of its broadcast of “Final Destination,” a 2000 film about teens who try to cheat death.
Michele Ganeless, executive vice president and general manager of USA Network, said that it was the first time, to her knowledge, any network had ever done this kind of promotion.
“This is the first time it was ever brought to us,” she said. She also said the network would run warnings about the content of the clip.
“It certainly is gory, and we are showing it after 10 o’clock, but it’s not unlike other thrillers you see on television every day,” she said.
Vivendi Universal Entertainment is a unit of French communications company Vivendi Universal, and is being sold to General Electric’s NBC television network.