Every screening of A24’s Primetime, the film that explores the rise of To Catch a Predator and its host Chris Hansen, will include an appearance by the man himself beforehand.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Hansen bought preshow advertising dedicated to promoting his streaming network, TruBlu, which is described on its YouTube bio as the “home to Chris Hansen's predator investigations and award-winning true crime programs.”
According to THR, the spot will be geared towards the theater audience with Hansen appearing in a kitchen, as he once did on his TV series, before delivering a slight variation on his catchphrase.
“I’m going to need everyone in the theater to take a seat right over there,” he says, before getting into a straight-forward promotion of TruBlu.
“Now there are more platforms than ever before where this disturbing crime is being committed,” Hansen continues. “Join us undercover every day on my streaming network, TruBlu.”
The spot concludes with a QR code appearing on the screen that will send theatergoers to the landing page of the network.
Hansen appeared on FOX News’ Jesse Watters Primetime, where he claimed to travel to A24’s offices to attend a screening of the film, but ended up walking away after refusing to sign a legal agreement.
“The lawyers at A24 wanted me to sign away my rights to my name, image and brand essentially, as well as any potential legal rights that would come out of the movie,” Hansen said. “I couldn’t sign that, so they didn’t show me the film. I went all the way over there.”
A source close to A24 told Variety that the document Hansen was asked to sign was a standard NDA that’s given to all preview audiences.
Hansen later sent a portion of the NDA to TMZ, but a source for the studio accused him of overreacting, claiming he was given the document a week before his scheduled screening, but he never signed it or returned it with comments regarding changes to the agreement.
The ad spot initially had a line in which Hansen called Primetime “a Hollywood fantasy version” of what actually happened, but that portion was removed out of concern over how A24 would react, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Hansen is said to be speaking with lawyers about his possible options following the film’s release.
Directed by Lance Oppenheim, Primetime stars Robert Pattinson as Hansen, and will open in theaters on Sept. 25.
