Stephen Colbert may just get a bite of the stimulus package after all

Leave it to Nikki Finke from Deadline Hollywood Daily to break the one Bank Bailout story that relates to our dear Stephen. From her blog:

WHAAAAAT? Bailed Out Bank Of America Paying Consumers To See Hollywood Film

This is unbelievable. Though I suppose it was just a matter of time before the Hollywood moguls figured out a way to get their hands on some of that U.S. goverment bailout money, albeit indirectly. But why in the world are American taxpayers helping foot the bill to promote a big-budget 3-D DreamWorks Animation movie? Well, it appears the reason is because the president of the Jeffrey Katzenberg-led Hollywood animation studio just happens to be Bank of America’s former Vice Chairman and CFO.

It took respected media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research to uncover this staggering scheme (registration required). He found out that Bank of America was helping families to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D rather than 2-D at no additional cost when it starts playing in theaters on Friday, March 27th. (The promotion is here.) And at the same time helping out the box office grosses of Katzenberg’s DreamWorks Animation, a publicly traded company.

“Why Bank of America?,” Greenfield asks in a report posted this morning. “We have not seen any formal announcement about the Bank of America/[DWA] promotion beyond an increasing number of consumers discussing the promotion link on Twitter. However, we find it odd that a bank that just received $45 bn [billion] in government aid is paying for consumers across the US to see a movie in 3-D vs. 2-D at no extra cost. We also wonder whether the presence of DWA’s President, Lew Coleman, helped DWA convince Bank of America to enter into the promotion, as Coleman is a former Vice Chairman and CFO of Bank of America.”

Full text of article

So if the movie does well, and Bank of America is partially to thank, then Stephen Colbert as one of the stars just might reap some benefits of the movie doing better bank. Because of a bailed out bank.

• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – May 24, 2009
• Behind the scenes: ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’
• Monsters Vs. Aliens is #1 at the Box Office this weekend!
• Please, Dreamworks, give us the ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ ad libs!