Friday, May 22, 2026

NY Times Follows Up on Our “Neighborhood Watch” Story

Share

I wrote on Forbes.com back on March 26th that Fox might have trouble releasing “Neighborhood Watch.” That’s the film in which Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, wearing motorcycle jackets with the movie’s logo, are suburban vigilantes. In the trailer, they terrorize a local teen. Children and the black postal worker on the beat are clearly afraid of them. Menacing rap music plays on the soundtrack. The next day, Fox said it was pulling its ads and marketing, but keeping the July 27th release date. I wrote that none of this seemed feasible given the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman shooting in Florida. On the imdb.com message boards, fans are voicing the same opinion. The Drudge Report featured our story prominently. Today, the New York Times picked up our story without bothering to credit where it all came from. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or whatever. Anyway, my guess is that Fox will have to postpone the release.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerfriedman/2012/03/27/fox-pulls-ben-stiller-movie-neighborhood-watch-per-our-expose/

Donate to Showbiz411.com

Showbiz411 is now in its 13th year of providing breaking and exclusive entertainment news. This is an independent site, unlike the many Hollywood trades that are owned by one company. To continue providing news that takes a fresh look at what's going on in movies, music, theater, etc, advertising is our basis. Reader donations would be greatly appreciated, too. They are just another facet of keeping fact based journalism alive.
Thank you


Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more

In Other News