“Neighborhood Watch” Still on Fox Schedule As Trayvon Martin Case Moves Ahead

The trailers are still running on YouTube. They’re also on the imdb.com. And they’re playing in theaters somewhere. Ninety days before the release of “Neighborhood Watch,” there’s no new marketing campaign. And that may be a problem. Since I first wrote about “Neighborhood Watch” and its close association with the George Zimmerman-Trayon Martin case, Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with second degree murder. A trial will happen. Today’s New York Times notes that Florida is a state with lax rules about cameras in the courtroom. In Orlando, the Sentinel newspaper is gearing up for the next Trial of the Century. There are predictions of blanket coverage. Meantime, even though aliens have something to do with it, “Neighborhood Watch” is coming on July 27th from 20th Century Fox. And so far, the aliens are not being advertised. What is being flacked are four white guys who seem to be terrorizing a suburban neighborhood as they guard it from unruly teens. Somewhere beyond the current campaign, the foursome discovers space aliens. But right now, that’s still lost on the audience. And on the imdb.com message board for the movie, film fans are already writing in, asking if the film will really come out this summer, and suggesting that it shouldn’t. Fox doesn’t have much time left to change the movie’s title, pull the trailers, and re-position it so there’s no hint of the Martin case. The clock is running out.