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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Knights of Badassdom’ to debut locally

A made-in-Spokane film will be screened in Spokane, too.

But it may only happen once – and tickets are going fast.

“Knights of Badassdom” was filmed mostly at Riverside State Park in 2010 and generated a lot of hype after the debut of its theatrical trailer at one of the nation’s largest comic book conventions in 2011.

But the highly anticipated theatrical release kept getting pushed back, in part because of a dispute between director Joe Lynch and IndieVest, the California production company that owned the movie. The movie rights were sold last summer to Toronto-based Entertainment One.

Entertainment One has opted against a traditional theatrical release and is working with tugg.com, an Austin,Texas-based website. Tugg.com, which works with movie theaters, is offering anyone the ability to host screenings. Once screenings are set, fans can buy tickets. If a threshold of sales is met, the event will occur.

Spokane’s showing, on the first day the film is allowed to be screened, quickly reached the needed threshold. It will be hosted by Spokane Comicon, Spokane’s annual comic book convention. Screenings in three other cities have met the threshold – Seattle, Mountlake Terrace, Wash., and Cupertino, Calif.

The comedic sci-fi thriller is about a group of role-playing war gamers known as LARPers (live action role-playing game enthusiasts) who accidentally summon a demon who wreaks havoc among the pretend armies from centuries past. It stars Peter Dinklage of “Game of Thrones,” Danny Pudi of “Community” and Summer Glau of “Serenity.”

Many of the extras in the film are from the Spokane area.

Nathan O’Brien, founder of Spokane Comicon, said he’s been eager to see the film since he first heard about it in 2010. He quickly jumped on the online query to find hosts and worked with tugg.com to host a screening at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at AMC River Park Square.

“We just wanted to be able to get a chance to see this film,” he said.

Through social media, the event went on sale Dec. 23. It quickly reached the threshold, 75 ticket sales, needed to move forward. The 133-seat theater sold out Thursday. Tugg.com, however, worked with AMC to move the screening to a 264-seat theater. About 70 seats were left as of 8:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $10. O’Brien said as the host, Spokane Comicon gets 5 percent of the $10 ticket prices. He said the organization will donate that money to the Union Gospel Mission.

Rich Cowan, an executive producer of the film, will answer questions after the showing. Cowan is a partner at North by Northwest, the production company hired to film the movie. Cowan saw an earlier version.

“I have not seen this particular cut, but I hear it’s really good,” Cowan said.