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Entertainment behind the scenes
“Hancock” offers mortgage rescue to one lucky family
Caught up in the mortgage crisis and looking for a helping hand? “Hancock” could come to your rescue.
Columbia Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind upcoming action movie “Hancock,” is holding a contest to pay off the mortgage debt of one family — taking its cue from the flawed but good-hearted superhero played by Will Smith in the movie.
The studio will pay up to $360,000 of mortgage debt for the family that wins a 200-word essay contest explaining why they deserve the grand prize.
It’s a pretty slick publicity stunt by a Hollywood studio which, for a big-budget film like “Hancock,” will spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The amount is not small, especially if you’re a family up to you’re neck in mortgage debt and unable to pay it off. But for a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, $360,000 is a relatively cheap deal if it draws a lot of attention to the movie.
