Scottyneff forwards us an interesting reprot about the promotion for Episode II being directly linked to copies of the movie ending up in that theater. Sounds like the management better get the posters up there:

I manage a theater in California for a major theater chain. I don't know if this worth posting, but I found it very interesting and perhaps unprecedented.

The advertising department for [Deleted] Theaters in California has posted the following information in an intercompany e-mail memo:

Fox distributions has been sending 'checkers' into theaters making sure that promotional materials for the forthcoming Star Wars prequel sequel are being displayed. On behalf of Lucasfilm, Fox Distributions has made it clear that The lack of displayed material found in many theater locations is unacceptable. Fox is aware that these materials have the potential of being serious collector items and are quite often not displayed and held by theater management for collecting purposes. Fox Distributions has stated that theater chains not properly displaying promotional materials will have their bookings affected for the forthcoming Attack of the Clones. Theater chains not displaying promotional materials may not receive, or only receive a limited amount of, prints (copies) of Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones.

The memo continues stating that all managers must display all materials and conduct themselves in a "professional" manner in regard to Star Wars promotional items.

If this threat from Fox is followed through on, it would be the first time in recent history that a theater chain's bookings were affected by whether or not a poster and banner were displayed. Fox made similar threats regarding the return of trailers of Episode I. However, in this case bookings were not affected. With "booking" meetings for Star Wars getting ready to heat up, this could be an interesting subplot to the pre-May hype.

I have spoken with many friends at different chains and they have ALL received similar e-mails, notes, or phone calls regarding this issue.

Well, this a big deal to us in the theater business, I'm not sure if it is a big deal to the rest of the Star Wars community. I thought I would let you guys know just in case.