A few weeks ago I wrote an article praising Paramount for a really smart idea: seeing how packed the summer schedule is the studio decided to move Transformers: Dark of the Moon up from it's original Friday, July 1st release date to Wednesday, June 29th. Even though the move makes the marketing kind of confusing - there are still thousands of posters out there with the July 1st date - releasing the movie early will allow them to maximize on the opening weekend take, which will wholly define the movie's box office success. Now that same idea is being expanded on. Paramount has announced that rather than having movie theaters start showing the new Michael Bay movie at midnight on Tuesday the 29th, 3D and IMAX theaters will now be holding screenings starting at 9PM.

While I think it's a tad manipulative, this is a move worthy of a slow clap. The movie has been banking on being a 3D spectacle that would get the public interest in the medium again, and now they are taking advantage of fans who can't wait another second to see the third movie in the franchise. Sure, it's only one or two screenings maximum at each theater (possibly more if they show the movie in multiple theaters), but if they can get sell out at the early screenings, it would provide a healthy bump from 3D. It's like waving rat-poison laced crack in front of an addict. The addict may not want to die from rat poison, but they need that crack and are willing to suffer in order to get it.