RENO, Nev., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In celebration of the 25th
anniversary of National Lampoon's Animal House, IGT announced today that it
has signed a licensing agreement with Universal Studios Consumer Products
Group to produce a gaming machine inspired by the hugely popular film, the
ultimate campus comedy that spawned a million toga parties and continues to
inspire new generations of party animals.
"Animal House(TM) gives us such a wealth of comedy possibilities to work
with," said Ward Chilton, senior vice president of North America sales for
IGT. "It's one of the funniest movies of all time and popularized the toga
party and the cafeteria food fight."
IGT will unveil its prototype Animal House(TM) gaming machine at the
Global Gaming Expo, scheduled Sept. 16-18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
It has not been determined when the machines will be available in casinos.
About the Film
Universal Studios Home Video released National Lampoon's Animal House
Double Secret Probation Edition DVD on August 26. The film which marked
director John Landis' (The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, An American
Werewolf in London) first breakthrough feature film in 1978, and the ultimate
"slob comedy," also marked the screenplay debuts of Harold Ramis and Douglas
Kenney (Caddyshack) and Chris Miller, all three of whom were nominated for a
Writers Guild Award.
Animal House also featured the inspired casting of John Belushi (of the
original Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers) as the beer-swilling
Bluto. Belushi's performance in Animal House set a standard for hilarity
against which other collegiate comedies will always be measured. Tim Matheson
(VP John Hoynes in The West Wing) made a name for himself as oversexed frat
brother Eric "Otter" Stratton, as did Stephen Furst (TV's Delta House series
based on the film) as a corpulent nerd called Flounder. The film not only
scored an A+ at the box office, but its evergreen crude humor defined cinema
comedy for decades and introduced now-classic phrases such as "food fight,"
"toga party" and "road trip" into the campus lexicon. The immortal party
soundtrack featured songs by Stephen Bishop and original music by legendary
composer Elmer Bernstein (Far From Heaven), and is best remembered for its
rendition of Louie Louie and a live performance of Shout.
About Universal Studios Consumer Products Group
Universal Studios Consumer Products Group (USCPG) is responsible for
global licensing and retail strategies as well as building brand recognition.
USCPG is a unit of Universal Pictures, a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL
Entertainment (VUE) ( http://www.universalstudios.com ) the U.S.-based film,
television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and
communications company.
About IGT
IGT is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of
microprocessor-based gaming and lottery products and software systems in all
jurisdictions where gaming and lotteries are legal. For more information on
the company, visit the IGT web site at http://www.igt.com.
SOURCE IGT
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Related links:
http://www.igt.com
CONTACT:
Rick Sorensen of IGT, +1-775-448-8022,
Rick.Sorensen@igt.com
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