Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's Crackle Premieres Long-Awaited Crime Comedy 'The Jesus Rolls' Exclusively for Free on September 1st
Written and Directed by and Starring John Turturro, 'The Jesus Rolls' Continues the Story of His Scene-Stealing Character from One of the Coen Brothers' Most Beloved Films
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) networks, today announced that the comedy The Jesus Rolls will be exclusively available for free on Crackle beginning Wednesday, September 1st.
Written and directed by and starring John Turturro (The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, O' Brother Where Art Thou?), the film is produced by Robert Salerno, John Penotti, Fernando Sulichin, Sidney Kimmel and Paul-Dominique Win Vacharasinthu. Max Arvelaiz, Lawrence Kopeikin, Michael Lewis, Bruce Toll and Robert S. Wilson are executive producers. The star-studded cast also includes Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Susan Sarandon, Jon Hamm, and Christopher Walken. Crackle will also offer the film with a commentary track featuring John Turturro and Bobby Cannavale.
While the film is a spin-off of the successful 1998 Coen Brothers classic it is also a remake of the 1974 Bertrand Blier film Going Places. The movie tells the story of Jesus Quintana (Turturro) who, hours after being released from prison for good behavior, reunites with his best friend and fellow underachiever Petey (Bobby Cannavale). In the first in a series of rapidly-escalating bad decisions, they steal a vintage car parked in front of an upscale salon and hit the road for a no-holds-barred joyride - until the car's gun-toting owner (Jon Hamm) catches up with them, wounding Petey. Fleeing the scene with fiercely free-spirited shampooist Marie (Audrey Tautou), Jesus and Petey continue their adventure in a series of stolen cars, cementing their partnership with an epic petty-crime spree and a three-way romance. A darkly funny, irreverent and freewheeling road movie.
"The Jesus Rolls is exactly the kind of cheeky comedy content our fans have consistently enjoyed," said Jeff Meier, Head of Programming for Crackle Plus. "This title rolls out of one of the greatest cult classics of all time and is tailor-made for the Crackle audience."
As one of the only AVODs continually adding original and exclusive programming that uplifts, entertains, and inspires audiences, Crackle adds The Jesus Rolls alongside original and AVOD exclusive titles including PROMISELAND, Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story, Cagefighter, After the Murder of Albert Lima, Lennox Lewis: The Untold Story, The Clearing, Anything is Possible: The Serge Ibaka Story, Bucket List, and the award-winning Going From Broke, which recently premiered its second season.
The Jesus Rolls is distributed in North America by Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. company and the supplier of exclusive and original content to Crackle Plus.
The Crackle Plus networks are currently distributed through 50 touch points in the U.S., with announced plans to expand to over 64 touch points including Amazon FireTV, RokuTV, Apple TV, Smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Vizio), gaming consoles (PS4 and XBoxOne), Plex, iOS and Android mobile devices and on desktops at Crackle.com. Crackle is also available in approximately 500,000 hotel rooms in the Marriott Bonvoy chain.
ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSSE) operates streaming video-on-demand networks (VOD). The company owns Crackle Plus, which owns and operates a variety of ad-supported and subscription-based VOD networks including Crackle, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Pivotshare, Españolflix and FrightPix. The company also acquires and distributes video content through its Screen Media subsidiary and produces original long and short-form content through Landmark Studio Group, Chicken Soup for the Soul Unscripted, APlus.com and Halcyon Television. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a subsidiary of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, which publishes the famous book series and produces super-premium pet food under the Chicken Soup for the Soul brand name.
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