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In the midst of a hotly contested campaign season (for the Oscar and the Presidency), one victory is undisputed: the second-highest viewed film online is a college comedy, Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland. Co-Produced and co-financed by Union Entertainment Group (UEG) in association with Lionsgate Films, and released on iTunes February 2, the movie version of the popular Spike TV series hit the #1 spot in North America and numerous countries around the world.

 

The film was Co-Produced by UEG SVP Noah C Haeussner and Co-Executive Produced by Union Editorial President/Managing Partner Michael Raimondi. Post Production, VFX and Online were done at Union Editorial. Directed by Lev L. Spiro, Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland was written by Eric Falconer & Romanski.

 

“It has been an honor to bring this cult TV comedy to life for its incredibly broad fan base while expanding UEG's reach into more commercial fare,” said Haeussner. “Having ‘BMS The Movie’ at the top of the charts highlights Lionsgate Film's brilliant direct-to-user marketing campaign.” UEG’s credits include the new Janis Joplin doc Janis: Little Girl Blue as well as indie features Hateship Loveship and The Brass Teapot, all of which premiered and sold at the Toronto International Film Festival.

 

"Blue Mountain State," the TV series on which the movie is based, premiered on Spike in January 2010 and ran for three seasons. The show is about a fictional university and its football team, “The Mountain Goats”, purportedly one of the best in the country. Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland has the university’s Dean threatening to sell the “Goat House”. The response, of course, is a days-long party designed to save the house - and entertain audiences. As Matt Donato said in his review of the film on WeGotThisCovered.com, “If I’m going to sit through an hour and a half’s worth of heinous naughtiness, give me the BMS vision any day...Alan Ritchson’s portrayal of Castle will go down as one of the funniest sports caricatures of our generation, wholly thanks to the actor’s fearless commitment.”