Marketers hope 666 will be their lucky number
By Laura Petrecca, USA TODAY Thu Jun 1, 7:20 AM ET
It only comes once a century and it's sure to be a devil of a day:
June 6, 2006 is the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth
year.
As in 666, the "number of the beast" or Anti-christ in the Bible's
Book of Revelations. But that link to the agent of Lucifer
certainly isn't scaring marketers.
It's the day 20th Century Fox picked to release its remake of the
1976 satanic horror flick The Omen, about a demonic boy Damien born
with a 666 birthmark. Promos warn: "6+6+06 HEED THE OMEN."
Studio executives saw the potential early in script development,
says Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman.
"Suddenly the movie became cooler," he says. "We were being spoken
to."
It required, however, breaking the traditional Friday release
pattern to go with a Tuesday.
"It took months of work with exhibitors," says Rothman. But he
thinks it'll heighten the horror. "When audiences go to scary
movies, they want to get the chills. The date helps with that
audience participation."
The date brought out the devil in conservative author Ann Coulter.
When asked in an interview on Fox's Your World with Neil Cavuto
about the symbolism of June 6 for the release of her book Godless:
The Church of Liberalism, she said, "It's my little tribute to
liberals to have it come out on six, six, six."
Also on Tuesday, thrash-metal band Slayer will release Eternal
Pyre, a five-tune EP, through teen store Hot Topic. It seems like a
hex was put on their more elaborate plans for the day: The plans to
release the full album were thwarted when they couldn't secure
studio time, and the scheduled launch on Tuesday of their "Unholy
Alliance" tour was thwarted by a band member's unexpected
gallbladder surgery.
Disturbingly dark death metal group Deicide, led by a Satanist
front man, will mark the day with two new songs on iTunes from its
upcoming album The Stench of Redemption. It, too, had a devil of a
time trying to get the whole album out on the day.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but in the end it didn't
work out," says Zeena Koda, a spokeswoman for its label,
Earache.
Brooklyn-based brewer Sixpoint Craft Ales is teaming with Manhattan
bar The Stoned Crow to host a "Shout at the Devil" promotion
Tuesday: Burgers and fries will sell for $6.66, while six varieties
of Sixpoint beer will flow from six taps.
"Sixes are wild next week," says Sixpoint President Andy
Bronstein.
Biblical scholars, such as University of North Texas religion
studies professor Joe Barnhart, say there's no religious
significance to the date. But that's not stopping Christian
businesses from marking it.
Tyndale House on Tuesday will release The Rapture, the 15th title
in the apocalyptic Left Behind series that has sold more than 43
million books. Web ads ask: "06.06.06 Will you be ready?"
The Parable Group of Christian stores partnered with Tyndale for a
June 6 offering of the earlier Left Behind books in paperback for
$6.66.
Yet, some marketers say they aren't trying to taunt the Anti-christ
- or stir up a 666 controversy.
Despite Coulter's gallows humor, her publisher, Crown Forum, said
via e-mail that the release date for Godless was selected "before
the book had a working title." It said it releases books on
Tuesdays, and chose June 6 to be early in the summer reading
season.
Likewise, spokeswoman Elaine Schock insists CMH Records' release
Tuesday of Strummin' With The Devil, a bluegrass album tribute to
Van Halen from David Lee Roth and other artists, is purely
coincidental.
"It really wasn't a devil thing," says Schock.
Some businesses, such as hospitals, may have fewer customers on
Tuesday.
Alisa Naceille was due to have her baby by cesarean section on
Tuesday, but her husband, Peter Kuhn, had worried about the date.
On her way to a checkup, she passed a billboard that read: "You
Have Been Warned 6+6+06." She didn't realize it was an ad for The
Omen; her first thought was, "This must be a sign."
The surgery is now scheduled for June 7.