Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate-Codeblack Films have so much confidence in their break-out star, comedian Kevin Hart, that they’re opening the documentary of his 2012 stand up tour Let Me Explain, this Wednesday, July 3, opposite Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer’s The Lone Ranger and Steve Carell’s Despicable Me 2.
The Let Me Explain comedy tour, was performed in 10 countries and over 80 cities, earning 32 million dollars. The film is from Hart’s Madison Square Garden performance for a sold-out audience of 30,000. Kevin Hart’s previous stand up tours have spawned three films, Seriously Funny, I’m a Grown Little Man, and Laugh at My Pain, the latter of which earned 7.7 million at the box office.
Kevin Hart is a master of social media. He diligently took names and e-mail addresses at all of his concerts and live shows for the past few years. He has more than 3 million YouTube fans, 7.2 million Twitter followers, and 7.5 Facebook friends. According to Ben Fritz at the Wall Street Journal, when a less than 5% black sold-out audience in Oslo was asked, ‘How do you know of Kevin Hart? They chimed out in unison, ‘Facebook’! All of that work should pay off combating the major marketing pushes behind Disney’s and Universal’s blockbusters upon release.
If you’re not familiar with this funny man and his over-the-top bravado and self-depricating style of comedy, you soon will be. Hart has 4 feature films set to be released. He plays a major role with some of Hollywood’s heavyweights in all of them.
Hart stars in the upcoming sequel to Think Like A Man, and Ride Along, a buddy comedy with Ice Cube. He is playing a boxing promoter in the comedy Grudge Match opposite Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone, trying to coax the two old boxers back in the ring for one last fight, and he is in pre-production for a collaboration with Will Ferrell.