SONY FILMS AND HSN TEAM UP

In its first foray into entertainment, HSN, formerly called the Home Shopping Network, is developing a marketing campaign with Sony Pictures to promote the studio’s August 13 release of Eat, Pray, Love, starring Julia Roberts among adult women, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Thursday). HSN will be selling mostly fashion items from countries that are featured in the film. “We are trying to significantly broaden our scope by collaborating with others who tell stories that have a very big impact,” HSN CEO Mindy Grossman told the Journal. “And who better than Hollywood really has the capacity for large-scale storytelling?” The newspaper noted that until now, studios have found natural merchandising opportunities for most of its films aimed at children. “While toys and animated movies go together,” it said, “the challenge is greater for films aimed at adult women.”