Focus Features Taps Event-Based Social Network Going.com to Promote and Preview Talk to Me, A New Movie starring Don Cheadle

NEW YORK & BOSTON & SAN FRANCISCO (BusinessWire EON) June 19, 2007 --     Going.com (formerly HeyLetsGo) has quickly risen onto the hipster city scene and has grown by 500% since January, with the goal of connecting online communities with offline events. Such events have featured celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and artists such as Lady Sovereign, The Teddy Bears, Bobby Friction of BBC Radio 1 and Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes.

"Our members are looking for ways to get away from their computers this summer. Ironically, our Web site offers exclusive events that help people do just that," said Going.com CEO Evan Schumacher.

Academy Award(R) nominee Don Cheadle portrays the one and only Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr. in Talk to Me. Petey's story is funny, dramatic, inspiring -- and real. Talk to Me also stars Emmy Award(R) winner Martin Sheen, and is directed by Kasi Lemmons. Focus Features releases Talk to Me, which is MPAA-Rated "R," in select cities on Friday, July 13 and nationwide on Friday, August 3.

Seeking to generate buzz among young, urban tastemakers living in Going.com's current locations of New York, Boston and San Francisco, Focus Features is the latest company to recognize that niche online communities are a powerful way to align brand identities with target audiences. In May, JetBlue Airways partnered with Going.com to introduce its newest routes between Boston, New York and San Francisco by running a sweepstakes for free airline tickets during Going.com's launch parties, attracting thousands of 20-somethings looking to fly cross-country for the weekend.

Going.com augments larger social networks like MySpace and Facebook by being more about what's going on in a city and also connecting with people who are going to similar events. The site has over 300,000 monthly users looking for the latest and coolest happenings in their cities and using the resource to share experiences and connect with friends, before, during and after events.



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About Focus Features

Focus Features (www.focusfeatures.com) is a motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company committed to bringing moviegoers the most original stories from the world's most innovative filmmakers. Past Focus movies include such Academy Award winners as Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation, The Pianist, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Focus Features is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80% owned by General Electric and 20% owned by Vivendi.

About Going.com

Going.com is a growing community of 20-somethings looking for the best entertainment and events in Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Members, ranging from hipsters to young professionals, want more from their city besides the status quo, and a better way to connect with friends and new acquaintances before, during and after an event.

Going.com is an insider's guide and online social network, with signature events encompassing everything from music and nightlife to cultural and sporting activities, and even fashion. By combining events primarily contributed by members with tastemaker partnerships and our own trusted editors, Going.com uncovers the heartbeat of each city, answering the question for people of all backgrounds -- "Where you going tonight?"

Unlike other lifeless event listings and juvenile, impersonal online social networks, Going.com gets people away from their computers and out into the real world. Through its online community and offline events, Going.com connects people, places and things.