Bingeing with Spling

Bingeing with Spling: TNT Original, ‘Escape from Pretoria’

Spling had the pleasure of hosting a #BingeingWithSpling watch party this past weekend to tie-in with the African premiere of TNT Original movie, Escape from Pretoria.

The prison break thriller stars Daniel Radcliffe and is based on the amazing true story of Tim Jenkin, an anti-apartheid activist who was incarcerated at Pretoria Central Prison in 1978. Together with two fellow inmates, Jenkin crafted a meticulous escape plan. Directed by Francis Annan, this nail-biting and rewatchable thriller captures a purity of spirit and does so with intensity and style.

As host, Spling presented a watch party introduction video to set the scene, discuss the movie and get viewers excited for a big movie night in. Designed to create a shared experience for everyone from the comfort of their couch, ‘Bingeing with Spling’ watch parties get people interacting via the #BingeingWithSpling hashtag. It’s all about bringing the movie experience home, grabbing some popcorn and keeping a social media device on standby before switching over to TNT (DStv channel 137) for the main feature, ‘Escape from Pretoria’.

Getting cool movie trivia, live-commenting on the film, engaging directly with Spling and getting the chance to win great prizes, the watch party makes it so much more than just a movie night! Spling rounded it off with an exclusive interview with ‘Escape from Pretoria’ writer-director Francis Annan and the man who inspired it all, Tim Jenkin.

Doing movie night together, making it more engaging, creating another dimension to the film and adding heaps of entertainment value… it’s a celebration of everything great about movies.

Powered by TNT Africa, the premiere had a 2-week build up creating great excitement around the launch of TNT Original Movies scheduled to release the first Saturday of every month.

The #BingeingWithSpling watch party started with some movie polls to find out, which is the greatest prison break movie of all-time and a versus between The Rock and Con Air. The Shawshank Redemption and Con Air got the most votes, serving as a prelude to a top night in. While there was some hesitation from South African movie lovers around the accents and the film being relocated to Australia, these superficial flaws were quickly forgotten as people got hooked on the incredible thriller!

Escape from Pretoria had everyone on the edge of their seat, prompting Spling to ask if anyone was in a state to take a selfie. This watch party participant took up the challenge and you can see the effect ‘Escape from Pretoria’ was having!

Naturally there were many curious people with a hefty dose of FOMO when the event started trending on Twitter. While there was some pre-movie speculation, everyone that watched was blown away by Daniel Radcliffe’s performance, the powerful soundtrack and the taut atmosphere.

There were rave reviews from just about everyone and how often do you get to watch a premiere and literally have the director respond to your questions? This tweet summed up the prison break thriller and feeling that everyone had around this magical movie night.

Movie fans loved it, but so did film experts with screenwriting guru, Matthew Kalil, weighing in on Facebook: “That was nerve-wracking actually. Good job. Such a simple premise but it had me hooked.”

All in all, this #BingeingWithSpling watch party was a blast and we hope you can join us for the next one! Follow @WatchTNTAfrica and @SplingMovies to stay tuned for updates.

Here are the #BingeingWithSpling and #EscapeFromPretoria winners…

Signed ‘Escape from Pretoria’ books
– Leonie Mollentze @LeonieMollentze
– Mandlakazi Wekucala @uMandlakazi
– Pam Hockly @pamlee_hockly

Polaroid Bluetooth speaker/SPL!NG mug bundle

– Shivana Bachan @ShivanaBachan

R100 (you choose: airtime/PnP/Takealot) gift vouchers

– Wesley (Temoso) Makofane @wesley_makofane
– Melody Hey /melody.johnson.9843
– Clea Mallinson @cleapopcorn
– Lerato Setsiba @setsiba_lerato
– Jabulile Magudulela @Sthandz05