Movie junket

The movie junket commonly occurs in movie marketing. The studio that produces a movie (or its marketing partner) invites several journalists/entertainment writers to see a movie before its release, then gives them the opportunity to interview its stars. The studio will sometimes pay for the trip.

Although the marketeers may not always explicitly mention it, they usually expect the journalists to give favorable press to the movie after returning home. A negative review is likely to inhibit the studio from inviting its author to more junkets.

Some consider movie junkets a kind of practice where journalism and marketing merge to a dangerous point.

For insider comments on the process see here (http://cbsnewyork.com/behindscenes/StoryFolder/story_165193948_html) and there (http://www.chireader.com/movies/archives/2000/1100/001117)