"CBS Consumer Products has just released images of the eagerly anticipated Star Trek Barbie Dolls from Mattel. The dolls have been created mainly for collectors and are for ages 6+. The three dolls - Kirk, Spock, and Lieutenant Uhura - are modeled after the three actors playing the same roles in this summer's blockbuster film STAR TREK hitting theatres on May 8th!

"The price point for the three dolls is $43.19. They will be on shelves April 20th. Mattel is distributing to Walmart and walmart.com, Barbiecollector.com and Barbie collector dealers. They are selling them as an assortment (but the dolls come individually wrapped, no two or three-packs). Select international markets will have the dolls as well (but no specific dates or info. on that yet)." [press release]

So, 20th Century Fox is going to beam "The Day The Earth Stood Still" into "deep space," making it "the world's first galactic motion picture release." Free movies in space -- how thoughtful! Although it should be noted that Fox is by no means the first when it comes to silly marketing stunts designed to garner free advertising; for a primer, I highly recommend "Step Right Up! I'm Gonna Scare the Pants Off America," the autobiography of filmmaker William Castle. Among his many achievements were taking out a Lloyds of London insurance policy for anyone who was frightened to death by "Macabre," buzzing theater seats for his release of "The Tingler" and tried to create a tie-in with Gillette for a film that featured Joan Crawford as an axe-wielding murderess: "Go see 'Strait-Jacket' and then cut your head off with a Gillette." (Gillette hung up on him.) Sorry, Fox, you still have a long way to go.

Unlike its "Brokeback Mountain," Focus Features is going for a stealth marketing strategy with "Milk," the biopic in which Gus Van Sant directs Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay politician. Although the film premieres tonight in San Francisco, Focus has kept it out of the fall festival circuit and has restricted media screenings. One person involved with the film tells Steven Zeitchik, "The best way to help this film win over a mainstream audience is to avoid partisanship, and the best way to avoid partisanship is to let people find out about the film from the film itself." At stake are reactions like those witnessed by Focus production chief John Lyons at a recent Las Vegas test screening, in which "several senior citizens tried to leave after a gay love scene in the early moments but couldn't because they were trapped in the middle of a row... The seniors eventually said they were happy that they stayed." The film opens November 26. [THR]

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James Schamus responds: "Slow news day, eh?" [eugonline]

Snoop Dogg is launching clothing line Rich & Infamous with plans to promote it across his TV show, CD packaging, web series and, of course, product placement. Writes Marc Graser, "For Snoop Dogg, the name represents 'a fraternity of sorts -- from presidents to gangsters -- who've been able to endure the burden of gaining wealth at any cost. Garnering equal parts admiration and disdain, these men savor the fruits and relish the spotlight.' Those individuals include James Cagney, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Dean Martin, Muhammad Ali, Albert Einstein, Ronald Reagan and Paul Newman." [Variety]