It may be more than two months until the Entourage movie is released in theaters, but the private screenings for the much-anticipated film have already begun.
The creator of the HBO show-turned-movie, Doug Ellin, has hosted a few private showings of his film. Two of those screenings have been for a pair of dominant basketball teams that were passing through Los Angeles.
During their visit to the NCAA tournament's West Regional, the Wisconsin Badgers got a sneak peek at the flick.
Badgers forward Duje Dukan had rave reviews:
Shoutout to @jerrycferrara and @mrdougellin for letting us see the new Entourage movie! Everybody needs to go see it!!!
— Duje Dukan (@DDukan13) March 28, 2015
A few days later the Golden State Warriors were in Southern California to play the Los Angeles Clippers. Mark Wahlberg invited the team, as well as some special guests, to his house to see the movie. The show is loosely based on the journey of Wahlberg and a few of his close friends.
Along with Warriors players like Andrew Bogut, Steph Curry and Draymond Green, Ellin invited Steve Nash, Baron Davis and skateboarder Rob Dyrdek.
Reviews were positive:
Huge Thanks to @mark_wahlberg for hosting a few of us at his house for a private screening of The Entourage Movie. Great laughs!
— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) March 31, 2015
The new #EntourageMovie is hilarious!!! Big thanks to @mrdougellin and @mark_wahlberg for the screening tonight
— Harrison Barnes (@hbarnes) March 31, 2015
Athletes play a big role in the series and the film. Pros with cameos in the movie include Ronda Rousey, Russell Wilson, Rob Gronkowski, Kevin Durant, Tom Brady, David Diehl and Amare Stoudemire.
As Jerry Ferrara, one of the film's stars, points out, the Badgers went on to beat Arizona and advance to the Final Four after seeing the movie.
Showed the Badgers a early screening of the Entourage movie. Then they went out and beat Arizona. Hmmm. pic.twitter.com/2VPZFa4kRv
— Jerry Ferrara (@jerrycferrara) March 29, 2015
Meanwhile the Warriors picked up an impressive win over the Clippers.