(NEWARK, NJ) -- New York Film Critics Series (NYFCS®) in a special partnership with New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) will present  a unique movie experience celebrating the 40th Anniversary of National Lampoon's Animal House on Friday February 16, 2018 at 8:00pm.  The iconic film about a misfit group of fraternity members who challenge the authority of the dean of Faber College stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Karen Allen, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, and Donald Sutherland.  

The film will be shown in NJPAC’s Prudential Hall preceded with an introduction by renowned film critic Peter Travers (ABC, People, Rolling Stone) followed by interviews with Tim Matheson “Otter”, Peter Riegert “Boon” and Karen Allen “Katy” who will discuss the impact that Animal House had and continues to have on popular culture.

As one of the most profitable films in history, Animal House, produced by Ivan Reitman and directed by John Landis is considered by many fans and critics as one of the greatest comedy films ever made. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the Universal film as "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was No. 1 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". It was No. 36 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list of the 100 best American comedies. In 2008 Empire Magazine selected it as one of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time." 

Now in its 20th year, the NYFCS features advance screening of prestigious films followed by live interviews with Hollywood’s elite conducted by Rolling Stone and ABC Popcorn film critic Peter Travers.  Recent NYFCS highlights have included: Rob Reiner, Clive Owen, Julia Stiles, Francis McDormand, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Aniston and Shirley MacLaine.

“NJPAC is a wonderfully innovative group for lovers of arts and culture to discover innovative new shows in their world-class venue,” says Mark Ehrenkranz, NYFCS Producer. “NJPAC and its expert team, provide their longtime experience in developing new projects. They nurture a deeper understanding of audiences to keep the tradition of the group experience very much alive.”

NJPAC Executive Vice President and Executive Producer David Rodriguez comments, “The New York Film Critics Series speaks to a very similar audience as we do. We’re both successfully reaching audiences who are highly engaged classic and pop culture devotees. This partnership is an organic fit and we look forward to introducing NJPAC audiences to our innovative new work together.”  The teams are developing ways to offer new series, including seminal films and live interviews with classic, big-name talent.

This relationship was arranged by The Erlick Group, a leading NYC-based entertainment sponsorship agency that has represented leading properties in film, music, theatre, and venues for the past 25 years.

NJPAC is located at One Center Street in Newark, New Jersey.