TORRANCE, Calif., Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In less than three months, many of the 368 remaining drive-ins across the U.S. will go dark forever if they cannot afford to convert to digital projection, estimated at $75,000+ per screen. In support of Project Drive-In, Honda's national effort to save as many drive-ins as possible, the automaker is hosting a one-day live Twitter Vine auction on Thurs., Sept. 12, starring renowned film critic Leonard Maltin as auctioneer. Proceeds will go directly to Project Drive-In: Save the Drive-In Fund.

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How to Get Involved: Project Drive-In's Twitter Vine AuctionStarting at 10 a.m. PT, a Vine video will post on the @Honda Twitter account showcasing at least eight items available for auction. Each item will be opened up to bidding when that item-specific Vine video is tweeted out with information detailing the minimum bid price and auction closing time. To participate in the auction, bidders will tweet the title of the item, bid price and hash tag #DriveInAuction. The highest bid at the close of the auction wins. @Honda will tweet the winning bidder who will then be directed via @Honda direct message to a payment page on the Project Drive-In fundraising Web page. The auction will conclude at 2 p.m. PT.

Auction items include:

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 plush toys, autographed poster, concept artwork and Hollywood VIP package featuring tickets to the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 premiereand tour of the Sony Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation studio lots
• Four Disneyland park hopper tickets and four Aquarium of the Pacific tickets
• Basketball and license plate signed by Maroon 5, headlining the 2013 Honda Civic Tour
• Private suite experience at Paramore concert (headlined 2010 Honda Civic Tour) at Honda Center on Oct. 19, includes tickets and catering for 16 people

In addition, a Honda-donated 2014 Odyssey Touring Elite^® is available on the Project Drive-In fundraising Web page for $50,000 and will be promoted during the auction. The donation will not only award the winning bidder with the brand new Odyssey minivan, but also help fund an additional digital projector and save another drive-in from closing.

Project Drive-In launched on Aug. 9 by Honda to raise community awareness of the plight of drive-ins, award digital projectors to five drive-ins as determined by public voting (closed Sept. 9) and to provide simple ways for people to get involved in an effort to ensure that this historic part of American cinema and car culture lives on.

The five winning theaters will be revealed in mid-September, and each will host a celebration that includes a special screening of Sony Pictures Animation's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, in theaters everywhere on September 27.

"Project Drive-In has sparked so many heartwarming stories and dedicated communities determined to save their drive-in culture that Honda feels compelled to do even more," said Alicia Jones, Manager of Honda & Acura Social Marketing at American Honda Motor Co., Inc.  "We want to help people keep their drive-ins open, so we have launched this auction utilizing Vine and Twitter to help get more people involved by leveraging a medium where people are already talking about #SaveTheDriveIn."

About HondaHonda offers a complete lineup of cars and trucks through a network of more than 1,000 dealerships in the United States. In 2013, Honda marks 40 years of the Civic model, with more than 30 years of producing automobiles in the region, which began with the Accord in Marysville, Ohio, in November 1982.  Having produced more than 25 million vehicles in North America through 2012 using domestic and globally sourced parts, Honda currently operates 14 major manufacturing facilities in North America, producing a wide range of Honda automobiles, all-terrain vehicles, power equipment products, engines and transmissions.

About Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where Sony Pictures Animation's mouth-watering comedy left off. Inventor Flint Lockwood thought he saved the world when he destroyed his most infamous invention—a machine that turned water into food, causing cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes. But Flint soon learns that his invention survived and is now creating food-animal—"foodimals!" Flint and his friends embark on a dangerously delicious mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, hippotatomuses, cheespiders and other foodimals to save the world—again! Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Screenplay by Erica Rivinoja and John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein.  Story by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller and Erica Rivinoja. Inspired by the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. Produced by Pam Marsden and Kirk Bodyfelt.

About Leonard MaltinLeonard Maltin is one of the world's most respected film critics and historians. He is best known for his widely-used reference work Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, which is also available as an iPhone app, and his thirty-year run on television's Entertainment Tonight. He teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and appears regularly on Reelz Channel. His books include The 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Great Movie Comedians, The Disney Films, The Art of the Cinematographer, Movie Comedy Teams, The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide and Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, is a voting member of the National Film Registry, and was appointed by the Librarian of Congress to sit on the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. He has been the recipient of awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Telluride Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and San Diego's Comic-Con International. Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was his appearance in a now-classic episode of South Park. (Or was it Carmela consulting his Movie Guide on an episode of The Sopranos?) He holds court at leonardmaltin.com. 

SOURCE American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

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