A father discovers his 9 year-old daughter has come up with an unexpected and terrifying way of dealing with her mother"s death through an imaginary friend. The daughter has an imaginary friend named Charlie, and her father soon realizes that Charlie isn"t made believe.

For the first time in its illustrious 70-year history, 20th Century Fox will be shipping prints of a motion picture to theaters across the nation without the picture"s final reel. The unprecedented move is part of a major effort to protect the pay-off of the studio"s terrifying suspense-thriller Hide and Seek, starring Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning.

Fox has taken extraordinary measures to safeguard the critical final reel, which is shipping separately. In addition to shipping the reel separately, security guards will hand-deliver the reel to all playdate theaters across the U.S. As a final security measure, Fox has numbered all final reels.

Hide and Seek opens nationwide this Friday, January 28.

Commented Fox executive VP and general sales manager Richard Myerson: ""Hide and Seek" is a terrific picture with an ending that everyone will be talking about. To ensure everyone"s enjoyment of the film and to prevent "spoilers", we"ve instituted extraordinary measures. We think it"s worth the effort."

Hide and Seek, rated "R" for frightening sequences and violence, is about a widowed father who desperately tries to break through to his nine year old daughter when she creates a creepy, maniacal "imaginary" friend with a terrifying vendetta. The film also stars Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue, Amy Irving and Dylan Baker. It is directed by John Polson, produced by Barry Josephson, and written by Ari Schlossberg.