Paramount Pictures, Participant Media and Walden Media announced today 30,000 people have pledged to see the award-winning documentary film Waiting for Superman when it opens this fall, making it the first goal reached on the campaign's "Pledge Progress Meter." As a result, DonorsChoose.org is fulfilling their commitment and donating $5 gift cards to every person who pledges to see the film by September 15th.

The gift cards can be used to fulfill requests made by public school teachers from every corner of America who post classroom project needs on DonorsChoose.org. The mission of DonorsChoose.org is to improve public education by empowering every teacher to be a change-maker and enabling any citizen to be a philanthropist.

"Thanks to our generous supporters, DonorsChoose.org is thrilled to provide $5 philanthropic gift codes to people that take the pledge to see Waiting for Superman. Redeeming this code on DonorsChoose.org gives people an immediate and direct way to help students get the resources they need to learn. Making this personal connection to a classroom is an important first step towards greater involvement in education," said Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org Founder and CEO.

Waiting for Superman directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) will be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national conversation, the movie and corresponding "Take the Pledge" campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term solutions to help change the course of our kids' lives for the better. The "Pledge Progress Meter" launched in May as a way for non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both students and public schools. First Book was the first organization to take the pledge, by agreeing to donate 250,000 new books to schools and programs in low-income communities across the country once the pledge meter reaches 50,000 pledges.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 24, nationwide in October.

The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media's Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.

For more information about the movie, or to take the pledge go to WaitingForSuperman.com or text "PLEDGE" to 77177.

To join the conversation visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/WaitingForSuperman

What does your school need? Tell us by Tweeting #MySchoolNeeds at Twitter.com/WaitingSuperman