With many of the world's largest corporations spending tens of millions of dollars to secure screen time for their brands, a regional, family-owned fast-food chain called White Castle has effortlessly won a starring role that most brand marketers can only envy.

In fact, the role is so integral to the movie's story line that the burger chain's name is featured in the title, "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," which New Line Cinema is releasing July 30. While the R-rated comedy could present certain problems for White Castle because of content described even by the studio as racy, the quick-service restaurant famous for its small, square hamburgers should enjoy a windfall of positive publicity that could easily translate into more customers.

"One of the cool things about 'Harold and Kumar' -- considering that everything these days seems to be driven out of a Madison and Vine entertainment perspective -- is here's an example of a truly organic placement that is what everyone strives to achieve but that was done out of genuine creativity," said Gordon Paddison, New Line's executive vp integrated marketing.

"White Castle saw the opportunity and embraced the film," he said. "It certainly gave them an opportunity for national exposure, and they thought it played well with their audience."

With 391 restaurants in 12 states on the East Coast and in the Midwest, the privately held White Castle claims a cultlike following -- even if many in Hollywood have never experienced its burgers. And its appeal is part of the premise of the movie, directed by Danny Leiner, in which two likable underdogs, played by John Cho and Kal Penn, embark on a road trip to feed their insatiable cravings for White Castle burgers.

"Thousands of customers have sent us letters about the extreme lengths they've gone to satisfy their cravings for White Castle hamburgers, so there was an authenticity to the script that really resonated with us," White Castle director of marketing Jamie Richardson said.

Screenwriters Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg said it was their idea to use White Castle in the title of the film, though they have since discovered that people who have never heard of the burger chain are confused by the title.

New Line and White Castle will try to help rectify that, at least in Los Angeles, by opening a full-scale replica of a White Castle restaurant on the Sunset Strip tonight, where, as part of a promotion for the film, they will serve 50,000 free burgers through Aug. 11, in conjunction with local radio station Power 106.

The first White Castle ever to serve burgers on the West Coast will open with a star-studded ribbon-cutting event and will feature themed promotional activities, sweepstakes and giveaways. But despite many requests to open a permanent restaurant, White Castle says it is not quite ready to stay in Los Angeles.

Hurwitz and Schlossberg, who met in high school, said they both grew up in New Jersey loving White Castle burgers and thought the fast-food chain was a perfect fit for the film they set out to write.

"It's almost a tradition for people after they're done partying for the night to go to White Castle," Schlossberg said. "It's a perfect place for a road-trip fast-food-quest movie. The kind of guys we're writing about would go to a place like White Castle, and we personally love White Castle ourselves. We felt it was a company we would feel good about promoting."

Hurwitz and Schlossberg said they were so happy to get White Castle's permission to use its name -- particularly because the stoner comedy has some content other fast-food chains might balk at -- that no request was made for White Castle to pay to be involved in the project.

Indeed, the MPAA has nixed a lot of the advertising materials produced by New Line.

"It's unique for a product tie-in because the movie is very R-rated," Hurwitz said. "We were just as happy to have White Castle sign on as they were to receive the free publicity."

White Castle has inducted Hurwitz, Schlossberg and director Leiner into the White Castle Cravers Hall of Fame and agreed to promote the film in radio ads, in its restaurants with packaging and collectible fountain cups featuring Harold and Kumar and in grocery aisles nationwide where its frozen burgers are sold.

White Castle also is giving away tens of thousands of free burgers at promotional events for the film.

"While we certainly don't approve of some of the behaviors (in the film) and are certainly not encouraging that, we feel that some of the messages in the film are incredibly positive," Richardson said, noting that the lead actors Cho and Penn are Korean and Indian, respectively, making the film more reflective of "the face of America" and White Castle's own staff.

New Line's Paddison said the promotions will reach 10 million White Castle customers from mid-July to mid-August and help the studio attract the harder-to-reach "alternative" demographic to the film.

He said New Line, which has domestic rights to the movie produced by Senator Films, didn't consider making the White Castle placement in the film and title contingent upon payment or promotional support either.

"The opportunity with this film came because the writers had a passion," Paddison said. "It wouldn't work as well with a different brand because of the uniqueness of (White Castle) and what it represents."