War Games didn't feature a Commodore machine, it featured an IMSAI. It might have helped boost mainstream interest in computers, but by then Commodore was already a big, well established company and - I believe - hadn't yet thoroughly burned their reseller network.
ah, you're right. The movie theater I saw the movie at had a contest at the same time. Fill out a form, drop in a big decorated box, and if your name was drawn you won a C64.
The contest was, if I recall correctly, tied to the movie. Like, win a computer "like" the one Matthew used in the movie War Games.... or something along those lines.
My friend and I took home a stack of those forms and filled out at least 100 (probably more) but we didn't win.
Fun & memorable times. Thanks for the info on the IMSAI.