10 Outrageous Ways Movie Studios Let You Know A Movie Is Coming Out
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The marketing department can be a little over-the-top, for better or worse, when it came to movies like Cloverfield, The Bee Movie, Transformers: One, and more.
When it comes to movie promotion, most people expect to see a few things. Whether it's a movie poster or a trailer--especially one airing during a TV show with high ratings--those are the ways we've come to expect to experience being introduced to upcoming movies.
Sometimes, though, the promotions for upcoming films go above and beyond the expected in an attempt to break through and connect to a potential audience Whether these are events where people come together to share a communal space to watch a trailer or a string of clues to piece together the plot of a movie, there have been some really cool ways to promote a movie.
However, not all of these ideas are great. There have been a number of large-scale promotions certainly don't seem cheap but will make you scratch your head. Why is a well-known property spending all this money for a movie that's coming out in two weeks? Why is a horror movie doing a boxing-style weigh-in? Sometimes, ridiculous movie promotional stunts make zero sense, but are still fun to marvel at.
So we dug through a lot of movie promotions that happened throughout the years and found some of the most ridiculous ones that came on our radar. Are they all good? Nope. Are they all bad? Nope. This is more about promotions that were so over the top, in our minds, that they bordered on ludicrous.
1. Transformers One: Space trailer launch
Date this happened: April 18, 2024
Movie release date: September 20, 2024
What happened: In order to get some hype around the upcoming release of the feature-length animated film, Paramount Pictures decided to release the trailer in space--literally. Doing a trailer reveal from space doesn't seem very ridiculous, until you realize that there is an hour-long countdown to the actual trailer reveal where you got to watch it go to space.
You can watch the whole hour leading to the trailer, as a balloon holding the Transformer logo slowly floats to space. As it unfolded, there were a bunch of us making fun of it on GameSpot, while also getting excited about the countdown like a group of marks. The most mind-boggling moment in this stunt was that the trailer wasn't full screen. Look at the image above--that's what it looked like. Also, stars Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry popped up twice during the hour, talked about the stunt once, and then Henry made a reference to the original cartoon's theme song.
2. Cloverfield: Alternate-reality game
Date this began: July 2007
Movie release date: January 18, 2008
What happened: The lead up to Cloverfield's release was a promotional bombardment. There were fake news reports featuring monster attacks, fake MySpace accounts from characters surrounding the movie--one of which, Jamie's, we'll get to--a website dedicated to the sounds that the movie monster makes a year before the film came out (don't look for that one; the site is filled with malware now), and a massive attack of other promotional material. Most of this stuff was a bit confusing and had people in forums gathering to talk about it. There is still a Blogspot dedicated to everything Cloverfield, with the most recent update being published last year.
There was also an alternate-reality game you "played" online to search for more clues on what the upcoming mysterious movie was about. There were sites like the video Chaui Station Attacked, which covered a mysterious disaster featuring a picture of a monster; the company Tagruato, a company involved with disposal of toxic waste and creator of a popular drink; Slusho!, said popular drink; and many others. How did people find these sites? Blogging sites, forums, and looking for clues in videos. Together, all of these sites were pieces to the backstory of Cloverfield.
3. Cloverfield: Jamie And Teddy
Date this happened: August 27th, 2007
Movie release date: January 18, 2008
What happened: That's right, we're mentioning more than one of Cloverfield's movie promotions. In the realm of Cloverfield's ARG campaign, nothing was more confusing than the website JamieAndTeddy.
We're not putting the website address down or giving you the password to log in because the site may no longer be safe to venture into. You can find it all of it yourself online if you're really interested--here's the Blogspot mentioning the first video. Spinning out of the MySpace campaign--and the ARG in general--a series of videos features Jamie, who sends videos to her missing boyfriend, Teddy. Over the course of 11 videos, Jamie becomes increasingly frustrated they haven't seen each other and then dumps him. People online in various forums scrambled to look in the background of these videos to see how they connected to the upcoming movie, and there was a lot of speculation of how these short videos connected to the monster attack in the Cloverfield movie. It's weird, creepily voyeuristic, and makes little to no sense for the average viewer. In hindsight, it's the most bizarre aspect of the ARG campaign, and it had little-to-no real connection to the actual movie.
4. Freddy vs Jason: The Vegas weigh-in
Date this happened: July 15, 2003
Movie release date: August 13, 2003
What happened: Fighter weigh-ins are a major part leading into any boxing/UFC event. It promotes the upcoming fight, and we get to see a little bit of trash-talk after the weigh-in. However, one weigh-in that was mind-boggling was to promote the movie Freddy vs. Jason. Further emphasizing how surreal and weird it was, ring announcer Michael Buffer was there to lend credibility to the proceedings.
Freddy (yes, Robert Englund) fielded questions from the audience, and Jason stared at people. The crowd laughed a little bit, and then Buffer announced the betting odds for Jason and Freddy. Everything about it was wacky.The movie was promoted as "the" showdown between horror's two biggest titans, but it makes no sense with or without any context. Why would you have two fictional characters in this situation in a weigh-in for a fictional movie? I don't have the answer for that aside from, "We're talking about it 21 years later because we can't unsee it."
5. The Bee Movie: Jerry Seinfeld dressed as a bee at Cannes
Date this happened: May 16, 2007
Movie release date: November 2, 2007
What happened: Cannes Film Festival is a well-known film festival celebrating the art of film where many people can see early viewings of upcoming movies from around the world. It can really elevate a movie without a huge marketing budget by way of early critic reviews. In 2007, the most notable films from that year's festival were Death Proof, No Country For Old Men, and Persepolis. Then, there was a stunt for the Jerry Seinfeld vehicle, The Bee Movie.
Promoting the movie, star Seinfeld showed up in a bee costume and ziplined from The Bee Movie stage to a nearby building. It was… a choice. Cannes really isn't the target audience for a children's movie, especially one that says the word "bee" way too much.
6. House of Wax: "See Paris Die"
Date this happened: April 2005
Movie release date: May 6, 2005
What happened: Promotional stunts for horror movies are something that happen fairly often, and many of them are a swing and a miss--see other items on this list. However, one of the most-mystifying promotional stunts celebrated the death of a pop-culture celebrity's character in the upcoming movie.
For the 2005 remake of the classic 1953 horror movie starring Vincent Price, House of Wax's promotional stunt and marketing for the film revolved around the fact that Paris Hilton's character died in the movie. The reality-TV star was loved or hated by people around the world, and leading up to the movie, the marketing department let everyone know her character was not long for this world with the "See Paris Die" campaign. It was a talking point for journalists and Hilton herself leading up to the premiere. Everyone walking into that theater knew her character was going to die, and they couldn't wait to celebrate it. There were even promotional t-shirts made for this aspect of the film.
7. Blair Witch Project: The Curse of the Blair Witch
Date this happened: July 11, 1999
Movie release date: July 30, 1999
What happened: If you remember the weeks leading up to the release of The Blair Witch Project, then you probably thought the movie was real--we all did in the back of our minds. This was many years prior to Cloverfield doing its massive campaign. The Blair Witch project presented itself as a real documentary about kids who are killed by a ghost/witch/something in the woods. It was a found-footage film.
However, leading up to the release, there were some massive promotional stunts. For one, SciFi Channel released an hour-long special called The Curse of the Blair Witch. The special featured a few clips from the upcoming movie, along with interviews with friends and family of the cast--who "died" back in 1994 while filming their documentary. The special also delves into the history and lore of the Blair Witch. The entire special is available to watch on Vimeo. Beyond that special, there was a comprehensive internet presence for the film, especially for the time. The official Blair Witch Project website kept information and evidence about the "disappearance" of the characters in the film, letting readers do their own investigating.
8. I'm Still Here: Joaquin Phoenix announces he's a rapper on David Letterman
Movie release date: September 10, 2010
What happened: David Letterman is a phenomenal interviewer. However, in a 2009 interview with Joaquin Phoenix, he seemed stumped. The two-time Academy Award-winning actor had previously announced his retirement from acting and came on Letterman to explain. In the most awkward interview ever, a slow-paced, disheveled Phoenix came out with long hair, a long beard, and sunglasses to announce he was becoming a rapper.
Letterman was not aware of what was going on at the time. Phoenix was in the middle of filming a mockumentary called I'm Still Here, which followed a version of Phoenix becoming a mediocre rapper, touring the country, and performing at clubs. This was accompanied by footage of Phoenix pursuing this new career and recording tracks. It was an incredibly unsettling interview and after the movie's release, Phoenix returned to Letterman to explain what was happening and to apologize.
9. The Simpsons Movie: 7/11 Becomes Kwik-E-Mart
Date this happened: July 1-August 3, 2007
Movie release date: July 27, 2007
What happened: There was already a lot of hype behind The Simpsons Movie. The animated series was about to head into Season 19 and was well-established as part of American pop culture. Obviously, you don't need much more than a movie poster and a trailer to promote it, right? Well, that's not all the marketing team did to promote the film.
Announced on July 1, 2007, 11 7/11s in the US and one in Canada would be transformed into Kwik-E-Marts, the convenience store from the cartoon. Aside from changing the sign to read "Kwik-E-Mart," each location featured plenty of Simpsons-related products inside. There was Krusty-Os cereal, Buzz cola, Squishies, Duff Energy Drink (to replace Duff Beer), and more. It was of the cooler concepts on this list, but ridiculous nonetheless.
10. Dune: Part Two: That popcorn bucket
Date this happened: February 2024
Movie release date: March 1, 2024
What happened: Oh boy… leading up to the highly-anticipated release of Dune: Part 2, part of the promotion that anyone could get at an AMC theater was a specialized popcorn bucket that featured a sand worm coming out of the sand. For $25, you could own this iconic film promotion, along with a large popcorn.
Let's get straight to the point. It looks like a sex toy. This isn't just me. Every person thought that the first time they looked at it. The Dune popcorn bucket became a meme, and every single meme was about having sex with this promotional item. There was even one of a man holding the bucket in a movie theater wearing a shirt that said, "I'm just here to f*** the popcorn bucket." To quote Marvel Comics writer, Stan Lee, "'Nuff Said!"