Did You Know Bangkok Dangerous Had a Viral Campaign? Dan Koelsch, February 13, 2010February 13, 2010 The 2008 film Bangkok Dangerous flew under most people’s radar when it was released (with a budget of $45 million, it only made $15 million at the box office). Most bloggers and film critics wrote off the Nicolas Cage action flick completely (it got a measly 9% on Rotten Tomatoes). So, why are we talking about the film a year and half later? Well, we finally found out there was an actual ARG campaign for the film, thanks to a trailer for it being posted on the web. Check it out after the jump. The company behind the campaign was Phantom Compass, a game production company based in Toronto. They posted the trailer on their YouTube page a few days ago. Take a look at it below. Here are few quotes from the company about the campaign:The game was created in 2 weeks by Phantom Compass for a 6-week promotional campaign aimed at competitive, semi-pro, and professional video game players.Client: Professional Interactive Entertainment for Lionsgate Initiative Phantom Compass created an Alternate Reality Game aimed at an online game community to support the Hollywood film “Bangkok Dangerous.” The game echoed the themes of the film in a parallel storyline written and realized by Phantom Compass. I didn’t see the movie myself, so it’s hard to say just from this information how well the campaign tied in with the film, which is about a hitman (Cage) who’s in Bangkok to pull off a series of jobs, but falls for a local woman and bonds with his errand boy. It doesn’t seem to have helped the film (remember that $15 million I mentioned earlier), but maybe it was fun to play. If you know any more about the Bangkok Dangerous ARG, let us know! Viral Marketing ARGBangkok Dangerous
Paranormal Activity: Viral Marketing At Its Best October 27, 2009January 8, 2010The success of Paranormal Activity will be studied extensively by Hollywood, that’s for sure. Made for a mere $15,000, Paranormal Activity has grossed nearly $64 million since its nation-wide release. How? A strange thing called . . . The Internets! While MovieViral normally focuses on the “in-game” side of viral… Read More
Tech’s Newest Touch Screen: You March 8, 2010March 8, 2010The future is here. At least, that’s what I think after reading stories like these. Tim Hornyak at CNET has written a piece about a Microsoft developed device called Skinput that allows users to use their arms as a touch screen to make commands. Think of it as an iPod… Read More
Big Tron Legacy Update: Many Viral Sites, Countdown for Space Paranoids Online April 29, 2010October 18, 2011There has been an explosion of viral sites for Disney’s Tron Legacy lately, and thanks to Firstshowing, we are able to connect them together to make sense of it all. Try to follow the full story after the break. Read More
The game tries to weave in conspiratorial Da Vinci Code-style intrigue and puzzle-solving, but the movie was more Nic Cage just running around shooting.