Disney Makes Theater Stop Unofficial Viral Marketing For Tron Legacy Dan Koelsch, August 30, 2010 Well, you have to give them credit for trying. Yesterday we reported that a movie theater in Ohio (and possibly others) seemed to be part of Disney’s viral marketing campaign for Tron Legacy. However, it turns out that Marcus Crosswoods Cinema had taken it upon themselves to set up their Encom-branded website and the QR Code display that lead people to it. Since it is unofficial, Disney has asked them to take it down. Read the statement on the now defunct site after the break. At the request of Disney, we have had to halt our online marketing for the Tron Legacy motion picture. We will continue to promote the feature in-house in exciting and unique ways. For more information about the Marcus Crosswoods Cinema, please visit www.marcustheatres.com. Although misguided and not even accurate to the ARG, I’m impressed that the theater did this themselves. Management is obviously excited about the film and looking for new ways to draw customers. At a time in which ticket prices are sky high and theaters are getting hit hard by the recovering economy, these drastic measures are almost necessary. What do you think? Thanks to CalebH2010 at Unfiction for the heads up. Viral Marketing DisneyTheaterTron Legacy
Scariest Thing I Ever Saw: “Super 8” Viral Campaign Launched May 7, 2010October 18, 2011A few days ago, it was announced that a new mysterious project from J.J. Abrams called Super 8 was debuting its teaser trailer in front of Marvel Studio’s Iron Man 2. Originally speculated to be a prequel or sequel to 2008’s Cloverfield, the news hit the internet by storm and got… Read More
“Edge Of Tomorrow” Viral Campaign Leads To Trailer Reveal On Wednesday; Plus New Images Released December 9, 2013December 9, 2013Warner Bros will be pulling out all the stops on their biggest tentpoles next summer by releasing the first trailers for Godzilla and Edge Of Tomorrow. As we’ve mentioned previously, the Godzilla trailer will drop tomorrow, but for Doug Liman‘s Edge Of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, that… Read More
Viral Recap and Review: Apollo 18 September 6, 2011On Saturday I gave you my impression of the film itself, but now it’s time to talk about the viral campaign for the found footage sci-fi thriller Apollo 18. Could it be more interesting than the film itself? Reminisce with me after the break (warning: some spoilers). Read More
kudos to the theater for being that excited by the movie to start their own mini ARG. I thought/wished it was the start of the next phase of the ARG that would lead to sneak previews around the country.
I agree, they deserve a little credit for being innovative. It’s too bad it is not part of the ARG to be honest.
They should have, however, realized that they were using someone else’s property… did they they’d completely get away with that? … *shrug*
They just didn’t think it through. I don’t think they realized it’d hit the web and people like us would pick up on it.
They were excited to market something with the trendy idea of a transmedia/viral/ARG type promotion. Too excited, and thus made some huge mistakes – used someone else’s IP, failed to understand and follow the canon of a franchise, and stepped all over another promotion’s territory.
Couldn’t Disney have been a little forward-thinking & maybe picked up the promo & run with it? Stupid Big Media, always afraid to jump onto something new until it’s too late.