District 9 Viral – Too Little, Too Late?

Sony Picture’s District 9 is set to hit theaters on August 14th this year. That’s one week after GI Joe and one week before Inglorious Basterds. Some of you may have noticed the viral picking up a little amount of steam in the past few weeks, but is it too late for this viral to make an impact? Read more after the jump.

Around mid-July of 2008, little viral sites started popping up around the internet. Some of these sites included MultinationalUnited.com, MathsFromOuterSpace.com, and MNUSpreadsLies.com. When they launched, hardly anything was there except the ‘Sign Up For More Updates’ link. Chances are that if you saw these sites, you signed up.


After that, nothing happened for months. We waited, and waited, and waited. When we were about to give up all hope of not only the viral, but of the movie itself, it kicked back in when pop-up ads begin appearing on sites like /Film. Then, within a couple days, all the viral sites were updated. But there was a problem: by now, 99% of the people who had signed up had forgotten about the movie or failed to care about it.


So, with the movie coming out in under 4 months, can this viral pick up the pace and make a name for itself? Or will it just go under and fail to pick up any attention?


Of note is that there is speculation going around about a possible teaser trailer before X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The trailer was first supposed to be in front of Crank 2: High Voltage, but Sony pulled the trailer at the last minute. What’s holding them up? I would assume that they finished filming months ago, and some movies release little teasers WHILE filming. Is it because they want everything to be super secret and under wraps? If so, I think they’re running out of time, because with the summer movie line up kicking off in just a matter of days with X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Sony is going to have a hard time getting this movie noticed.


What do you think? Discuss it in the comments.