Prometheus launches into theatres after flying high on a landmark viral campaign
He’s gone from big-screen movie star to a fictitious android in a campaign commercial? Show me that again?
Indie star Michael Fassbender goes viral for Fox’s intense new Prometheus marketing campaign. Fassbender, who plays
the android David in Ridley Scott’s newest sci-fi epic, stares directly into the camera of this “advertisement” because David is ultimately a product of the fictitious Wayland Corporation, the chairman of which is played by Guy Pearce. Of course the trailer intends to generate reboot buzz and not robot buys. This ad was the first of many new advertising techniques employed by Fox to generate interest for the much-hyped film, especially in a viral way.
Guy Pearce, the chairman of the Wayland Corporation appeared in a “talk from the future” dated 2023, to be exact, in another character driven advertisement during TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) this past February.
As recently as May, a viral video of footage, as Magnet Stories suggests, not appearing in the film premiered. The video, entitled “Quiet Eye” and starring another Prometheus mainstay in Noomi Repace, featured a live chat with the film’s screenwriter Damon Lindelof via the hashtag #prometheuslive.At March’s Wondercon, a heavily frequented, annually held comic book and science fiction convention, the first full-length trailer of Prometheus was screened. Attendees were not the only viewers, however, because the trailer was streamed through online juggernauts such as Facebook and Twitter, which helped it to generate three million views in the first day alone.
And for those U.S. diehards who could not wait for the U.S. premiere of the film, June 1st provided another virtual preview of the film. The red carpet UK premiere was streamed on Verizon’s FiOS Facebook page.
A slew of videos featuring various stars of the epic invaded conventions and conferences alike—all in an attempt to tease hopeful filmgoers with one-on-one glimpses of Prometheus’ many characters. Viewers got multiple shots, literally, of what was to come through viral mediums that suggest a different breed of film marketing. Fox, as Magnet Stories noted, took a page of its hugely successful Hunger Games campaign and produced original content that highlight, one at a time, certain characters of Scott’s film.
According to Yahoo! Movies, Prometheus, which opened in 3,396 theaters, garnered $50 million and earned second place behind Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. Boxofficeguru.com claims that this weekend, Prometheus’ opening weekend, was the biggest opening weekend for a R-rated movie in 2012.
What do you think? Did the intense marketing campaign and $130-million production tag pay off?
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Tags: Entertainment, Facebook, film, social media, social media marketing, viral
