Busy day. IGN has posted some new billboards that are soon to hit the streets and show off the surrogates
that you too can have as your very own! Especially if you want to look like Beckham or Angelina.
Human Perfection. What Could Go Wrong? Well, when your innards are made of metal, probably a lot. Take a look at the new line of posters/billboards:
Surrogates is set for release on September 25th.
So there is a pretty interesting viral that has recently shown up for the movie “9″ – the Tim Burton produced, Shane Acker directed, CGI movie that involves a post-apocalyptic vision involving puppets made from what looks like potato sacks.
If you are following the Scientist’s Facebook page (because that’s what scientists do, they use Facebook to display their amazing findings), then you may have seen the following:
As I write this, armies of the globe clash outside our windows. Our Chancellor has done his best to make our once glorious nation the enemy of the world.
After the Chancellor’s men confiscated my research documents, he dealt a crippling blow to my continued research. I have tried to work as hard as possible to refine my findings in the Dark Sciences, but I am missing a specific document, and seem to have hit a roadblock.
It is now up to you, my friends, to find this design. I, of course, cannot get near the Chancellor’s archives, as I am being watched too closely. But I can guide you.
1. Before my design was confiscated, I scrawled 4 green alchemical symbols on it. I hope that the government has not realized the significance of these symbols.2. The design was taken, ripped up, and the pieces were scattered across 9 secret locations.
3. You must find the pieces, in your journeys, and realign the sequence of alchemical symbols.
4. Input the appropriate alchemical symbols into my decoder and you will be able to unlock the design for me to use in my research… your efforts may be rewarded.
5. You have 1 week before another round of War Machines rolls off the assembly line.
Good luck,
The Scientist
So, you now have to start finding the pieces.
Which, our forum member, MOVIELORD101 so graciously did for us. So, in the forum (here), we pieced 8 out of the 9 pieces together. And, as stated by the Scientist, the codes were revealed.
Take the codes over to 9experiment.com, and key in the codes, on the typewriter, in the correct order, and get both a wallpaper, as well as yourself entered into a 9 drawing, where one of the lucky winners will get themselves some new kicks
Now, from what I have seen, and correct me if I’m wrong, but piece #4 is still missing. Now it’s quite obvious that we can see the codes, but could #4 hold something extra?
Good luck to those who enter and stay tuned to MovieViral.com’s continued coverage on viral related to “9″ set to be released 9-9-09 (clever!).
After a big Comic-Con weekend, we have added to the site two new pages for recent viral campaigns that started with the convention: Iron Man 2 and Tron Legacy.
Be sure to check their pages out for the latest news and websites associated with their viral campaigns. As always, if you think we should add a page for another viral campaign, let us know!
Iron Man 2 opens nationwide May 7th, 2010. Tron Legacy will be released in 2011.
Jonah Hill plays Leo Koenig in Judd Apatow’s Funny People. If you’ve seen some the footage and trailers for the film, you may remember Leo talking about making cute kitten videos and posting them on YouTube. Well he did it. On the character’s official YouTube channel, this video (uploaded today) is featured:
Looks like the film is trying to do a last bit of advertising to push the opening weekend. We’ll know by Sunday if it works. Funny People is in theaters right now.
As you may have heard from our Comic-Con podcast, or more likely from our forum, Iron Man 2 kick started their viral campaign during Comic-Con weekend. Here’s a more in-depth look at all the viral so far.
The viral for Iron Man 2 has so far centered around Stark Industries, which is of course the company of main character Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr). The organization was featured prominently in the first film, so it’s logical they would incorporate it into the sequel, as well as a viral campaign since the easiest viral to do is one based on a company. Most viral campaigns use organizations because they can have websites, recruiting, etc. Personal pages are also used a lot, but I don’t expect to see the Iron Man viral take that root.
First, before the convention even started, Stark Industries was reported to be at Comic-Con. Most of us just assumed it was a one-off deal, or something specifically for the comics or cartoons. However, the booth was obviously tailored towards the film, with it containing the Hall of Armor. Also, when Kelsey went to the booth, the very Ms. Pepper-ish representative gave all the rhetoric from the film about Stark Industries changing their ways. The company was recruiting and the lady gave Kelsey a Stark Industries business card.
From the card and from other sources, the Stark Industries homepage was discovered. The site is very minimalist, especially for a technologically-savvy company, but it could expand into more content and such as we get closer to the film’s release date. There are only two links on their navigational “bar”, with the “News/Press Releases” currently just taking you to the main page. Said page has this hand-written note from Tony written on napkin:
The “Join Stark Industries” tab is more interesting, since it actually has an application form for you to fill out. It asks for lots of personal information, so fill it out at your own discretion. The last section of the application is an “Experience Assessment” with some difficult questions. The first answer is “interference” (based on a Google search), but the others are either too tough or deliberately subjective (such as “Please briefly describe your most heroic act”). Once you submit the application, you just get a notice that they’ll review your application and contact you if you meet their requirements. The “telecrop” question surprised me because I couldn’t even find the word in Google. Anyone heard of this?
So that’s it so far. Lots more time for this viral to develop, so stay tuned. It will be interesting to see if how you answer any of the questions or sections of the application form determines if and how they contact you, as well as what they contact you about. I bet everyone will just get a generic reply, but I hope it’s more. If someone does it “right” (who really knows what they’ll determine to be right), they should get something special. I imagine the site will be more functional down the road (similar to Skynet from Terminator Salvation viral), and we may get some other sites tied to the characters or the company.
If you see anything else for Iron Man 2, let us know! The film opens May 7, 2010.
If you don’t like spoilers, don’t even bother reading this post. The Hollywood Reporter has already posted a review of District 9 (the first one ever to my knowledge). Their review is very positive, and here is how they sum up their response:
Bottom Line: A genuinely original science fiction film that grabs you immediately, not letting go until the final shot.
What is interesting is how much info we get on the plot. This paraphrased excerpt from io9 answers a lot of questions:
This is a “very original chase movie,” about aliens who landed 20 years ago, their ship out of fuel — though it still hovers, dead, over the city 20 years later. The aliens have been forced into makeshift camps, and they need a black substance to fuel their ship and their sophisticated weapons. You need alien DNA to operate those weapons, but a Nigerian underworld boss named Obesandjo buys them all up anyway, for cat food, which the aliens love. A private company, Multinational United (MNU) is put in charge of the aliens, and decides to relocate them to a rural camp, a task it assigns to “by-the-book wimp” Wikus, a field operative.
Wikus delivers eviction notices, and comes across an alien lab run by an alien named Christopher Johnson. Wikus gets infected with an alien virus that changes his DNA, and he grows an alien claw for a hand. The claw can operate that alien machinery and weaponry, and he becomes the “most valuable business artifact on Earth.” Wikus’ own father in law decides to harvest his organs. The MNU starts chasing after Wikus, who flees, and his main pursuer is the film’s villain, Koobus. Also chasing Wikus is Nigerian gangster Obesandjo, who wants to eat Wikus’ alien arm. Wikus hides out with Christopher and his son, and it turns out that virus is actually a substance Christopher was developing for the past two years to refuel the mothership so the aliens can get home.
So, it’s not Wikus turning into an alien entirely, it’s just his arm so he can use their technology. The bad guy wanting to eat his mutated arm is kinda weird, and I love the fact the aliens go crazy for cat food. Now, this may sound very silly on the surface, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the film pulls it off and still keeps the dark, action-packed mood.
What do you think about these details? Leave a comment or talk about it in our forum. District 9 opens nationwide August 14th.
Update: Our writer Scott has informed me that Koobus in this plot spoiler is probably the same one profiled on MNU’s website. Great way to tie the viral into the film!
Trailer Addict posted a new video for District 9 today, titled “First Look”. This is their description of the footage:
Extended featurette for District 9 shows never before seen footage from the film while presenting interview with cast and crew. Preview explains the backstory to District 9 and the organization, MNU.
Check it out for yourself:
The eviction scene, which we’ve seen snippets of before, and Wikus talking to Christopher are the parts that stand out to me the most. What do you think?
Thanks to forum member “andyboy35″ for posting the link.
Update: As I suspected, this is the featurette Matt saw in theaters about a month ago. Glad they finally posted it online.
Rose and Kelsey are back with us to talk more about their Comic-Con experience, primarily the viral campaigns they saw. Stay tuned till the end for a hilarious song they wrote about their time at the Con.
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So Christopher, our Alien about town, has a new tweet on his twitter (here). Usually it’s nothing of particular interest, but this time it’s a video clip of a protest towards MNU that was held at LAST years Comic-Con.
Here is the clip:
Old news, but check out who’s Youtube page it brings you to. It’s the District9News page. Which, most of you know by now, is us! (District9News.com folded into MovieViral.com over a month ago)
Looks like we are part of the viral!
In this week’s ViralCast, Dan, Ian, and Scott are joined by our very special guests Kelsey and Rose, who covered Comic-Con for us live from the convention.
We go over some of the interesting things that Kelsey and Rose saw as well dig deeper in the viral campaigns put on during the nerdfest. Stay tuned in the next day or two, when we will be posting a hilarious song from the two girls about their experience.
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Check out the bonus podcast with Kelsey and Rose’s Comic-Con song here.
