MovieViral » Transformers

Universal Studios’ Transformers Ride Gets Viral Website

Dan Koelsch — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 01:46:36 +0000

Universal Studios Hollywood doesn’t have that many rides, but they are looking to change that with “Transformers: The Ride 3D”, set to open in May of this year. To help promote the new ride, Universal Studios has created a viral website and social media game. Get the details after the break.

Go to PrepareForBattle.com to enlist via your Facbook account. Once you have signed up, you get a welcome video message from General Morshower (played by actor Glenn Morshower just like in the film series). Watch it below.

The goal is to increase your military ranking with points. The grand prize is a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood to be one of the first to ride the attraction, and there are prizes for the top 100 people, so if you stick with the game, there’s a good chance you can win at least a Transformers toy or something. You get points for recruiting others to the game and other tasks, so get started!

Try out the Prepare for Battle game, and let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Thanks to Steve Kidd for the heads up.

“The Avengers” Trailer Joins Recycled Footage Trend: Is It Justifiable?

Caleb Hamilton — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:13:30 +0000

After watching the trailer for Marvel’s The Avengers over 20 times today, one shot stood out to me. I knew I had seen it somewhere before. I didn’t want to seem like a nitpicking fanboy (the trailer is absolutely awesome, by the way), but then I found out I wasn’t the only person who noticed it. Whoever edited the trailer threw in a shot from the Iron Man movie, and recolored it, among other adjustments, probably thinking no one would be able to recognize it. They thought wrong. To see the pic and more about recycled footage, hit the jump.

The first time I watched the trailer, I was completely blown away, but when I saw the quick shot of Iron Man’s helmet closing, a little ping went off in my head. “Where have you seen that before?” I asked myself. Of course, it was a shot from one of my favorite sequences in Iron Man: when Tony Stark suits up in the Mark III armor for the first time before flying off to kick some terrorist ass in the fictional village of Gulmira.

Here’s a comparison of the two shots (click for larger image):

Photo Credit: @RIMBreaks

On the left, we see the original from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. On the right we see the recycled shot with obvious tinkering. The background computer screens have changed color and moved a little. Iron Man has had some of the color drained and his eyes have been turned off. Study the image closely and you will see that it’s the exact same shot. Notice the smudges on the left side of the helmet, the exact same pattern!

This isn’t the only instance we’ve seen were recycled shots have been used. In 2007, Michael Bay used footage from Pearl Harbor in Transformers. He again recycled footage from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and The Island in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. During a highway battle between the Autobots and Decpticons Michael Bay threw in a few shots from The Island. You can see that footage below.

Transformers and Pearl Harbor:

Transformers 2 and Transformers 3 (not embeddable)

Transformers 3 and The Island

There are many reasons why directors would recycle footage, including no money to do reshoots. But in a trailer, why would one need to use recycled footage, from a 3 year old movie at that? I’m pretty sure that shot won’t be in the final cut of the film, I mean, why would it? It’s Tony’s Mark III armor, which is now crushed (thanks to Obidiah Stane/Iron Monger) and is sitting in Tony’s Hall of Armor. Perhaps now I am being a bit nitpicky, eh? But seriously, there wasn’t another 1 second shot from the actual movie to put there? I guess we’ll never know Marvel’s reasoning behind that move. One can never seem to get a straight answer out of them.

What do you think about this recycled footage business? Is it justifiable or is it just laziness? Let us know in the comments below.

Viral Video Round Up: Woody Allen, Terminator 2, The Rocketeer, The Matrix, Transformers, and More!

Dan Koelsch — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:43:58 +0000

The Internet is full of videos related to movies, whether they be fan made, studio made, or somewhere inbetween. We regularly bring you the best, most interesting, or just plain weirdest, and today we do it again. Check out the latest viral videos after the break.

Woody Allen likes to insert a character like himself in all his films, and Film Drunk has a video to prove it.

DirecTV has created what I’m assuming is a fake trailer for a show called Football Cops, starring NFL quarterbacks Eli and Payton Manning.

I really don’t know how to explain this video except to say that it’s a tribute to the 20th anniversary of Terminator 2.

Another fake leaked trailer for The Dark Knight Rises from YouTube account TheKnightIsRising.

I love Disney’s The Rocketeer, so I also love this video from John Banana that re-imagines the live action movie (which also is celebrating its 20th anniversary) as a Pixar film.

Best Buy had a pretty cool fan event for the Blu-Ray release of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Check out this mash up of Conan O’Brien and Conan the Barbarian (via /Film)

CLICK HERE TO READ VIRAL VIDEO ROUND UP PAGE 2! >>>

Viral Video Round Up: More Charlie, Transformers, Up, Firefly, The Lonely Island, Power Rangers, Mad Men, Cedar Rapids, Blake Griffin, Ferris Bueller, and More!

Dan Koelsch — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:53:28 +0000

The Internet is full of videos related to movies, whether they be fan made, studio made, or somewhere inbetween. We regularly bring you the best, most interesting, or just plain weirdest, and today we do it again. Check out the latest viral videos after the break.

This music video by T.Shirt is taken in one shot and has over 120 films in the lyrics. [via Geek Tyrant]

Here’s a fun game. You are given a quote. Who said it, Charlie Sheen or Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi? You’ll be surprised how many you get wrong.

Speaking of Charlie, Jimmy Fallon did another skit impersonating him last week.

YouTuber MoPapparani has made some pretty cool mash-ups in the past, and now they are back with “150 Movie Lines & Catch-Phrases”. [via /Film]

Still better than the movies.

Transformers Fail – Watch more Funny Videos

The new National Geographic series How Hard Can It Be? recreated the house flying with ballons from Pixar’s Up. [via /Film]

The Disney Parks YouTube page has a few behind-the-scenes videos of their Dream Portraits series, including this one of Queen Latifah.

It doesn’t matter how amazing your girlfriend is. If she doesn’t like Firefly, she has to go. [via io9]

Comedy group sensation The Lonely Island have uploaded a new video, somehow putting themselves into MTV’s 1988 Spring Break coverage.

CLICK HERE TO READ VIRAL VIDEO ROUND UP PAGE 2!

Super Bowl Trailers: Super 8, Transformers, Thor, and Captain America

Nick Butler — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 01:44:22 +0000

In case you missed any of the commercials, we’ve rounded up all the ads for films shown over the first half of the Super Bowl, other than the Cowboys & Aliens spot. After the jump, watch the spots for Super 8, Transformers, Thor, and Captain America.

Super 8

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers ‘Dark of The Moon’ Super Bowl Trailer (720p) from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Thor

Captain America

Let us know what you think about all the commercials in the comments below.

Viral Video Round-Up: Dazed and Confused, Star Wars, Stanley Kubrick, Optimus Prime, and More

Dan Koelsch — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:41:06 +0000

We’ve scoured the darkest realms of the world wide web to find the funniest, coolest, and sometimes even most poignant videos on the Internetz. See all our findings after the break, which include a tribute to fictional bands, as awell as a Black Eyed Peas parody involving a certain transforming big rig.

Mac Lethal, a rapper from Kansas did a two minute rap recap of the classic Dazed and Confused. [via GeekTyrant]

Star Wars mega-fan Jambe Davdar created an impressive fan-made real-time documentary about the first film, titled “Star Wars Begins”. It’s an interesting mash-up of audio commentary that follows the film and behind-the-scenes footage. Below is part one.

Check out this two-part tribute to fictional bands in film history from YouTuber MoPapparani. [via /Film]

This may seem like a simple gang fight at first, but keep watching and you’ll see it take a great nerdy twist. [via Cinematical]

Stanley Kubrick is one of the most legendary directors of all time, and Richard Vezina edited together a tribute video to honor the late Oscar winner. [via /Film]

Finally, we have a music video parody of the “The Time (Dirty Bit)” by the Black Eyed Peas. It stars Optimus Prime of Transformers and was made by The Screen Team Show.

The Buzz: New Spider-Man Cast, Scream 4 Controversy, Final Destination 5′s New Dumb Name, And More!

Dan Koelsch — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:28:27 +0000

The Buzz is a feature in which we round up the biggest and most popular film and television stories of the week. Why go through pages of blogs just to find out what everyone is talking about? We’ve got it all right here. Check out all the stories after the break.

Other Headlines

Judd Apatow Picks Up Pee-Wee Herman Pic for Universal

Updates on What Guillermo del Toro Has in Store Coming Up

Christopher Nolan Gives Small Updates on Batman 3 and Superman

Andy Serkis Goes Simian Again: Cast as Caesar in Planet of the Apes Prequel

Edgar Wright Delivers a Status Update on Marvel’s Ant-Man

That’s it for this week’s The Buzz. There is a lot of film and television news every week, so if you think something was big enough for us to include above, let us know in the comments below.

Transformers 2: Receive a Call from Optimus Prime!

Dan Koelsch — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:29:01 +0000

With the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVD and Blu-Ray being released on October 20th, Paramount is looking for inventive ways to promote the film. The marketing team behind the DVD release have established a new page on the official site titled www.transformersmovie.com/choose, where there are four different activities for you to do, including sending a phone message to a friend from Optimus Prime or Starscream.

The phone option is something we’ve seen before with other movies like Saw. You fill in all the appropiate info and you get a call from one of the Transformers. It’s pretty nifty, unless your name isn’t on their list. Another activity you can do is customize your Facebook profile or website with profile pics, banners, backgrounds, etc. Lots of good stuff for the Transformers fan.

Probably the best thing on this page is the contest where you can win a car from Chevy. The sweepstakes doesn’t start until October 9th, so check back to the site then to get all the details. Lastly, there is a game on the site that allows you to customize your own robot, including the option to put your own head on it! Here is what I did with myself at the helm of an Autobot:

So, check out the site and don’t forget that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is out on DVD and Blu-Ray October 20th.

Viral Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Ian DeVere — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:05:19 +0000

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is our latest film to have its viral end. How did the viral do? Was it interesting? Worth following? Did it give us any insight into characters and background details?

Official websites:

The Real Effing Deal
Run by Leo Spitz (played by Ramon Rodriguez in the movie), ‘TRED’ (as it’s become known as) was launched to follow the events that happened in Mission City at the end of the first film, as well as the other ‘transformer sightings’ that have popped up all around the world (example).

Giant Effing Robots
Run by ‘RoboWarrior’ (aka Agent Simmons, played by Jon Turturro), GER is in direct competition with TRED, often stealing their articles and shooting down their claims.

How do they play into the movie?

When Sam first enters his dorm room in college, he is greeted by Leo, who takes him into his ‘control room’ with his two work partners, who are shown watching a video of the Shanghai destruction seen earlier in the movie, and posting it on their site. Leo tells them to ‘FTJ’, which means ‘fly the jets’, seen in some of his articles on the site. Soon after, they announce that RoboWarrior beat them to it.

Later in the film, when Leo, Sam and Mikaela go to find Agent Simmons, Leo directly confronts him as RoboWarrior, to which Simmons responds with ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Now, it’s been known/assumed since the viral launched that it would never really be a ‘big’ viral campaign. The first movie had but one website to it’s campaign, which was Sector 7′s site. The sequel’s viral is not only effective, it gives background insight into some of the characters (mainly Ramon Rodriguez’s). It is incorporated into the movie so that people who DID follow the campaign will recognize and appreciate the nods, and people who didn’t aren’t missing any necessary background info.

The viral campaign for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen receives a B+ final grade: small, but effective.

ViralCast #11: Transformers 2, District 9, Recent Deaths and More!

Dan Koelsch — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:40:41 +0000

In our latest ViralCast, the staff reviews Transformers 2 (the viral and the movie), and discusses viral news and the recent death of some of our most beloved celebrities.

LISTEN HERE:

Subscribe to ViralCast on