Do you remember the 1990 Ahnald film Total Recall? Back in the day, it was pretty heady stuff. Today, not so much.
Because Hollywood is unable to come up with a single original thought, most of all Columbia, I mean Sony Pictures, it makes sense (unfortunately) that they’d get excited about making the same film over again. “Only this time, it will be really cool!” I need to lighten up a bit, because the original story, “We can remember it for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick was terrific.
Who knows? The film isn’t out yet. But I’m going to see it. Why? Cuz the marketing for it is trick. For those of you too young or too smart to have been involved in the original Recall theatrical release, a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (now played by Colin Farrell) is frustrated with his life, so he decides to visit Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into reality. It doesn’t take much (any?) imagination to determine that things will quickly go sideways for Dougie.
The film might be crak, oh, crap, but the marketing is really fun. First off, check out the trailer. It’s terrific – great use of sound, imagery, and enticing storytelling.
So, here’s one example of coolness: in the trailer, at the end, the web URL flickers between…
and
Makes you want to visit both, right? Very cool. What’s up with the Rekall option? It’s more sinister than Facebook, and that makes it even cooler. You’ll visit the site. You will.
One gripe: They still haven’t figured out how to make a website at Sony without using Flash.
What’s the take away? Well, for me, the ability to get people to jump into a web experience before the film opens creates a “demand” and “success story” regardless of the kqualityl, um quality of the film. The tweets are interesting. And, the flickering web domains? Bitchin.