Back in December we ran an article covering some of The Dark Knight's promotional activities, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but I posted what I thought was an extremely witty and observant comment: "I'm just glad they're doing something to raise awareness of this small film that might have otherwise slipped through the cracks."

Admit it, that's probably the funniest joke you've ever read. Because The Dark Knight isn't a small film at all, you see! It's a huge film that already has a great deal of public awareness! See how that's super funny?

Anyway, though we all had a good laugh at how funny I am, I also brought up a puzzling aspect of the Hollywood machinery. Warner Bros. is spending untold millions to promote The Dark Knight, and expending a lot of creative effort, too, with viral sites and games and events and so forth -- and for what? To promote a film that everyone was already going to see anyway. It's a highly anticipated sequel to a hugely popular film, it's gotten terrific buzz from those who have seen it, and it has the unfortunate-but-attention-getting Heath Ledger connection. You'd think the WB promotional team could relax a bit and let the film sell itself -- or, better yet, use that money to promote some lower-profile films that do need the help. So why didn't they?

Bearing in mind that attempts to grasp the logic of a Hollywood studio usually end in frustration, we can generally trace the thought process back to one thing: money.

I know that studio attempts at "viral" internet marketing are a dime a dozen these days, but you should watch this. It's funny.

Swing Vote, due August 1st, presents the wildly improbable scenario that a United States presidential election comes down to one politically apathetic New Mexican's choice, leading the candidates -- an incumbent Republican played by Kelsey Grammer and a Democratic challenger played by Dennis Hopper -- to converge on his tiny hometown and court like they've never courted before. The obvious marketing hook: a campaign ad! Actually four of them, two by each candidate, all targeting Kevin Costner's Bud Johnson. My favorite one is above; the rest are here and here.

I like these because they're done with some nuance; I particularly enjoyed the parodies of real-life candidates' disingenuous tendency to "swing to the middle," decimating whatever convictions they previously claimed to hold to pander to "moderate" swing voters. The folks behind these videos take that to its absurd conclusion, of course, with the Republican uncomfortably embracing gay marriage and the Democrat haranguing his opponent about not being pro-life enough. The latter's the video I've embedded at the top of the post -- it cracked me up.

[hat tip: Cinema Blend]

Dang it! You sit online all week digging up stories for your Cinematical readers and the Sunday you duck offline to take your pug to the dog park, Harvey Dent holds a press conference.

It seems Gotham's D.A. hopeful was supposed to hold a press conference on Sunday at 3pm. Those who were able to get on Dent's website discovered that the press conference had been pre-empted by a hostage crisis. Lawyer Joseph Candoloro Frank Nataro (who was apparently sending e-mails and voice mails giving hints as to what he was up to) took a girl hostage at a coffee shop. Dent ended up breaking into the coffee shop, negotiating with Nataro, and rescuing the girl. What a guy.

Edward sent us a run down of the whole thing that was posted on EyeCraveDVD's forums. Thanks, Edward! And if you'd like to hear the audio of the entire event, it's up via Dent's official site.

Harvey Dent's viral campaign has ended with a rather disappointing announcement that Dent is running for D.A. But, no doubt, this political campaign has been leading up to something more.

I was one of the thousands who received a voice mail from Dent Sunday afternoon urging me to help him fight the Citizens for a Concerned Gotham, the latest viral site to be launched. They've been very busy slandering poor Dent in the press as a corrupt and media crazed inquisitor. (I have to say, when my cellphone announced it had a voice mail, I was super excited. And then let down when it turned out to be Aaron Eckhart and not someone I actually knew.)

He's holding a meeting on April 1st, 3pm -- presumably Eastern time -- to answer all the questions of concerned citizens. The problem is, the Joker has also launched a new site, Clown Travel Agency. A departure is announced for April 1st, 3pm. He's also told followers that they'll hear from him again on April Fool's Day.

More: Update on Dark Knight Viral Sites

More: The Joker's Gag is Complete -- April Fooled

If you've ever visited the website for an upcoming film and took a survey or played an interactive game, added a particular film to your list of friends on Myspace or otherwise got information about an upcoming release from a source other than "traditional" methods such as TV spots or billboards, you've been exposed to a technique known as "viral marketing." This technique has evolved and become very sophisticated over the years since its first big success with a little film called The Blair Witch Project -- which basically wrote the book on how to use the Internet as a marketing tool.

Now, with the Internet and other non-traditional outlets so much in the daily lives of potential movie-goers, viral marketing is being used more than ever. Over at Variety, Anne Thompson discusses the current state of viral marketing as practiced by the major studios; how they've used various techniques, puzzles and other gimmicks to entice younger, tech-savvy potential audience members and build awareness for their upcoming films. For example, as Thompson points out in the article, Warner Bros. recently used this kind of marketing at Comic-Con in San Diego to promote their upcoming film The Dark Knight.

Instead of bringing the film's stars and director to the Con, which is what studios normally do, Warners instead staged several events including sky writing above the Con which directed fans to a special phone number where they got further instructions. After that, they were directed to a place where they could get their faces painted like the Joker. The whole point of this marketing, according to the article, was to "unlock an exclusive photo of Heath Ledger as the Joker and a new Dark Knight teaser trailer.

I won't dispute the power of the Internet to influence people and popular culture. However, I personally don't have as much free time as I used to and don't spend a lot of it online solving puzzles, taking quizzes or unlocking exclusive content -- especially for films I'm already planning to see. Sure, it might help engage some fans and give them a way to feel more a part of the action or pass the time until the film comes out. I just don't really need that kind of thing to get me interested in most movies. But I guess that doesn't really matter because this kind of thing is definitely here to stay. What do you guys think? Does this kind of marketing hold any interest or have any influence on you?

Okay, now things are beginning to get a tad creepy. It seems the viral marketing has begun for this mysterious J.J. Abrams-produced "Cloverfield" flick. We already brought you the teaser website earlier today, and now two new sites have popped up. (Note: Did you notice the creature in between the two girls in that website photo? What the hell is that thing?) First, there's a blog that exists solely to point out how some dude named Ethan Haas was wrong. I'm not sure what it is he's wrong about, but the author seems obsessed with debunking anything Haas has to say. Now, once you're on that site, there's a link for another one -- EthanHaasWasRight.com. That site opens up to a graphic of a partially concealed ball (is that the so-called monster inside?), which features a number of odd symbols on its outer shell. There's also a city skyline in the background. Wait, there's more!

This isn't just a ball, it's a game. If you click on the ball, six symbols will pop up. Memorize the order in which the symbols pop up, then go back and click on those same six symbols. If you screw up, it will just repeat the pattern for you. Once you get that right, a grainy video featuring some guy (named Dan?) in a baseball hat appears. In it, he talks about how Ethan Haas predicted all this was going to happen, and that since we found the video, we're obviously in on the whole thing too. There's something about August 1st being an important day (missed that part), and then the video ends. Afterward, another game pops up; one that's a lot more intricate. There's three stars in the sky and some sort of oval-shaped puzzle (filled with symbols) in the center of the screen. If you wave your cursor over the star located on the far right, you'll see a sequence of symbols pop up on screen. That's as far as I got, as I'm not sure how to fit those symbols into the oval-shaped thingy.

I have no idea how this all fits into the film (I assume Ethan Haas will be a major character), but I do know that I'm having a ball with the little pieces they're unveiling each day. Most of the time the marketing turns out to be better than the actual film, but I'm hoping that's not the case this time. Head on over to these sites and definitely let us know what you think. Oh, and if you make it further than me, do share tips with fellow readers in the comments section below.

[via filmick]

If you're one of the teeming masses eagerly awaiting the moment when you get to see Will Ferrell and John Heder on ice in the upcoming comedy Blades of Glory, your patience will be rewarded sooner than expected. No, you won't get the full movie experience until the film's actual release date. But you will, according to The Hollywood Reporter, get to view exclusive video clips and pics from the film on your mobile phone and PC right now.

According to the article, Dreamworks and Paramount have teemed up with Tiny Pictures and their Radar video and picture sharing service to offer fans exclusive real-time content from the film such as outtakes, clips, in-character interviews, production stills and more. Viewers of the content will also be able to comment on it and then share the pics and videos with their network of friends. New content will be released daily until the film opens.

"The reason we're excited to do this promotion for Blades of Glory is that we have so much great viral video for this film," said Amy Powell, senior VP at Paramount. "For us, the ability to extend our viral videos beyond just the Internet to cell phones and other downloadable devices is really important." Yeah, maybe. But do you really want to take the time to watch content from a film like Blades of Glory, comment on it and then share it with your friends? To me, the film isn't "event" enough to need that kind of "viral" marketing push. Maybe if they had some cool Spider-Man or Iron Man clips I could get excited about the idea. Until then, thanks but no thanks.