Fox Takes to the Skies to Advertise 'X-Men: First Class' (See Video Here!)
by Scott Nye
Hollywood has long been the home of film production for a number of reasons, not the least of which is its predictably beautiful weather - clear skies are the expectation here. And while that has been a boon to filmmakers looking for continuity and comfort for decades, Fox has found another use for it - the perfect billboard.
On Sunday, Bleeding Cool aggregated several photos and even one video of jets drawing the now-famous retro X-Men logo in the skies of Los Angeles. At least eight were sighted, and The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog reported that this was going on all weekend long. What better way to catch the eyes of Memorial Day travelers?
Los Angeles has long been the home of location-centric advertising. In 2007, Dreamworks used an entire building that was in the middle of construction to promote "Transformers." All the way back in 2003, Fox lit a billboard on fire on Sunset and Laurel to promote "Daredevil." While it might not make a ton of sense to throw so much revenue into one ad, think of the free publicity that comes along with consumers seeing and sharing these things. Especially when you're writing in the sky, that opens up tons of free adspace on Twitter and Facebook (check out a massive gallery of the photos here).
With the release "X-Men: First Class" only a few days away, Fox is really kicking their already-aggressive marketing plan into high gear. With 28 reviews already in, the film is counting a 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it looks more and more like Fox is in for a massive hit. The film hits theaters nationwide on June 3rd.