‘Alien: Romulus’ guerilla marketing campaign sees New Yorkers struck down by facehuggers
New Yorkers are used to ignoring most stuff they see on the street, but a new guerilla marketing campaign for Alien: Romulus made even some New Yorkers pause.
Spotted by outlets including Screen Thrill, the campaign features people collapsed on the subway, hanging out of a cab window and even in the middle of Times Square, convulsing with “breathing” replicas of the alien parasites known as facehuggers covering their faces.
Back in April, Romulus director Fede Álvarezshowed off his new “favorite toy,” an extremely creepy facehugger prop that can skitter around the floor via remote control.
The Romulus campaign is similar to another viral effort from 20th Century Studios, when replicas of the ape men from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes patrolled California’s Venice Beach on horseback.
Alien: Romulus hits theaters Aug. 16.
20th Century Studios is a division of ABC News’ parent company, Disney.
Following the first chapter of Kevin Costner‘s Horizon: An American Saga fizzling at the box office in June, its sequel will debut at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
The organizers of the event will in fact screen both the first and second chapters on the final day of the fest, Sept. 7. The 81st annual event kicks off Aug. 28.
The second installmentwas originally envisioned as a four-film Western epic was initially supposed to hit theaters on Aug. 16, but the poor box office reception of the first, which debuted to just $11 million on June 28, caused Warner Bros. Discovery-owned New Line and Costner’s own Territory Pictures to pull the sequel from its release date.
The strategy was coupled with releasing the original film to video on demand and Max to give audiences a chance to see it and build potential interest in the second.
Costner gambled tens of millions of dollars of his own money to get the Horizon franchise started, but despite a high-profile premiere at Cannes in June, the first film earned mixed reviews.
Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone and Costner’s former Yellowstone co-star Danny Huston appear with the director and producer in the Horizon sequel, which has yet to secure a new release date.
Costner commented on the announcement, “My dream was always to show Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two at the Venice Film Festival. The fact that now they have decided to show Chapter One earlier in the day and then the World Premiere of Chapter Two that evening shows not only their belief in how the two films work together but their support of a director’s vision.”
The 76th Emmy Awards took place in Los Angeles Sunday night, with Schitt’s Creek father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy hosting the festivities.
The pair opened the show with jokes about how many movie stars were nominated for roles on streaming services, how they aren’t really hosts but “actors acting like hosts,” and how to pronounce their names, with Eugene noting that if things go badly, his name is pronounced “Martin Short.”
Saying it was a special night for him, Eugene talked about playing dads on TV and in movies, telling his son the “most rewarding dad role ever has been being your dad,” and then after a pause, adding, “…in Schitt’s Creek,” noting it earned him his first acting Emmy.
There were also plenty of jokes about this year’s nominees. One of the biggest laughs came at the expense of The Bear, the most nominated comedy in history. Eugene said that while people would expect them to make a joke about whether The Bear was really a comedy, “In the true spirit of The Bear we will not be making any jokes.”
They ended their monologue with warnings to winners about their speeches being too long, sharing that as a “cruel joke,” both of them, “two Canadians,” were responsible for playing the winners off.
“Canadians don’t like interrupting anybody, it goes against our nature,” Eugene said, with Dan adding, “Confrontation in general is anxiety inducing especially for my 77-year-old father. I don’t want to be an alarmist here but having to cut you off may kill this man.”
The 76th Emmy Awards, which aired Sunday night on ABC, had quite a few memorable moments — but perhaps none as memorable as the acceptance speech centered around a dead dog.
While accepting the Emmy for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series for Last Week Tonight, John Oliver thanked the usual people and then shifted gears, paying tribute to his family’s “fantastic” dog, who’d recently passed away. She was at our wedding and she got us through the pandemic. She was with us for two pregnancies,” he said. At that point, the “playoff” music started, indicating that Oliver should wrap it up, but he wasn’t having it.
“Perfect choice of music,” he noted. He then continued, “I feel like Sarah McLachlan right now. She was an amazing dog.” The music continued, to which Oliver shouted, “F*** you! This isn’t just for her. This is for all the dogs! All dogs, you are all very good girls. You are very good boys. You all deserve a treat. Play me off now!”
Some other memorable moments:
—Murphy Brown star Candice Bergen, a presenter, took a shot at J.D. Vance by recalling that during the show’s heyday, then-Vice President Dan Quayle attacked her character for having a baby and raising it as a single mother. “Oh, how far we’ve come,” she said sarcastically. “Today, a Republican candidate for vice president would never attack a woman for having kids. So as they say, my work here is done.” She then added, “Meow.”
–One of the many TV reunion segments during the evening brought together Ron Howard and Henry Winkler to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Happy Days. Speaking from a replica of the show’s hangout, Arnold’s, Howard complained that they didn’t have any theme music introducing them. After some encouragement, Winkler adopted his “Fonz” persona from the show, went over to the jukebox and wrapped it with his fist, causing the Happy Days theme to start up.
–Will Smith accepted the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for Slow Horses. No, not THAT Will Smith, as the British showrunner acknowledged. Taking the podium, he said, “First of all, relax. Despite my name, I come in peace.”
—The Bear’sLiza Colón-Zayas became the first Latina to win the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and she recognized that moment by saying, “To all the Latinas who are looking at me? Keep believing. And vote. Vote for your rights.”
—John Leguizamo did a lengthy monologue about diversity in Hollywood, noting that he didn’t see a lot of Latinx representation on TV and movies growing up. “Everybody played us but us,” he noted. Then, he praised the diversity of this year’s nominees, saying it made him “almost happy and certainly less angry.”
–Along those same lines, presenter Diego Luna announced the nominees for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series in Spanish, directly addressing the “more than 50 million Spanish speakers in this country.”
— A number of actors from The West Wing, including Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Dulé Hilland Richard Schiff, reunited to present the Emmy for Best Drama Series and joked about modern politics. Schiff noted that today, interesting storylines could be “plucked right off the news — storylines that writers would have deemed a bit far-fetched, if not utterly ridiculous, 25 years ago.”
–Baby Reindeer‘s Richard Gadd had a message for the entertainment industry. At the podium to accept the Emmy for Best Limited or Anthology Series, he said, “If Baby Reindeer has proved anything, it’s that there’s no set formula to this — that you don’t need big stars, proven IP, long-running series, catch-all storytelling to have a hit. The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries, explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”