Geek Trailer Stampede Threatens World's Interest in Seeing 'The Dark Knight'

The latest oppressive trends in viral marketing received a skeptical close-up this week in The Hollywood Reporter, but for sheer word-of-mouth fanboy horror, look no further than Tuesday's video chronicle of the Dark Knight "scavenger hunt"/wild geek goose chase through Hollywood. MTV sent an intern to do its dirty work, which included — we shit you not — "a FedEx from the Joker himself," counting the number of fountains in the courtyard at the Hollywood & Highland Mall, and a half-dozen more eggheaded stunts that dead ended with Warner Bros. giving the hundreds of spectators three minutes to stampede to the multiplex — just to get a three-day jump on watching a trailer. More »

Innocent Trees Are the Latest Victims in Insidious Anti-'Sarah Marshall' Campaign

While we appreciate the earnest viral efforts of studio marketers on behalf of Cloverfield, The Dark Knight and even half-assed fare like Quarantine, there's a strangely revolting quality to the derisive, almost misogynist analog throwback accompanying the new Apatow Assembly Line comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall. So much so that a mad bomber is fighting off those Universal billboards and bus placards with a guerilla campaign that we can't determine is the real deal or just some second wave of the studio's low-concept offensive. Help us decide after the jump. More »

Batman Nemesis Doubles Average Fanboy Correspondence

In a savvy bit of viral marketing set to reclaim Warner Bros.' Dark Knight campaign from the near-disaster of votive-and-flower-ready Why So Serious? multiplex displays, Batman fans are encouraged to stopwhatthey'redoingRIGHTNOW and allay their post-Ledger apprehensions at IBelieveinHarveyDent.com. There, Gotham City district attorney Harvey Dent — a/k/a eventual Caped Crusader nemesis Two Face — exhorts visitors to join his campaign to "join the fight for Gotham." More »

We realize this is just a crass attempt at getting some viral marketing going for Delirious by having its star Gina Gershon show up for an interview that turns out to be a porn set, but we felt her impressive commitment to flipping the bird deserves some special recognition. [YouTube]