Building Better Worlds

Him again...

I don't go in for "viral advertising," especially in the context of films. While I understand and respect myth and world building, a film should be able to stand on it's own and not have to rely on a myriad of background provided by a website. In at least one instance (Prometheus), the "viral" material was more interesting than the film it was meant to be promoting. But for the most part, these attempts to attract the digital audience are either empty-hearted or inconsequential. I've yet to find one that was actively detrimental, but I'm sure it has happened.

Universal has launched their attempt at viral marketing for Jurassic World, which is a little more than six months away. The site is in the guise of the Masrani corporate site. Masrani will be the successor to InGen in the new film, operating the fully functional dinosaur park. the site does give a lot of cool information about the history of the company, filling in some of the gaps between the original films and the new one. But again, if any of this is relevant, it'll be covered in the film and likely in a more engaging fashion.

As a fan of film, it did interest me to learn that, in universe, John Hammond died in 1997, shortly after the events of The Lost World. This makes a certain sense, considering that he was sickly in that film and the InGen's CEO had recently been eaten by a T-rex. Having one of your products unleash mass horror on San Diego probably helped to bring that stock price down. The fully realized Jurassic World opened in 2005, meaning the film will take place during their tenth successful year in operation.

But again, all of that should, or will likely, be part of the film.

Via Collider.