Director Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 is poised to open in the US this week, but it has already taken in over a $100 million at foreign box offices, opening in advance of the US release to give it more screen time before the World Cup begins. Still, despite its strong international opening and generally positive early reviews, Paramount and Marvel Studios are making one last promotional push for the movie, releasing new stills, launching a viral marketing mystery and adding interactive content to the official Iron Man 2 web-site. Caution: Minor SPOILERS!
The recent set of new stills from the movie center around the Stark Expo, Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) tribute to his father and to World's Fairs of the past, and on Stark's rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). The first still shows Stark at the opening of the movie, when he first arrives at the kick-off of the Stark Expo, before all of his troubles begin. The second still also takes place at the Stark Expo, but later in the movie, when Hammer tries to upstage Stark by unveiling his line of "Mandroids." Hammer created the Mandroids with the assistance of the evil genius Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), and plans to mass produce them for the military. Hammer has specially outfitted four different classes of Mandroids, one for each of the different branches of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. A new still of James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine (Don Cheadle), wearing Stark's Mark II armor has also been released.
Marvel Studios, in partnership with Reese's and MIT students, also launched a viral mystery last week that came to its conclusion yesterday. A locked Stark Industries safe was sent to ComicBookMovie with this message:
I'm in and up for the challenge. I have my eye on Tony Stark and I'm watching his every move. Now, I need your help. I found this box in the storage facilities at Stark Expo. It's locked and I don't know what's inside. But, I have an insider who's told me he's figured out the code. It's too hot right now to reveal in the open so he said he's going to reveal it on Twitter, of all places, since people post random stuff on there all of the time. Pay attention to MITIronMan over the next few days and you'll find what you're looking for. That's M-I-T-I-R-O-N-M-A-N. Thanks for your help. It was nice doing business with you.
Clues were released over the next several days that challenged followers to use their knowledge of the original Iron Man and the new movie to figure out the combination of the safe. When the safe code was cracked yesterday, it contained several promotional items, including Stark Expo VIP passes and three exclusive final concept design images of the latest Iron Man armor.
Finally, the official Iron Man 2 web-site was recently updated with new downloadable interactive content. The first download is an "Augmented Reality" program that installs a cool Iron Man HUD (head-up display) on your desktop, turning your computer monitor into a version of the HUD that Stark and Rhodey see while operating the Iron Man and War Machine suits of armor. The program can also put an Iron Man helmet on anyone using a web-cam to chat, which is kind of goofy, but fun. The second download is a free game based on the Monaco race track scene in Iron Man 2. Called "Slash and Burn," the game is a pretty simple first-person shooter (whipper?) where you get to wield Whiplash's laser whips against the race cars speeding towards you.
