The PR machine for »Inception« is well and truly in motion. Within the past couple of days Warner Bros. has released a new behind the scenes featurette, four banner posters, three TV spots, launched a viral website via TV commercial, started a marketing campaign in the streets, opened the third stage in the Mind Crime online game and updated the official US website.
Just yesterday, Virgin Media unveiled 4 new exclusive, mind blowing banner posters that feature the most recent tagline »The Dream is Real« instead of the previous tagline, »Your Mind Is the Scene of the Crime.«
 
 
At the same time, three new TV spots with new footage, music and taglines are now online courtesy of the Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube channel. The first two aired during the NBA Finals game on Sunday and the third later that night on Comedy Central. In addition, the download section has been launched on the official movie website (www.inceptionmovie.com) where the public can download nine different wallpapers available in two screen resolutions, eight buddy icons and an awesome screensaver showing the well-known spinning top.
» Inception - TV Spot #6 - Collapsing «
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» Inception - TV Spot #7 - Control «
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» Inception - TV Spot #8 - Last Job «
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The day before, Warner Bros. moved on to the third stage in the Mind Crime game (www.mind-crime.com/stage3). The game play is relatively similar to Stage 2, but comes with a few nice additions including »subconscious security« characters with guns that shoot at you when detected and the ability to punch NPCs in order to stun them. Also new are two items; a stopwatch which slows down time and sunglasses which provide immunity to detection. Besides this, map creation has undergone the most improvement, with tools for streets, parks and various structures. The structures range from warehouses and theatres to gas stations and skycrapers which can be unlocked by playing the game, scoring points and increasing your player level. In addition, there is a new mod area where you can customize the difficulty of being an extractor or set the security for when others attempt to extract your assets. On a side note, the combination to the lock is 07-16-10, or the date that the movie comes out.
Although no new promotional materials seem to be currently available in the online game, Mind Crime is increasingly being used as a platform to release new exiting stuff over time rather than providing immediate rewards. It only took a few days for Stage 2 to reveal a poster with a mysterious note that lead to a viral video, so keep your eyes open and watch for anything new. With »Inception« releasing in less than five weeks, the current stage will surely bring some exciting content in the near future.
 
Approximately one week ago, a “Behind the Scenes” look at the filming of the movie was playing in selected U.S. theatres during the pre-trailer previews, in which Leonardo DiCaprio and Christopher Nolan discussed the film’s locations as well as the cast. Unsurprisingly, the footage leaked on the net only a few days later but was taken down on request of Warner Bros. shortly after it was posted. That featurette has now been given to Yahoo!Movies and is once again available for your viewing pleasure.
» Inception - Behind the Scenes featurette «
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Last weekend, a strange commercial aired during »The 40-Year-Old Virgin« on USA network. It showed a simple scene of a wall in some city, with city noises playing in the background and the text messages »Did you know the government can access your mind?«, »Keep your eyes open and your mind closed« and »Text MINDCRIME to 5500 for more information«. Concurrently, a similar commercial aired during »Juno« (is this a coincident?) and instructed the viewer to »Text WAKEUP to 5500 for more information.« A forum member over at NolanFans was able to send a text message in time (apparently there was a time limit for this) and received the following reply: »What is Dream Share? Go to http://www.whatisdreamshare.com to learn the truth about mind crime.« Afterwards it turned out, Warner Bros. registered this domain to launch a new viral website, on which you can find dream-related blog entries.
A guy from Toronto, known as Mr. Will-W, attended a marketing round table for »Inception« over a week ago where they expressed a loss at how to creatively market the film. On his blog he referred to a public transit marketing strategy discussion which took place, and it seems that has manifested itself into what appeared in Chicago a few days ago. The good folks over at Screen Rant recently noticed some strange posters with the phrases »Thought theft is real« and »Protect your thoughts« in the streets there (see photo below). Each one ends with the phrase »Learn the truth about mind crime« and a QR code, which, in turn, leads to the above mentioned viral site.
The whole campaign is reminiscent of District 9’s public transit marketing that went on last summer and gathered a lot of hype weeks before the movie's release, although Inception’s may be a bit more ambiguous. While Neill Blomkamp, Peter Robert Gerber and Simon Hansen have left people with a single website, the »Inception« posters just have a QR code leading to site that doesn't seem tied to a specific film at all. However, it remains to be seen how widespread this will go, if it will be a focus point for the film's marketing or just something for the real fans to enjoy.
With its international locales, visual richness, brilliant cast, sci-fi flourishes and mind-being plot, »Inception« could be the brainiest, coolest and most visionary work of the entire year, or at least THE movie event of the summer. Christopher Nolan and his people are doing some great things to keep us excited and I can’t wait to see this!
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