The promotion machine for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t was going strong leading up to the movie’s premiere in November. Here are what I think were the best marketing efforts of the bunch.
If you’ve been to the theaters recently, you’ve likely noticed the trend of big budget films coming out with elaborate popcorn buckets (if you haven’t, google “Dune popcorn bucket” and be suitably scandalized). The one designed for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, however, is actually good—it’s a clever version of the Gung Ho Box and causes popcorn to disappear and reappear magically. Genii columnist Blake Vogt created the bucket, and there’s also a video of him showing how it works, if you want to see more (or don’t).
Images courtesy of Lionsgate
Genii’s magic editor, Noah Levine, also took part in several Now You See Me promotions. One of them involved working with actor Jesse Eisenberg, who plays one of the magicians in the franchise. The two did a card under watch routine for a crowd on the streets of New York City, where the spectators all walked away with a playing card that also served as a ticket to an early screening of the film. Noah also performed on Take a Look, a North California news show, which had a 30-minute behind-the-scenes special on the film. Both are worth a watch!
My last favorite involves Woody Harrelson on the show Hot Ones, where guests eat progressively hotter wings while trying to answer questions. At the end of Harrelson’s time there (and after he said he was going through hell), the actor musters the strength to perform some magic. He asks the host, Sean Evans, to think of a PIN code (a theme, you will see, of this month’s column), and then from a shuffled deck gets Sean to deal and stop on all four numbers. To cap it all off, his “mentor,” David Blaine, also appears on camera at the end and says he’s gonna freak out if Harrelson predicted the PIN correctly. And when Harrelson predicted correctly, Blaine did, indeed, smile.
Hot Ones photos via First We Feast / Popcorn bucket images courtesy of Lionsgate