As we reported earlier, the Prom Night remake took the top spot at the weekend box-office, taking in a cool $22 million.
But how did this film that was universally panned by critics and doesn’t have an A-list box-office draw rocket to the top of the charts? According to a report in USA Today, a viral marketing campaign helped the cause of getting teenagers into the seats for the movie.
Sony Pictures and Screen Gems created a viral marketing campaign for the film, setting up cardboard ads known as standees at 120 theaters across the nation. The standees, designed as small mansions, invited moviegoers to step inside “for a night to die for.” They were greeted by a screaming, flailing usher when patrons opened the doors.
Teens took videos of the experience and have been posting footage on YouTube, which may only help enhance the buzz among the teenage set.
“The stars aligned on this one,” says Sony’s distribution chief Rory Bruer. “Frankly, given how horror movies have done lately, we would have been thrilled with a number in the high teens. You have to give credit to Screen Gems for coming up with a campaign that thought out of the box, no pun intended.”
Prom Night‘s $22 million haul was well above what experts predicted for the opening weekend of the film. And while Prom Night‘s better-than-expected opening is good news for Sony and Screen Gems, overall box-office receipts are down for the year as Hollywood heads into its crucial summer movie season.