When the primary trailer for Weapons was launched on the finish of April, it stoked hypothesis on-line concerning the film’s subject material. All through its marketing campaign, that hypothesis turned out to be Warner Bros. Discovery’s best weapon of all.
Weapons, the second characteristic movie from Zach Cregger (Barbarian), premiered on Aug. 8, showcasing a narrative the place 17 youngsters mysteriously go lacking from their properties one evening at 2:17 a.m., working from their homes in an airplane type.
After an enormous opening weekend of $42 million on the U.S. field workplace, the film has since gone on to gross greater than $250 million worldwide. And a part of that success goes again to its advertising and marketing marketing campaign, which Christian Davin, evp, worldwide advertising and marketing technique, Warner Bros. Leisure, mentioned got here from a movie loaded with content material to drag from—and even included a scene impressed by a preferred sketch from Cregger’s time with the comedy troupe The Whitest Children U’ Know, which he co-founded within the late ’90s.
“Zach gave us an unimaginable worldbuilding movie, but in addition had a ton of Easter eggs sprinkled all through that had each real-world and meta-world references,” Davin advised ADWEEK. “We needed to faucet into a few of these Easter eggs and provides individuals the expertise of the film with out really having to see the film, as we constructed into that important section of phrase of mouth.”
Showcasing Easter eggs and preserving secret twists is strolling a superb line, in accordance with Dana Nussbaum, co-head, international movement image advertising and marketing, Warner Bros. Leisure. So one of many strengths of the marketing campaign was restraint.
“It was one thing that we always needed to be conscious of,” Nussbaum mentioned. “The restraint got here from the aim of eager to protect that have for audiences. We needed to be very protecting of that every step of the way in which, in order that was one thing by means of every key beat that we needed to hold prime of thoughts.”
Tribute to the Blair Witch-isms of the ’90s
The marketing campaign leaned into its cryptic facet: A Maybrook Information website was a hub for fictional in-world stories of the lacking youngsters, Ring digital camera footage confirmed youngsters working from their homes, and there have been livestreams and stunts tied to the marketing campaign.
Davin famous that in 2025, there’s no likelihood {that a} discovered footage stunt, a la The Blair Witch Challenge, might ever idiot audiences prefer it did in 1999, however he mentioned a giant a part of the marketing campaign was paying homage to these ’90s advertising and marketing hijinks.
“We needed to have individuals hold coming again to that web site,” Davin mentioned. “We needed to generate consumer engagement partly as a result of we didn’t simply wish to construct an internet site for a one-time view, but in addition as a result of we discover that when audiences take possession over our films, they assist market our films with us.”
Davin mentioned that the web site—which even went as deep as having a metadata picture of the youngsters working away in its code—drew multiple million views. And the marketing campaign’s mixed efforts with livestreams, creator content material, and different stunts led to 125 million views total.
The crew labored with creators like Dude with a Signal, Workforce Summertime, Atomic Twins, Cinna, Joe Mele, Emmanuel Duverneau, Monse, and Liz Cooper on a collection of on-line vanishing stunts that delivered a mixed 70 million impressions, in accordance with WBD. Creators additionally obtained mailers with props resembling alarm clocks set to 2:17 a.m., soup cans, and locks of hair.
The youngsters’ working type, with their arms outstretched like airplane wings, has additionally turn into a staple of the marketing campaign.
For one of many viral advertising and marketing stunts, WBD deployed youngsters throughout varied cities resembling Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York Metropolis, in addition to cities in international locations resembling France, Germany, Spain, and Brazil, the place youngsters did the signature run by means of public areas earlier than vanishing into crowds.
“We tapped into quite a lot of key markets and we had them occurring in real-world and extremely trafficked locations,” Nussbaum mentioned. “However we additionally had them occurring digitally on Twitch or TikTok, the place the creators can be doing one thing and would vanish.”
Total, Davin and Nussbaum mentioned they only needed to have enjoyable with the marketing campaign, particularly when it got here to mixing the digital and real-world components.
To this point, the 2 have been pleased with the response the movie has obtained from critics and followers alike, particularly seeing moviegoers working out of the theater opening weekend with their arms outstretched and sharing these movies throughout social media. Some manufacturers have responded, sharing their very own memes and content material tied to the movie.
“That’s when you understand that one thing has actually struck a chord with tradition,” Nussbaum mentioned.
