AR in Movie Promotion: Augmented Reality’s Impact on the Film Industry

Most people at least once dreamt about entering a fictional world and living the exciting adventures of the main characters. Luckily, with Augmented Reality, those wishes are not so far from coming true.

In just a few clicks, we can dive into the most extraordinary worlds of movies and TV shows, feeling like those stories are happening right next to us.

Who would resist the fun, right?

Marketers from cinematic brands have already realized the potential of AR technology in the film industry, creating immersive experiences for users all over the world. The ability to interact with the story in real time has always been the strong side of technologies like AR or VR, so it’s no wonder that we see it as a part of marketing in the entertainment industry.

Advantages of AR in movie marketing

Allowing fans to transform into their favorite characters, step into magical worlds, or replace actors on movie posters are just some of the advantages of integrating AR technology into the campaign.

As always, let’s examine this issue from both sides, considering both the brand and the customer.

Viewer’s benefits

By using Augmented Reality technology in movie promotion, fans gain access to additional entertainment. It’s no longer just film trailers and posters; there’s a specific focus on fun and interaction. Social media users are becoming the living part of the campaign: the tailored AR filters allow them to vote on the best characters, take personality quizzes, choose their movie soulmate and more.

While relatable content can provide the biggest engagement, it doesn’t mean we should overlook more immersive technology and solutions. Allowing users to explore virtual worlds based on their favorite movies with the simple use of their phones can become an exciting way to increase cinematic storytelling outside the cinema.

Business benefits

User entertainment directly translates into brand profit. Augmented Reality in movie marketing encourages users to interact with the campaign, significantly increasing engagement levels. Audiences from all over the world can take part in the activation, raising the brand—or, in this case, the movie — global awareness.

An audience that gets personally involved in the story through Augmented Reality later associates the movie with entertainment and familiarity, making them more eager to buy tickets and essentially leading to box office success.

Success Stories

Whether it’s a brand-new movie premiere or something that keeps bringing up nostalgia, Augmented Reality is the right tool to spark viewers’ interest. Offering lots of possibilities, from face transformations to total immersion into the digital world, each feature can bring movie magic alive right in front of the user.

Dune: Part II

As the most anticipated premiere of 2024, Dune Part II made its debut in February and achieved almost immediate success, earning over $700 million worldwide. While the film itself was already highly awaited by the universe’s fans, Augmented Reality was a huge factor in prolonging its success. AR Lenses, developed for the movie promotion, used the key points of the story and allowed users to immerse themselves into the world of Dune through visual effects.

Users were able to ride a Sandworm, just like the main character in the movie, see themselves on the movie poster, or even see a realistic transformation in one of the Fremen.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

For years, the Ghostbusters have been an iconic part of pop culture. Since the original film premiered in 1984, the series has evolved, taking advantage of new technological developments with each new production and adding realistic-looking images to captivate fans all over the world. Now, the Ghostbusters universe has stepped into the future, using Augmented Reality in the marketing for the Frozen Empire.

The exciting AR Experiences focus on immersing the user in the movie world, allowing them to engage with the characters in real-time through their phone’s camera. In the form of mini-games, fans can become ghost hunters themselves, playing with digital images of ghosts known from the movie.

House of the Dragon

After Game of Thrones‘ huge success, it was only a matter of time before we returned to the world of battles, political intrigues, and dragons. Promoting the premiere of the series prequel, House of the Dragon, HBO created a series of geo-location AR Lenses available for users all over the world.

To activate the experiences, Snapchatters had to simply point their camera at one of the world’s most famous landmarks. Giant 3D dragons appeared on the screen, flying around the real-life landscape.

Organic UGC

For some movies and TV shows, especially long-awaited ones, the AR promotion comes naturally. AR Creators are using pop culture as the reference for their projects, coming up with their own unique ways to immerse social media users into the worlds known from the big screen.

They often go viral, reaching thousands or millions of people and inspiring even more to jump on a trend.

Digital Barbieland

Back in the summer of 2023, we saw hundreds of Barbie-themed AR experiences based on iconic lines from the movie, characters, or even the idea of the doll itself. Whether it’s an AI transformation, finding out which Barbie you are through AR randomizers, or driving around in a pink, fabulous Barbie car, AR technology kept the conversation about Barbie going even months after the premiere.

This type of marketing still continues, with new movies and TV shows premiering and captivating social media users eager to share the enthusiasm with their own followers. The organic UGC (user-generated content) spikes up, making it easier to reach new crowds with little to no effort from the brand.