As we enter the dog days of the summer movie season, where the only exciting thing we will really be releasing in the next two months is Alien: Romulusthere are not many cool movie premieres.
However, it made me think about some films from the last 25 years that probably should were advertised on color schemes. There aren’t really any criteria for this, just those that are big enough – or have big names, directors or actors behind them – and still didn’t end up on color schemes.
The first are of course two of our latest blockbusters, Deadpool and Wolverine And Twisters. There are precedents for Marvel superhero movies being shown on NASCAR programs, but somehow D&W got a promotion for two Formula 1 cars, and not here in the States.
Twistersmeanwhile, might not have gotten its own promotion — although star Glen Powell did do an intro segment for the Chicago Street Course race a few weeks ago — but it would have been cool to see an accompanying promo segment featuring one of the artists on the soundtrack. Hell, Luke Combs has appeared on Bubba Wallace’s car twice in recent years, and his popular song “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from the film has become a smash hit (and John Hunter Nemechek was featured in the music video).
Looking back further, I simply picked out a few that might have had potential.
First, Barbie And Oppenheimer both were released in theaters last summer, sparking the “Barbenheimer” trend among viewers who watched both films back to back on the same day (which is what I and a few friends did).
Both films ended up being nominated for multiple Oscars, but the hype leading up to their release was so great that it would have been cool to see both in color—especially considering that Universal and Warner Bros. were the distributors. Both have a lot of money to throw at promotions like this (and both have done it before).
Other recent blockbusters also fall into the category of “possible, but not realized.” The Batman, dune (And Dune – Part Two), Top Shooter: Maverick and a number of others would have been nice to see in the color schemes — A Colt for all occasions is another example of this year’s releases.
Speaking of films from 2024: Furious — and its counterpart from 2015 Mad Max: Fury Road – would have been perfect. Both are literally about moving quickly in a seemingly endless chase, albeit with different machines.
I compare these plans to Joey Logano’s GameStop plan for the 2012 video game Max Payne 3.
George Miller’s youngest two Max Films have a similar color palette. For Furiousthis year I’m going with Anya Taylor-Joy on the hood of the car, Chris Hemsworth’s character Dementus on the driver’s side and then Immortan Joe on the passenger side. Would have been the idea of the year.
Here’s another two-movie series that would have been cool: Kill Bill – Volume 1 And Kill Bill – Volume 2.
Quentin Tarantino’s masterful double bill (although we’re all still waiting for an official cut) The whole bloody affair) would have been a perfect double program, to be honest. I could imagine that the Evernham Motorsports cars would make a difference if Vol. 2 came out – both Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield could have advertised the jersey in yellow-black and red-yellow colors respectively at a race in 2004.
Are you worried that R-rated movies will be included in NASCAR programs? Don’t worry, because The Passion of Christ graced Bobby Labonte’s car at Daytona that same season.
Last year, Indiana Jones and the Blade of Destiny would have been a solid promo, especially since its predecessor was filmed (and won) on Kyle Busch’s car at Darlington Raceway 15 years earlier.
This is far-fetched, but the Grindhouse Double feature by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino in 2007 – consisting of Planet terror And Death Proofdivided by five fake trailers (some of which eventually became real movies) – could have been a really fun marketing opportunity. Put some blood-splattered paint jobs on the track, build a car model like Kurt Russell’s stunt car in the last movie, or something like that, and you’ve got a winner in my eyes.
I think the two biggest missed opportunities in the last decade revolved around Marvel and DC. For Marvel, besides the terrible Skittles scheme for Captain America: Civil War at the beginning of this article there was ZERO program funding for Avengers: Infinity War And Avengers: EndgameTrue, neither movie probably needed the extra promotional push, but Thanos on a car with the Avengers would have been pretty cool.
The other is both Reproductions of the Suicide Squad Films from 2016 and 2021. While it’s a pretty terrible movie, the 2016 version had a pretty vibrant color palette in the context of its marketing, and the inclusion of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn probably would have garnered some attention.
Similar vibe in 2021’s (actually competent and good) reboot. The bright colors are here. Get a team of four cars to set up a quadrant of color schemes: red and white for Harley Quinn, multi-colored polka dots for Polka-Dot Man, a red, white, and blue car with a chrome nose for Peacemaker, and a car with all the characters as standard advertising.
Some other fun things I thought of would be the Impossible mission series, with the plans mirroring the crazy stunt Tom Cruise does in the movie; for the fourth movie, design the car like the exterior of Burj Khalifa, with Cruise holding onto the side panel or something. Have fun with that.
I love the paint jobs from the NASCAR movies, man. But there are So many missed opportunities.
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