Share a Seat with Wall-E and Eve

Posted by Josh Radde (josh@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 1, 2008

Theater lobby displays are certainly nothing new. I remember way back in the day a number of Looney Tunes displays graced the floors of my local cineplex when Space Jam came out. According to /Film, Pixar’s Wall-E is the newest to add something to lobby charm. Theaters across the country will be housing the Wall-E bench, a white bench with main characters Wall-E and Eve sitting on either end.

What’s cool about this style of marketing is that in addition to it being useful, it’s also something the theaters or Disney/Pixar could give away as a prize once promotion of the movie is done. As much as we love the Dark Knight’s viral marketing (which is actually giving a TON of stuff away for free, such as Harvey Dent t-shirts) and the fun billboards on top of cab’s and at city bus stops for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you can’t really take it with you. This, perhaps just like the promotional Indiana Jones crate, could be given away to some lucky people.

I remember when Blockbuster was giving away Spider-Man really elaborate outfits for the DVD release of the first film. I went to the gym everyday, confident that when I eventually won the costume I’d actually be svelte enough to wear it.

That day has still never come.

Side-note: Has anyone commented about the usage of the letter E in this film yet? I know that they probably mean Wall-E in the same sense as you would use it for e-mail, or when you read your daily e-zine. The letter inherently seems to indicate some sort of detachment from human interaction. I know I may be beating a dead horse for point this out, but Pixar, I believe, has to be doing this on purpose.

Look at Wall-E’s love interest, Eve. In addition to looking like an egg and what feminine qualities that entails, that letter pops up again. There’s also the argument, as brought up by FSR staffer Cole Abaius, this film could be environmental propaganda. I dunno, if this was an ill-advised tangent, I apologize.

Wall-E hits theaters June 27th.

Read more articles by Josh Radde