Many
have tried to emulate the unorthodox marketing campaign that made "The Blair
Witch Project" such a success, without ever matching it. Until Dark Horse
went even further…
The
publishing house staged a press conference at the recent WonderCon event, where
they had "film historian" Travis Liberty present a unique find: "Monarch
Of the Moon", a 1942 serial of six short films, found from the ashes of a
long gone production house, and restored for screening on the convention circuit.
The film is said to have been commissioned during WW2 by the US government in
an effort to elevate pro-American sentiment.
The
catch? Production house American Liberty Pictures never even existed, and "Travis
Liberty" is actually the film's co-screenwriter and producer Chris Patton.
The folks at Sci-Fi Wired obtained confirmation from a source at Dark Horse that
the marketing campaign was a ploy, like many distributors and producers currently
use, to generate a buzz and have their product stick out of the crowd.
"We
haven't had anyone get really angry," the source said, "because
I think it's obvious that this is being done in the spirit of fun. We don't try
to cover it up too much."
Although
some websites wrote up the story as rock-hard fact, many are said to have simply
played along with it, to be part of something special. The film, shot in '05,
is set for release most probably direct to DVD later this year.
