Last Friday the sequel to "Fantastic Four" opened up nationwide and did pretty well in the theaters, raking in about $58 million at the box office. It featured the four superheroes taking on an intergalactic enemy called “Silver Surfer” who is sent to scope out Earth as a potential meal for an even bigger bad-guy who eats entire planets to stay alive. Sounds decent, right? Well, once the Surfer is finished battling the comic book heroes, it looks like he’ll be taking on the US Government.
Fox Studios and The Franklin Mint had partnered before the movie’s premier to alter 40,000 quarters (to be distributed amongst every state in regular circulation) to promote the movie. Now, most movie promo items are pretty clever and inventive. This one seemed a little less exciting, yet collectible for fans. The entire setup for this promo was that a person would find one of these coins, enter the code on the back at the movie's website and *possibly* win a chance to see an early screening of the movie. But, what really propelled this promo item to the top of the want list was that it immediately became illegal. Which, in essence, made an already collectible item even more sought after. Don’t believe me? Just check out eBay and see for yourself.
It seems that the folks at Fox and Franklin never got the OK from the US Mint, and those guys their money very seriously. The Mint made it clear that they, in no way, endorsed this promo or gave any ok to do it. And, furthermore, defacing money is actually punishable by a fine. No word has been announced whether that penalty will be enforced to the studios yet or not. But, no matter what happens, it seems that the promo had its intended goal: drumming up interest in the movie beyond the normal advertising.
Fox Studios and The Franklin Mint had partnered before the movie’s premier to alter 40,000 quarters (to be distributed amongst every state in regular circulation) to promote the movie. Now, most movie promo items are pretty clever and inventive. This one seemed a little less exciting, yet collectible for fans. The entire setup for this promo was that a person would find one of these coins, enter the code on the back at the movie's website and *possibly* win a chance to see an early screening of the movie. But, what really propelled this promo item to the top of the want list was that it immediately became illegal. Which, in essence, made an already collectible item even more sought after. Don’t believe me? Just check out eBay and see for yourself.
It seems that the folks at Fox and Franklin never got the OK from the US Mint, and those guys their money very seriously. The Mint made it clear that they, in no way, endorsed this promo or gave any ok to do it. And, furthermore, defacing money is actually punishable by a fine. No word has been announced whether that penalty will be enforced to the studios yet or not. But, no matter what happens, it seems that the promo had its intended goal: drumming up interest in the movie beyond the normal advertising.
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1 comment:
Wow, I work for a bank and will be looking for these coins. To add on to your article, if the government want to press the issue, the movie coming out could be fined for violation of codes/laws.
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