These are my thoughts after attending one of the many time slots they had available:
I sure hope the film does the original Manga and animated shorts more justice than this silly Passport to Iron City activation.
First off, entry is ticketed. Yet this felt more like a free-to-enter SDCC attraction, and not something worthy of time and money.
Second, my admission dropped me into an Iron City bar, where I had to pay for drinks. After paying to get in. That was the first pang of this-might-not-be-worth-the-hype-or-the-money feeling of the evening.
Once inside past the bar we came to a room that looked like a cross between Sesame Street and Dave & Dusters….not, as they had promised, the bustling streets of Iron City. And when our greeter spoke of “Zalem above our heads”, we looked up to see the empty ceiling of the office building. So anti-climactic.
Then we were ushered into the gaming area where there was an attempt to create immersive theater, but it felt like the “actors” might have been local ad agency gofurs looking for some seasonal money and not actors trained in the art of immersive theater. Egads.
When the ridiculously hard game was at an end the one winning team received a commemorative coin. And then we were lead to a gift shop with super expensive merch, kinda lame t-shirts and a chance to head back to the bar to spend more money on another beer.
This long-time fan was utterly disappointed. If I had not nabbed an early-bird ticket and the chance at a free rental car for my trip out, I would have been livid.
PASSPORT TO IRON CITY was the exact kind of failed attempt at experiential marketing we see big companies doing again and again. I should know, my crew spends a lot of time building these kinds of activations.
My only hope is that Jennifer Connely, Christoph Waltz, and Robert Rodriguez can deliver an adaptation worthy of the source material so that I can get this Children’s Discovery Museum taste out of my mouth.
