Last night, Encom, the fictional company from the movie Tron, held a press conference in San Francisco. The event was just another installment in the increasingly immersive viral marketing campaign for Tron Legacy.

“Legacy” is the sequel to the 1982 classic sci-fi film, Tron, and stars Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn, the 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) who investigates his father’s disappearance.

Since San Diego Comic-Con last July, a viral marketing campaign for the movie has taken fans into Flynn’s Arcade, and even mailed out Encom badges to participants. (For a full recap, peruse these articles over at FirstShowing.net.) The main thrust of the campaign is that the organization “Flynn Lives” is dedicated to exposing the conspiracy behind the disappearance of Kevin Flynn.

Yesterday, the group infiltrated an Encom press conference to spread their message. After an announcement from Encom CEO Alan Bradley (played by Bruce Boxleitner in both films), several supporters stormed the stage chanting “Flynn lives, Flynn lives…” Then, an Encom helicopter circled a few times, before an unknown parachutist jumped out, landing behind the stage.

Today, two videos were released about the event. First up is a short recap of the conference:

And, now a behind-the-scenes featurette revealing Sam Flynn to be the unknown jumper:

I’m on the other side of the country, so I watched the event live on Ustream.com, but even from my bad vantage point, it was clear that something didn’t go as planned. I think the wind delayed the jumper, and caused for the confusion. In any case, it was still an awesome event. It’s amazing how much work goes into these marketing campaigns, but I know it has really piqued my interest in the film, as well as many others.

Check back here for more Tron Legacy viral news. It’s still not too late to get involved. Unfortunately, “Legacy” doesn’t hit theaters until December 17th.

So I have been stewing on the idea of movie trailers possibly spoiling a movie. What really bothers me are the ones that some dumb ass at the studios allow to reach us. The ones with to much information or to long of a cut on something that should of been left for the big screen. Is viral marketing getting out of hand?

Vic over at ScreenRant gave in and finally said no to The Dark Knight viral marketing and will not post any more news on the film until after its release. I don’t blame him. Look at our featured articles. The ones that garner the most hits are about The Dark Knight or the latest upcoming blockbuster.

Here are some raw estimated numbers for you.

The Dark Knight has around 30 trailers to its name and is almost 2 weeks out from release.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army has around 20 trailers.

Iron Man had over 30 trailers.

Are the studios and their trailers killing the movies before they even come out? And this doesn’t include all of the viral marketing that is happening these days. I think that the barrage of scenes, trailers, teasers and such are killing the anticipation of fans who look forward to a little surprise every once in a while.

While the above 3 films did or will do well at the box office no matter what, its hard for us folks to avoid all contact with these goodies. You have to make a conscience effort to avoid all the trailers, photos, leaked footage to really enjoy the movies that come out. I think we saw most of Iron Man prior to it coming out with that many damn trailers.

What do you all think. In this day and age of instant gratification in many realms, are trailers killing our movies? Let me know what you all think. I would be interested in such a conversation.

With all the mayhem last night from Batman crazed fans running around trying to follow clues to the next debut of the Dark Knight trailer, it may of been a bitter sweet experience. For those of us who have a life outside of this blogosphere, we are bitter in our own minds.

The Dark Knight trailer was shown to a special few through the brilliance of the viral marketing from the film. Although the trailer officially debuts this coming Sunday there are plenty of bootlegs out there. I won’t watch this if it’s not in HD so I haven’t seen any of this. I can’t say much about the trailer as I would like to view it myself on Sunday when it’s meant to be seen by the masses.

Click the above image come Sunday or return here for the trailer in all of its HD glory. Until then keep Gotham City safe!

With a break in the action this morning I figured I would pull out some Movie News that I thought was worthy of a daily post. With so much going anticipation for Iron Man in a few weeks (or sooner) to waiting around for more Harvey Dent viral marketing, I thought it was worth while to share the following “big” news with you all.

MTV is airing a full Incredible Hulk trailer Wednesday night prior to one of it’s non music related TV shows.

It seems a possible sequel to the highly acclaimed 300 is in the works, or at least waiting on someone to give it some cash.

Indiana Jones finally has his last prized possession in hand, his poster for his upcoming movie.

More movie news to come – keep an eye out for a few reviews by weeks end. The folks at teh studios finally saw it fit to send me some passes to a few screeners around town!! Thanks to you!!