Cinemagoers seated early for Five Nights at Freddys are treated to a new kind of movie advertisement: one that tells viewers not to look at the screen.
The trailer, a theaters-only promo for Lionsgate and Blumhouses upcoming horror film Imaginary, begins with a childs voice asking, Hi, wanna play a game with me? Close your eyes and use your imagination. As footsteps, door creaks and the unsettling chirr of childrens toys whirl across the theaters 7.1 surround sound system, the Imaginary team is betting that what viewers conjure up in their minds will be just as scary as what the film could show.
While the trailer is mostly a black screen, a few visuals flash across the screen as the young narrator invites viewers to open their eyes. Among them: a missing child poster, some demonic figures and what appears to be a door-filled funhouse.
But theres also a practical reason for why the first look at Imaginary is so devoid of actual footage from the film. The same week Blumhouse debuted its fall horror hit Five Nights at Freddys, the prodco asked Lionsgate if it could whip up a preview spot for Imaginary. The Lionsgate team pitched the idea of an audio-centric teaser and, within 24 hours, it was ready to be shipped.
Our distribution team moved heaven and Earth to put [the trailer] on screens in the same week, Keri Moore, Lionsgates co-president of worldwide theatrical marketing, tells Variety. She adds: Sometimes, constraint becomes the mother of invention.
Time wasnt the only restriction. According to Moore, Lionsgate had already been cooking up a trailer, with visual effects due to be delivered on Nov 1. With Freddys opening a few days before, on Oct. 27, the team behind Imaginary thought: What could we do with the shots that we have, knowing what we can deliver? How do we create an experience for audiences that introduces the concept of that playful imaginary friend and bring in the idea of, This is real and this is scary.'
While little has been revealed about Imaginary, directed by Jeff Wadlow, the movie adds a sinister layer to an age-old aspect of childhood.
Something you see across cultures is that children have a unique access to the spirit world, Moore says, teasing the premise of the film. What if their imaginary friends are something from the spirit world? What if these imaginary friends were real, and what if when you left one of them, that made them upset?
The demands of the trailer nicely complement the themes of Imaginary. Also, as a marketing ploy, it was quite effective in driving interest toward the movie. During FNAFs opening weekend, the phrase Imaginary movie spiked to maximum search interest on Google, per the search engines trend data.
Deploying an audio-only cue for an original horror film is very intriguing. The genre has a natural mystery about it when executed well, and the Blumhouse name automatically gets attention, says Boxoffice Pros chief analyst Shawn Robbins, who saw the teaser in theaters. Its a great word-of-mouth starter piece, screening in front of a film that packed auditoriums with audiences who may be in Imaginarys wheelhouse.
Says Jason Blum, Fans are truly enjoying everything about the Imaginary trailer and thats whats most important to Blumhouse, capturing the imagination of our audience.
But the first glimpse of Imaginary is limited to those who go to the movie theater.
We never considered putting it online, says Moore. This was always an in-theater piece, and well come back with an online piece that is more structured and designed to reach an audience wherever theyre consuming content, whether its on their phone or on their laptop or in a theater. You want to create opportunities to reward theatricality and moviegoers, and to surprise and delight, and this was was a nice chance to do that.
Yet, those who stayed at home and caught Five Nights at Freddys on Peacock can rest assured: A fuller look at Imaginary will be released soon, as Moore hints that a more traditional trailer setting the stakes of the film will arrive in the next month or so.
Until then, youll have to use your imagination.