This past weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix, we saw two Alpine F1 Team cars hit the track to promote Deadpool & Wolverine, which came out last week (I’m seeing it this week, so I can’t properly recommend it or otherwise, but I assume it’s a fun time).
The film is Marvel’s latest theatrical sojourn and the third installment in the series featuring the mercenary. It also marks the return of Hugh Jackman in the role of Wolverine.
Since Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool and also owns a stake in Alpine, both cars were graced with liveries to promote the film. Markings for both main characters — mainly Deadpool’s logo and Wolverine’s claw marks — were emblazoned on the cars.
Drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly also sported firesuits and helmets reflecting Deadpool and Wolverine, respectively.
It brought to mind the few times I knew of (and a couple I didn’t) where a film was promoted via Formula 1 schemes. It’s happened only five or so times, from what I can tell, as compared to the 100+ in NASCAR.
This is also on the heels of me finally seeing Yorgos Lanthimos’ new film Kinds of Kindness, starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, on Sunday (July 28). The first of the film’s three stories features an Ayrton Senna helmet, given as a gift to Plemons’ character by his boss (Willem Dafoe).
Considering the D&W schemes ran on Sunday, the same day I saw the above film, it coincided to give me the idea for this (very) short rundown.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
NASCAR’s Jamie McMurray and Michael Waltrip weren’t the only drivers to pilot T3 cars in 2003.
Jaguar Racing arrived at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix with a pair of less-cool schemes than the NASCAR liveries, but schemes promoting the film nonetheless.
Jaguar se presentó en Silverstone con una decoración de ‘Terminator III’. Ese día un colgado se coló en la pista con una falda escocesa y un cartel que rezaba “lea la Biblia”. pic.twitter.com/bE4vi21D1j
— V9-F1 EN ESPAÑOL (@V9_PODCASTF1) July 26, 2024
Both Mark Webber‘s and Antonio Pizzonia‘s cars had the top of the rear half blacked out with the silver T3 lettering, plus Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face on the left side and Kristanna Loken’s on the right. Neither car finished in the points, unfortunately.
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Another cross-promo with NASCAR was for the third (and best) installment of the Star Wars prequels, when both the stock-car series and F1 promoted the blockbuster.
While it was Hendrick Motorsports and Robert Yates Racing that ran schemes for it here in the United States, it was the Monaco Grand Prix across the pond that played host to the Revenge of the Sith liveries on the Red Bull machines.
David Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi both retired from the race, but it wasn’t the last time the Star Wars logos graced an F1 car.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer both got to wear themed firesuits — Hulk as a stormtrooper, Palmer as an X-Wing pilot — in 2017. Disney teamed up with Renault to celebrate the stable’s and franchise’s respective 40th anniversaries.
Terminator: Salvation
This is probably the most famous of any of these … and the one that went to victory lane. In 2009, the fledgling Brawn GP was looking for sponsorship literally anywhere it could find it.
So the team turned to a franchise that had already been on a car in the past.
Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello finished 1-2 in the race, ensuring the hilariously large Terminator prop they took photos with earlier that weekend went home happy (and hopefully slightly less likely to annihilate humanity).
I also wrote more about the docuseries revolving around the team earlier this year. I highly recommend watching the four-part saga on Hulu — it’s excellent documentary filmmaking.
There are also some hysterical images if you search “Brawn GP Terminator” on Google of the Terminator wearing a Brawn GP headset.
No Time To Die
Two years before Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, Red Bull celebrated the 1,007th Formula 1 race in a unique style. The team wheeled two cars into Silverstone featuring the character’s iconic 007 designation and logo on the rear wing.
Gasly and Max Verstappen ran them and finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In late 2021, an actual movie promotion was carried out: the Aston Martin team — appropriate, since Bond’s most iconic car is an Aston — sported the 007 logo just below the halo on their mint-green machines.
These ran at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix with Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll, who finished 11th and 12th — just out of the points.
Craig also appeared at NASCAR’s Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL to promote the film.
For my money, it’s the third best Craig installment in the series but still in my top five of the 25 films overall. People s–t on that movie far, far too much.
Deadpool & Wolverine
This journey brings us to the present day, when these two cars hit the track in Belgium.
If only the scheme rules weren’t so stringent … we could’ve had a Deadpool car and a Wolverine car. If only NASCAR wasn’t on break, we might’ve had both kinds of schemes hit the track here in America.
Either way, it’s pretty cool to see Reynolds so involved, and I’m sure he had a hand in the promotion for the third Deadpool flick.
Given Rob McElhenney, of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame, is in the same investor group with Alpine that Reynolds is, it’d be awesome to see a couple bright yellow cars hit the track when the new season of Sunny debuts. We need that group of five degenerates on an F1 car.
Who says no?
Earlier this year, Ryan Reynolds became a Formula 1 team owner when he bought into Alpine.
Esteban Ocon — one of Alpine’s drivers — will wear a Deadpool helmet in the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend. pic.twitter.com/bi26xTKzEh
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) November 16, 2023
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Source link : https://frontstretch.com/2024/07/30/reel-racing-formula-1s-hollywood-promotions/
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Publish date : 2024-07-31 01:17:56
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