Battle: Los Angeles Viral Launched At Comic-Con

While walking around the Gaslamp district preparing for Comic-Con in San Diego, I spotted a bunch of posters for Battle: Los Angeles, leading to a viral website ReportThreats.org.

On February 25th 1942, just after 2am, hundreds of thousands of people witnessed something in the skies above Los Angeles. US army planes scrambled to intercept, while anti-aircraft guns fired over 1,500 rounds for more than two hours. The object was never hit, then it disappeared. The president was briefed and ordered an investigation. Finally the government dismissed the incident and the story was forgotten. The truth behind these real events has never been explained.

This is actually a true story. It was called the Battle of Los Angeles.

I've heard nothing but good things about Battle: LA, and while I think Sony did well with the District 9 viral, I have not really been impressed with the viral marketing coming out of the company since. 42 Entertainment (the company behind The Dark Knight and Tron Legacy viral) seems to be the only company doing it right.

The Report Threats viral site removes the mystery by transporting visitors to the Sony Pictures website and a place-card for Battle Los Angeles. It is only when they click on the button to "Find out the truth" that they are transported to an "in game" viral site for some group called W.A.T.C.H. which stands for the Worldwide Assessent of Threats Concerning Humankind. The site is better than it sounds, including videos of expert analysis, eyewitness testimony, evidence, and a section about the WATCH organization. For those of you not at Comic-Con, you might want to spend some time going through some of this content for possible clues.