Director Rian Johnson told us in March that they were already planning the viral campaign for his September 28 movie, Looper.  The viral site has launched and invites you to become a Looper.  One catch:

There’s a stipulation in every Looper’s contract that he may someday be required to hunt down his future self, thus closing the contract, getting a huge pay-off and erasing any trace of the very illegal arrangement with his or her future employer.  This is called Closing Your Loop.  Cash out, get paid.  Live those 30 years like only a Looper can.

That doubles as the basic plot of Looper, in which Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is tasked with killing his future self (Bruce Willis) sent back in time from the future.  If you are prepared to take the risk, find out more after the jump.

As The Dark Knight Rises revved up their viral campaign earlier this week , it overshadowed other movies in the midst of their own marketing. The Dark Knight Rises’ “Operation Early Bird” granted early access to the prologue for people close to specified IMAX theaters and a new trailer is expected to drop on Monday. However, there are other properties that are vying for your attention and your dollars, such as Men in Black 3, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Darkest Hour and The Hunger Games. Hit the jump for an update on each of these unique campaigns.

I live in Los Angeles. I’m used to weird movie posters and unorthodox film campaigns. But I’ve always wondered how effective they are in other cities…places that aren’t movie crazy.

Well, tonight I got an answer.

That’s because I’m in Chicago for a set visit. Tomorrow, I’ll be watching a very famous movie villain in full make-up for the first time and at some point, I’ll be writing a lot about this trip. But until then…

I was walking on Michigan Ave when I came across this poster. It’s for the movie “District 9″. Here’s the trailer.

While I know a lot about the film, I asked my friend if she’d heard about it and she said no. I then asked a few of the people standing around if they’d even looked at the poster and if they were interested in going to the website. No one said they’d check the site out and the two that I spoke with in detail said they didn’t care what it was for.

And that made me wonder…who are these ads going after? If the large majority of people walk by them, are they a waste of advertising dollars? After all, with so many video games, books, TV shows and movies going after everyone’s leisure time, do viral movie posters and ads work? I know they helped “Cloverfield”, but that’s not the norm.

What do you all think about these kinds of posters? Do you think the studios are better off spending money on a movie poster that aims at everyone, or do these posters work? Curious…