It only took one day on the River Thames for a thirty-foot inflatable of Jason Statham to draw more attention than a hundred billboards ever could. Our team built the Mutiny inflatable for Lionsgate’s release of their new Jason Statham action thriller, which will be hitting theaters August 21st. This past weekend the giant inflatable sailed past the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London and became a moment everyone was talking about.
An Inflatable Thirty-Foot Statham on a Storage Container
For this custom inflatable, our team designed and produced a thirty-foot-tall inflatable of Jason Statham seated on top of a 10×10 inflatable storage container, armed and ready, matching the tone of the film itself. In Mutiny, Statham plays Cole Reed, a man who boards a cargo ship alone to avenge his boss’s murder and ends up caught in a much bigger conspiracy. Putting him larger than life on a shipping container was a great way to visualize that one-man-against-the-sea premise before anyone had even seen the film.
Once the inflatable was complete, it was loaded onto a barge and pulled up and down the Thames, passing landmarks like London Bridge and the Tower of London along the way. Anyone near or on the river that day got a pretty unforgettable surprise.
How the Mutiny Inflatable Sailed Past London’s Landmarks
The barge route was designed to put the inflatable in front of as many people and as many cameras as possible. It worked. Coverage of the Mutiny inflatable marketing stunt picked up quickly online, with Future of the Force noting that Statham himself stopped by and took pictures with the inflatable and shared the moment with fans. Adswithbenefits on Instagram summed the stunt up well: “Londoners did the rest, filming and sharing it until the stunt outran any billboard.”
That is really the whole point of a floating inflatable activation like the Mutiny inflatable. It demands attention and gives people something worth stopping for, filming, and sharing on their own.
If you missed it this weekend, don’t worry! The Mutiny inflatable isn’t done making its rounds. Lionsgate has more routes planned for the inflatable in the weeks leading up to the film’s August 21st release date, and they aren’t all in London!
Statham Poses With His Inflatable Replica
One of the best parts of this project was seeing Jason Statham himself stop by in person to take photos and videos in front of the inflatable version of himself. He posted the moment to his Instagram, giving the campaign an extra layer of authenticity that no paid placement could buy.
Mutiny Inflatable Was Part of a Bigger Global Countdown
The Thames float was one piece of a much larger global promotional push from Lionsgate. Branded shipping containers with movie countdowns have popped up in metro cities including Long Beach, Los Angeles, and New Jersey. In New York a shipping container scene let fans press a big red button that triggered a live action stunt tied to the film. With multiple activations running across multiple continents, it says a lot that the inflatable on the Thames became the moment people kept talking about.
Bringing Your Film or Show to Life With Custom Movie Inflatables
This is not the first time IDG has helped a studio take their movie or TV show off of the screen and into real life in the form of a giant inflatable. Our team has also built inflatable replicas of Tuca and Bertie that were also placed on a barge and dragged along the coast of Los Angeles and New York City. We have also created a Kung Fu Panda replica for the premiere of Kung Fu Panda 3 and designed interactive Chad Powers branded games for that show’s premiere event. Each project is different and unique to our client and their goals.
You can see more of our work on our TV and film inflatables portfolio page. If you are planning a premiere, a promo tour, or a launch that needs a moment people will actually remember, we would love to help bring it to life.
Email us at info@inflatabledesigngroup.com to get started, and let us know if you have any questions.