On Stranger Tides

Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides called for a high-profile physical display that would entice audiences to fill theater seats.

At L.A.’s Hollywood & Highland complex, the film’s villainous Queen Anne’s Revenge crashes through the second-story balcony outside the storefront of promo partner Hot Topic and re-creates the deck of the ship down to the hanging metal door handle of Blackbeard’s quarters and the army of skeletons. Inside Paramus, N.J.’s Garden State Plaza, a large ship in a bottle sails the stormy seas.

The campaign also entailed a full takeover of Hot Topic’s 657 stores, with original costumes and props from the film, window displays, branded giftcards, cast appearances and exclusive merchandise.

That meant building photo ops inside and outside Hot Topic stores, re-creating the decks of the film’s Queen Anne’s Revenge in full detail, with wood, metal and bone-like materials that have visitors cautiously touching the displays, believing it’s the real thing.