RX-8 To Star in next X-Men Movie
Product placement in movies is big business these days and manufacturers will pay for the chance to show their products to appear because the movies will be seen by a worldwide audience.‘Minority Report’ was a good example with numerous brands appearing throughout the movie. The publicity seems to work well, as Jaguar USA found out when sales of their cars seemed to increase after people saw Austin Powers driving the ‘Shaguar’.
The most recent is ‘Die Another Day’ where a fleet of Ford Group products roared across the screen. Ford has even produced special limited edition versions of the Thunderbird which Jinx drove in the movie – so if you can’t have her by your side, at least you can still drive her car!
Soon, movie-goers will get to see another car that is the star – the Mazda RX-8. It will feature substantially in X2, the sequel to the 2000 movie X-Men. To premiere on May 2 this year, the movie will have futuristic gadgetry and the latest in movie special effects, along with big-budget sets, amazing costumes and a cast of Hollywood notables – including Halle Berry.
The movie continues the saga of the characters made famous in the X-Men comics. In the 2003 sequel, the X-Men band together to find a mutant assassin who made an attempt on the President’s life, while the Mutant Academy is attacked by military forces.
The RX-8 will be used by Cyclops and painted in Mutant Blue. It features aggressive styling, a space-age interior and the trademark rotary engine, of course. The car in the show will have an x-shaped grille and an aggressive rear spoiler, plus some fancy gadgetry in the cockpit.
Mazda plans to launch the car in the US market later in the year so the movie should boost buyer interest a great deal.
Cycle & Carriage Bintang’s Mazda division also plans to import a few units for the Malaysian market and of course, the private importer will not waste time picking up some from the Japanese market.
