Netflix Installs Billboards That ‘Sweat’ For Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Extraction 2’
Images via Netflix / Netflix on Instagram
With Extraction 2 now streaming on Netflix, fans can get close to the action—and even feel it drip—thanks to unconventional billboards that the streaming giant has erected in New York City and Los Angeles.
As though Chris Hemsworth’s brooding mug wasn’t enough, these attention-grabbing activations are built to physically “sweat,” alluding to the adrenaline-packed, life-or-death scenarios Hemsworth’s Tyler Rake has to get through to rescue the kidnapped family of a crime lord.
To make the character “perspire” in the advertisements, Netflix used lasers to cut tiny holes into the photo of Hemsworth to mimic pores in his forehead, Variety reports.
A water supply hidden behind the billboards disperses the droplets through his “pores” at a rate consistent with the flow of sweat for this larger-than-life effort.
The film comprises “action so intense, our billboards sweat,” tout the boards.
Marian Lee, Netflix’s chief marketing officer, tells the publication that there’s the usual non-wet imagery for Extraction 2 out in the wild too. However, the team was happy to experiment outside of the norm for the sequel, seeing as how these attempts were impossible when the first movie came out during the lockdown.
Although the sweaty stunt is meant to drive heat for Extraction 2, it should be known that the film doesn’t need it—the Hemsworth-starring and -producing sequel topped all views across Netflix on the week of June 12. Regardless, the streamer is having fun flirting with the internet’s arguable boyfriend (in a separate Instagram post teasing the movie, it captions: “Chris Hemsworth, extract me please!”).
The billboards are located on sidewalks, instead of up on buildings, so onlookers can have their photo op with Hemsworth, and perhaps gallantly wipe those beads of sweat off his face.
The feat might be something fans haven’t seen before, but Netflix’s advertising efforts will only get wilder as the company “[likes] to top ourselves,” Lee says. Viewers should be able to expect more by the time Extraction 3 comes around.
[via Variety and Out Magazine, videos and images via Netflix]
