In a year where traditional Hollywood star power has repeatedly failed to fill cinema seats, Timothée Chalamet has executed a promotional masterclass that feels more like performance art than a standard press tour. His campaign for the upcoming ping-pong epic Marty Supreme has become a case study in how to cut through the noise in 2025's saturated media landscape.
The Unconventional Playbook of 'Marty Supreme'
It began on 15 November with a bizarre, 18-minute "leaked" Zoom call posted to Chalamet's Instagram. The video, scripted by the actor himself, featured a hyper-serious, egomaniacal version of Chalamet pitching increasingly absurd marketing ideas to A24 staff, including painting global landmarks a "very specific shade orange." This meta-commentary on desperate movie marketing simultaneously launched a genuinely desperate and wildly inventive marketing strategy.
The campaign that followed was a torrent of surreal, orange-hued spectacle. Chalamet staged pop-up screenings flanked by bodyguards with giant orange ping-pong balls for heads. He hosted a near-wordless Instagram Live to chant "Marty Supreme Christmas Day." A blimp in that specific rust shade hovered over Los Angeles. An ad campaign enlisted "GOATs" like Tom Brady and Misty Copeland in branded windbreakers to "dream big." The actor even debunked rumours he was a secret rapper named EsDeeKid by appearing in the artist's music video.
A Rare Box Office Bright Spot in a Dim Year
This idiosyncratic, all-in effort appears to be paying off. In a limited release in New York and Los Angeles ahead of the holidays, Marty Supreme scored the biggest per-theatre average opening for a film since 2016. This is a promising start for A24's most expensive feature to date, with a budget reportedly around $60 million.
This success stands in stark contrast to a string of high-profile flops from major stars in recent months. Films like A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell), The Smashing Machine (Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson), and Anemone (Daniel Day-Lewis's first role in eight years) have all struggled, proving that marquee names alone are no longer a guarantee of audience interest.
Why the Old Marketing Rules No Longer Apply
The decline of the traditional movie star, the dominance of streaming, and the fractured attention of audiences have created a perfect storm for original films. The old model of passive promotion—late-night show anecdotes, press junkets, glossy magazine profiles—is increasingly ineffective. As Vulture identified, marketers now chase "the New Media Circuit," a vast constellation of podcasts and video series, hoping to "activate the internet."
Even this offers no guarantees. Sydney Sweeney's Christy flopped despite massive online buzz, and Jennifer Lawrence's charm offensive on Hot Ones couldn't save Die, My Love. The new rulebook demands volume, surprise, and a willingness to experiment, sometimes leading to surreal sights like George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio on a podcast hosted by the Kelce brothers.
Chalamet, already a veteran of this circuit from his campaign for A Complete Unknown, has framed his Marty Supreme antics as a crusade for original cinema. In appearances on The Tonight Show and Good Morning America, he has directly linked his "extra-ness" to the survival of indie films in theatres, imploring audiences to choose the cinematic experience over waiting for streaming.
"People's attention spans are so short these days," Chalamet remarked at one junket. "How do you convince them to go to the cinema... I have an audience, so I engage with them, and I give it 150%." His approach echoes the sentiment of Ryan Coogler, director of the year's other major original hit, Sinners, who successfully framed ticket-buying as a defence of the arts.
Time will tell if Chalamet's 150% effort translates into lasting box office success when Marty Supreme widens its release. But for now, his campaign stands as the most memorable, unhinged, and analytically fascinating press run of the year—a potential new playbook for a industry desperately searching for answers.
