For the past several weeks, automobiles have been associated with the word “recall” in an unflattering manner as almost every major carmaker appears to have been bitten by gremlins. However, one Hollywood remake places Chrysler within a different state known as Total Recall.
Part of a futuristic chase scene in the newly released 2012 Total Recall film, hover vehicles wear Chrysler and Dodge badges. Wildly unrecognizable to anything currently on the streets today, Chrysler and Dodge branded hover cars operating in the world of 2084 reveals a high-speed, high-tech form of personal transportation.
Swappable steering column and the ability to travel along highways running 100s of feet above the ground are a few features found on the hover vehicles presented with Chrysler badging. Perhaps a far-reaching piece of imagination, it is questionable if the Chrysler hovercrafts will become the future of transportation our children and grandchildren could grow accustomed to.
The Total Recall movie is yet another where the huge Hollywood side business of product placement bequests items such as soft drinks, restaurants and electronics onto the film screen. Auto companies have also been heavily involved in this common practice of on-movie advertising.
For futuristic movies such as the new Total Recall film, the forward look into tomorrow can be quite off target. Not only for the progression of technology, when product placement is involved in a movie it can turn embarrassing. The Sci-Fi classic 1982 Blade Runner was famously regarded as a cursed movie for several companies featured with sale, bankruptcy or a disastrous product (such as Coca-Cola when they changed their formula in 1985). Pan-American World Airways was a corporate shadow that did not make it to the time of 2001: A Space Odyssey or extraterrestrial travel. In Back to the Future II, Hill Valley of 2015 was depicted as a futuristic environment where a Pontiac dealership resided in the town’s square. Much like the flying cars, hover boards, and hydrating pizza, we’re on a path to enter our year 2015 without the arrowhead badge adorning new automotive products.
Though 2084 is a long way forward in time with no absolute predictions to the state of this planet, Chrysler Group’s involvement the new Total Recall movie released in 2012 is a celebration to the real-world restructuring of a company. Three years ago, so many people would have considered the during existence of Chrysler into the latter half of this century to a situation in a comedy.
In fact, the business health of the Pentastar brand corporation up to the release date of the Total Recall remake would have been a great, Hollywood success story. Along with the Total Recall movie, Chrysler had also engaged in cross-promotion with the latest Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises. In a television commercial, a Chrysler 300 Sedan was produced under an “Imported from Gotham City” spot.
In a Chrysler advertisement shown on television recently, the 2084 Chrysler hovercars is joined by the 2012 Chrysler 200 convertible.
