"Haven't a clue? Let's play a game, just Me and You…" Its been quite a long time since anyone has hidden something in a movie trailer. But it's no surprise that there's a hidden message in the first teaser trailer for The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves. Especially considering one of the best viral marketing campaigns in Hollywood history was for The Dark Knight (run by the legendary 42 Entertainment). The teaser for The Batman introduces us to Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, with one shot of Colin Farrell as Cobblepot. But there's one other villain teased - The Riddler, also known as Edward Nashton, being played by Paul Dano. There are a few scenes involving notes left "To The Batman", and of these clues at a crime scene is a card from "Your Secret Friend". And inside there's a riddle - along with a threatening message about the "LIAR". Does the code hidden in the card mean anything…? Yes it does! A game designer / puzzlecrafter on Twitter named Mike Selinker figured it out and explained how he solved it using brute force. Find out below.
To kick things off, Mike starts his Twitter thread with an introduction before diving into how he solved it:
In the new #TheBatmanTrailer, the Riddler leaves a card with the question “What does a liar do when he’s dead?” I could just solve it like a riddle (and did), but it’s a good opportunity to show how to solve a puzzle by brute force, so you’re sure of the answer. Here goes. (1/12) pic.twitter.com/sHveBmU2Pt
— Mike Selinker (@mikeselinker) August 23, 2020
The characters here are in this pattern:
123425 56433
I will presume the line break is meant to be a word break, though that doesn’t presume no other word breaks exist. (2/12)
— Mike Selinker (@mikeselinker) August 23, 2020
3 is a double letter at the end of a 5-letter word. Most common letters don’t do that. It’s likely one of these: E, L, or S. It’s not crazy to imagine it as D, F, N, or T. MAFIA’S STIFF? Nah. Unless Gorilla Grodd’s in this movie, I think we can dispense with these options. (3/12)
— Mike Selinker (@mikeselinker) August 23, 2020
Finally after trying a number of different letters and words, he gets to the bottom of it. And the final result:
Finally, I considered xELIES SxILL. BELIES SKILL is okay, but it seems more likely that we break it in the first line as HE LIES. And the best word to follow that is STILL. So we can conclude this is the very punny HE LIES STILL. And that’s how you solve a cryptogram! (12/12)
— Mike Selinker (@mikeselinker) August 23, 2020
And here's the link to a good, clean screengrab from the trailer showing the Riddler's card for The Batman:
So hyped for Matt Reeve’s Batman Movie, I decided to solve The Riddler’s code. #TheBatman pic.twitter.com/vsxVxucedv
— Andrew Lane (@TheMasterD101) August 23, 2020
So what does it all mean? Well, another Twitter account has helped put it all together: "What does a liar do when he's dead?" "He lies still." Ohhhh Riddler, always so funny and always so clever. I'm hoping that this is a hint that there's more to come - not only with The Riddler in the movie, of course, but also with riddles that connect to our real world outside of the movie. Maybe there will be a viral campaign next year? We haven't seen one in years, as Hollywood has shifted their marketing efforts more towards social media than anything involving our real world anymore. But if there's any movie to bring viral marketing back for - this is definitely the one. Especially considering there will be lots of riddles to solve and lots of clues to find. We'll be keeping an eye out for updates - or anything else hidden in trailers, photos, or marketing material.
You can still watch the original teaser trailer for Reeves' The Batman here, to see the first look reveal again.
A billionaire socialite and heir of Wayne Enterprises who dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld as a masked vigilante. Set early on after Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham. The Batman is directed by acclaimed American filmmaker Matt Reeves, the director of the movies The Pallbearer, Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes previously. The screenplay is written by Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin; based on the character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. Produced by Dylan Clark and Matt Reeves. Warner Bros will release Reeves' The Batman in theaters everywhere starting on October 1st, 2021 next year. First impression? Your thoughts?
0 comments:
Post a Comment