Indiana Jone and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull teaser poster

Via the movie’s official website comes the first teaser poster for Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Featuring art that’s recognizable by anyone over the age of 25 as that of Drew Struzan, the poster actually doesn’t rely on nostalgia as much as you might initially think. Yes, Indy is there with hat and whip in hand and looking ruffled yet confident, but those are character traits. If this poster had come out in 1992 it would have featured those same elements. So they’re not trying too hard to overplay the nostalgia factor. It’s there, but it’s not making an ass of itself.

What I noticed when I went to the official site is that Lucasfilm and Paramount seem to be using anticipation as a major component in their marketing campaign. When you look at the page the poster is on there are three more empty slots next to it, promising more one-sheets will be unveiled in the coming months. And look at the tabs at the top of the “Downloads” section. Right now we’ve got Buddy Icons and Posters, but there are all sorts of things like Coloring Pages, Stickers and Calendars that are still shaded and yet to be stocked with content.

And a good amount of that content seems to be geared toward a younger audience, meaning the studio plans, at least some level, on waging an aggressive campaign for those who don’t have direct memories of seeing the first three movies in theaters. That’s ballsy.

I also noticed on the official site (which does have an RSS feed, thank goodness) that there’s a MySpace page for the Indiana Jones franchise. That prompted this reaction to Biro:

OMG – Indiana Jones 4 has a MySpace page. I’m officially done writing about movie marketing – that can’t be topped.

Now in the context of the rest of the site it makes sense as part of the larger strategy to not concede everyone under 25 and assuming they’re not going to be interested. But a movie franchise that started in 1981 and features a now 60+ actor HAS A MYSPACE PAGE! That just makes me want to quit the internet.