Highlights include over 10M unique participants across 75 different countries through ‘eventizing’ the web, for instance the use of cell phones ringing from within cakes in Bakery stores. All in all it kept The Dark Knight in the news and alive and well on the internet for over a year, leading up to the July ’08 release.

Campaign Overview Video

Comic-con Event Video

Harvey Dent campaign video

Found via /Film and FSR

On each of these pages a puzzle piece with a letter was left, combining all the pieces the phrase “Kicking and Screening” can be found, which leads to the next Why So Serious page,

www.whysoserious.com/kickingandscreening/

Note the play on words, “Screening” — the prize — Free tickets to an IMAX pre-release Dark Knight screening on July 15th!. As quickly as they appeared they have now SOLD OUT.

AND HERE WE GO!!!

“You’ve played your part, here are your just rewards. Meet at the rendevous points below. Don’t be late, don’t forget your ticket or heads will roll. Casual attire, smiles optional.”

Sold Out Chicago, Cinemark IMAX (Woodridge) 9:30pm
Sold Out New York, Palisades IMAX (West Nyack) 9:00pm
Sold Out Edmonton, Silver City IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Pittsburg, Cinemark IMAX (Tarentum) 9:30pm
Sold Out Kansas City, Studio IMAX (Olathe) 9:00pm
Sold Out Phoenix, Deer Valley IMAX 9:00pm
Sold Out San Francisco, Metreon IMAX 9:00pm
Sold Out Los Angeles, Universal City IMAX 9:00pm
Sold Out Las Vegas, Palms IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Minneapolis, Metropolitan IMAX (St. Michael) 9:30pm
Sold Out Dallas, Cinemark IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Toronto, Scotiabank IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Salt Lake City, Jordan Commons IMAX (Sandy) 9:30pm
Sold Out Grand Rapids, Celebration IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Atlanta, Mall of Georgia IMAX (Buford) 9:45pm
Sold Out Denver, Colorado Center IMAX 9:45pm
Sold Out Houston, Marq*e IMAX 9:45pm
Sold Out Orlando, Pointe IMAX 9:45pm
Sold Out Portland, Bridgeport IMAX (Tigard) 9:45pm
Sold Out San Diego, Mira Mesa IMAX 9:45pm
Sold Out Omaha, Star IMAX (Council Bluffs) 9:30pm
Sold Out Indianapolis, Showplace IMAX 9:30pm
Sold Out Boston, Comcast IMAX (Natick) 7:00pm
Sold Out Seattle, Boeing IMAX 7:30pm

An email was also sent out shortly beforehand via Human Resources:

http://www.whysoserious.com/kickingandscreening HA HA HA HA HA ha HA HA ha HA HA ha HA HA HA ha HA HA HA ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha HA HA ha HA HA HA ha ha ha HA HA ha HA HA HA ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ha HA HA ha HA ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA ha HA HA ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha HA HA HA ha HA HA HA HA ha ha HA ha HA ha HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha HA HA HA HA ha HA HA HA ha HA HA HA HA ha HA ha

Thanks to everyone that sent this in! Hope you got your tickets in time! (We poor brits miss out again it seems — we’re getting the movie a week later anyway).

The official website has also been man-handled by The Joker:

www.whysoserious.com/bamboozle/2l43kjsa892nn2.htm

With an Exit sign, we see our way out of The Joker’s circus tent, clicking the image causes a set of tickets to appear, each with a logo and the text “Redeem at exit”. Clicking the four tickets that were returned as prizes to the individual flash games we’ve seen in the last few weeks leads us to the Overture, where some dynamite awaits us with a timer:

www.whysoserious.com/overture

OK clown, I see one last test of skill in your future. Post this where everyone can see it: BABEL

Others received these words — LAM, BOB, BLAM, ZEAL, BABEL, ZOOM, ME, MAZE, LAB, AMBLE

Which leads us to the “Bamboozle” page: www.whysoserious.com/bamboozle

Here we see a fortune telling machine, (much like that creepy one in the Tom Hanks movie “Big”).

Clicking each of the buttons reveals tickets with some fortune and an extra taped on message from The Joker.

Top left
You will get your heart’s desire. Too bad you’re an addict.
You will come to the attention of people in high places. Like crazed hilltop snipers.
You will live in interesting times. Interesting to historians. Like the Black Plague.
You will meet someone tall, dark and handsome who you will share your life with. They’ll route your bank funds into an untraceable Carribbean account.
You will come into great wealth. After an industrial accident. You’ll be blind. Deaf. Completely paralyzed. But rich.
Now would be a good time to leave your job. Twenty years flipping burgers is long enough.

Bottom left

Children will influence a major decision. Who knows. You might have married her anyway.
You will have a breakthrough in your career. Your boss will take credit.
You will have an opportunity for a good investment. House of Pies stock is shooting up.
Don’t assume you know what is going on at work. But yes, there are photos. And yes, they will stand up in court.
You will make money, if not for you, then for an organization. Like the IRS.
You will unexpectedly need help today, and the response of friends will surprise you. They’ll take video. Send it to your boss. Your wife. It’ll go viral.

Top right

Money is heading your way. But you’re a moving target. Too bad.
Expect a promotion. Expect it to be humiliating.
You will soon receive a gift If your lawyer calls and says don’t answer the door, there’s a reason.
You can expect an inheritance. One of those genetic things that predict a short and miserable life. It will also explain why your ears look like that.
Someone who currently doubt is telling the truth Saying you are the prophet of a new religion won’t help. The voices were wrong. They weren’t free samples.
Beware of false information regarding a loved one. But that thing about the affair? That’s true. Sorry.

Bottom right

Beware of unexpected windfalls. Vegans are especially flatuent.
A new person will enter your life. Your cellmate. The voices will tell him you’re a demon.
An acquantaince will approach you with a business offer. Anyone stupid enough to use a fortune-telling machine will think it’s a great offer. You probably date a pagan.
A small kindness will lead to unexpected benefits. After several thousand dollars, things will mostly be okay. Just give up and throw out your mattress.
Cancel the trip you planned this week Take the trip-dysentery. Stay home-salmonella. Either way you lose weight.
Your star is climbing. You’ll be a celebrity. The Darwin awards are a kind of fame.

14 of these clues have cutouts:

The name of the fortune teller is “Epyttnelis” which is “SilentType” backwards — the name of a SHH forum member that compiled an overall Gotham City map given the snippets seen across the viral sites. Using this map and a co-ordinate system corresponding to the numbers in the corners of the tickets, the tickets cover two squares with the cut outs in each of the 14 giving numbers of a street. Applying these in the order that the tickets can be retrieved we get a sequence of numbers — hitting the buttons in this order (22 1 5 3 4 17 14) reveals the winning ticket and a link to the tent’s exit and onto the Overture.

3 = 8G = 22nd
5 = 3P = 1st
9 = 6M = 5th
14 = 3L = 3rd
17 = 2F = 4th
21 = 5H = 17th
23 = 6E = 14th

whysoserious.com/punkdrop/

The aim is to knock down the “punks”. If you hit a dummy, a light appears next to another one, if you hit that one the light moves to the next dummy, and so on. If you complete three lit dummy hits in a row a ticket comes out of the machine, linking to a new “Stupid Bats” page:

whysoserious.com/stupidbats/

Wake up, clown! You have *one hour* to reply to be a part of today’s fun. /operator

Following a reply, this was sent:

Good. Do not reply again. I’ll be in touch…

After the hour deadline, participants were sent code words:

Work together, clowns. Your code-word: XXXXXXXX. Your partner: XXX-XXX-XXXX. Do NOT call until told to. Do not publicize this number.

Wait for a call — you will receive one or more code words. Relay these words to your partner.

You’re the first in the chain. Call your partner and relay your code-word NOW.

When all “relays” were completed, all five chains had dropped and five words are shown, these all have the word “house” in common, entering that into the box reveals a new game, “Punk Drop”.

Thanks Pierre!

Three future tasks have yet to be ticked off:

12. Be good to my guests
13. Gather all my fans
14. Leave a big mark

Reports

Some of the viral links on WSS contain reports on the viral event, with date, a list of occurrences, the end result, pictures and the aftermath — providing a succinct review of how we’ve got this far:

Citizens for Batman

Where a page originally stood we now find a countdown, heading ominously towards July 8th. CFB have also been sending out their propaganda to lucky Gotham citizens,

Including the letter:

Citizens for Batman!

It’s time to go public. To really defend Batman, we have to show the world how big our movement is. So check out the goodies inside and show your pride in CFB!

And get ready for a MAJOR show of force July 8th. (check out citizensforbatman.org for the latest.

Defend Gotham. Defend Batman!

Brian Douglass
Founder, Citizens for Batman

Thanks Dioz, Csam and Pierre!

To find the next sideshow, share these with your fellow goons. There’s no substitution for fun.

The pictures looked like this and were labelled 1A, 3B, etc. to form a larger grid:

In this grid there are 21 distinct shapes, each of which can be assigned a letter. From this pattern of 21 letters, a substitution cypher (as hinted in the text message) can be applied to reveal the message:

Color me impressed. Just use the second letter of the fourth word to the right of each circled five-letter word to find out where to go from here

This applies to the new Ha Ha Ha Times, revealing “Red Balloons” and hence:

WhySoSerious.com/RedBalloons

This presents us with another flash game with the apparent aim of inflating and bursting balloons to get points. At a certain point of inflation the clown eyes turn blue — when they are all blue a ticket pops out which links to “Inept Lackeys”.

Hired goons are so unreliable these days. That’s why I only employ the ones that graduated from the top of their class at Clown College (and being opera-lovers didn’t hurt, either). But Maroni’s got his hands full with inept lackeys like little Stevie and Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? I’ll tell you where they are: sittin’ pretty with a smile on their face. They tried to reschedule their pick up service at Pasquale’s, but things didn’t go according to plan.

HAHAHAHA.

Pasquale’s has a telephone number for which the passcode is “Verdi” (83734).

Thanks for the heads up Pierre!

Welcome to Short-Attention-Span-Theater: Lash Guilt Thru Unit (-un)”

Which works out as “Laugh Til It Hurts” and takes us to the new flash game:
www.whysoserious.com/laughtilithurts/

Update

New Acme Security Systems page found:

www.whysoserious.com/laughtilithurts/static.htm

And a flash of The Joker towards the end of the video…

Thanks Bruce!