The new Alita: Battle Angel movie written by James Cameron, directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by John Landau was a highly anticipated film in early 2019. As a movie promotion, their marketing department created a pop-up movie experience to promote the Alita movie. In which they built a small movie set and bar similar to the movie and you could interact with actors, play games and win prizes, all within a set that looked like it was from within the film.
My husband is a huge fan of the Alita Japanese Manga series, so when this Pop-Up experience was in our neck of the woods, I purchased several tickets for us and my friends to participate, as a birthday event for myself.
It’s basically a large warehouse filled with neat gadgets. Kind of post-apocalyptic, cybernetic, digital tech and village market all rolled into one.
Your ticket gets you in and you register yourself, and the system assigns you into a color group consisting of 6 members.
Then you are ushered into the “waiting zone” which is technically a bar. The Kansas Bar to be exact. Which is straight out of the movie where all the hunter warriors gather to take a load off. Even the cocktails and beer at this place had an Alita theme. It was pretty great.
We spent about 30-minutes here with our team to strategize and read the guide book, earn some bonus points and also to start socializing and integrating with other teams.
Then we enter the “City of Scrapyard” where basically the majority of the movie takes place. Here, it’s just condensed into a large warehouse with about 12 zones that your team can head to. Each zone is a “game” or “puzzle”. There’s no way to really do all 12 zones because of the time limit, but you do as many as you can to earn team points to beat the other teams.
Games and Puzzles involved trivia questions about the movie, manga and overall storyline. Other puzzles involved using all your senses such as hearing, sight, smell and touch. There was a lost and found search of cybernetic parts. Another that tested your team member’s memory. A wall mural that was sectioned into puzzle pieces that we had to assemble within a certain time. And much more.
And at the end of the allotted time frame, your team has earned a certain amount of points which you can use to bet towards a Motorball contestant. You can either bet it all or bet some. But at the end of your Motorball race, your points can increase or decrease dramatically. All the teams gather and cheer the race on, which is displayed as a computerized color dot on a screen.
It was all very exciting and fun. Unfortunately the pop-up has ended its run back in April 2019 so it is no longer available. But it was a total blast and a unique experience. Always keep your eyes peeled for new and exciting events happening in your area. You just never know what kind of cool stuff you are missing out on.