With the unleashing of Dark Knight Rises in a couple of weeks time, the 2012 tsunami of uber-blockbusters will finally be over, meaning we can all start fretting over which 2013 mega-movies we like the look of best. Elysium is likely to be one of the more hotly-fancied prospects, which is handy, as the start of Comic-Con 2013 has seen the first viral for that flick having just gone live.

Elysium is the brainchild of writer-director Neill Blomkamp, the South African filmmaker who made an impact like a smack-downing meteor with his debut feature, District 9. Set in a 2159 where Earth is but a discarded cigarette butt of a planet to live upon, and all those with money in their pockets lord it up on luxury artificial satellite Elysium instead, Blomkamp’s new flick looks set to inject a similar level of political allegory into its ostensibly sci-fi narrative as his first movie did.

Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and District 9 star Sharlto Copley all feature prominently, and the viral marketing campaign for Elysium has just begun at San Diego Comic-Con, with attendees of that sterling event being able to speak to an ‘automated’ checkout agent in the booth of sponsor studio Sony.

This vacuum-moulded checkout agent will answer questions about Elysium, although be warned – would-be émigrés need a tidy $250m if they’re to secure their spot on the off-world colony, at least according to the supporting literature festooned about the booth.

That literature directs interested parties towards a website, www.itsbetterupthere.com, and sure enough, if you visit said webpage, you can sample the ‘charms’ of the creepy checkout ‘droid for yourself.

Elysium is out on 1 March 2013.

Source: Collider