Summer comes early now, and it’s not global warming’s fault. It’s the annual kickoff of the warm-weather blockbuster cross-promotion season. Since Hollywood decided a few years back that "summer" should officially begin in early May, promo-partner programs start launching just after Easter. In the case of the upcoming Paramount Pictures/Marvel flick Iron Man 2, retail partner 7-Eleven is rolling out its Slurpee, Big Gulp and movie-themed merchandise programs this week. They’ll be in stores for the next two months. There’s also a "Collect Like a Superhero, Live Like a Billionaire" sweepstakes that sends winners to Los Angeles for a peek into the Tony Stark lifestyle, complete with a Rodeo Drive shopping spree and dinner at Spago. (Iron Man hero Stark, who loves the paparazzi, would actually do those things, making this one of the more logical contests of late.) 7-Eleven stores will be hawking DVDs of the first movie, which became a surprise $585 million global success in ’08, and animated shorts from Marvel Entertainment. And there will be enough movie-themed cups—heroes and villains!—for even the thirstiest fan, along with a specially created Invincible Orange Slurpee flavor and character straws. And a new twist: The domed lids on the cups have been crafted to look like Iron Man helmets. (Couldn’t they have found a way to make Scarlett Johansson’s cup curvy and voluptuous like the actress herself? Just curious.) The action flick, also starring Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke and Don Cheadle, opens May 7.
—Posted by T.L. Stanley