Promotional Movie Schemes That Should've Been (2024)

As we enter the dog days of movie summer, where the only exciting thing we really have coming out in the next two months or so is Alien: Romulus, there isn’t much cool debuting in theaters.

However, it got me thinking about some movies in the past 25 or so years that probably should have been promoted on paint schemes. There’s really no criteria to this, just ones that are big enough in stature — or had significant names, director or actors, behind it — and yet didn’t end up getting on a paint scheme.

The first one is, obviously, two of our most recent blockbusters, Deadpool & Wolverine and Twisters. There’s precedent for Marvel superhero films to be featured on NASCAR schemes, but somehow D&W got promotion on two Formula 1 cars and not here in the States.

Twisters, meanwhile, maybe wouldn’t have gotten any promotion on its own — despite star Glen Powell doing an intro segment for the Chicago street course race a few weeks back — but it would’ve been cool to see an adjacent promo with one of the artists on the soundtrack. Hell, Luke Combs was featured on Bubba Wallace‘s car twice in the last couple years, and his popular song “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” from the movie has blown up (and featured John Hunter Nemechek in the music video).

Looking further back, I just picked some out that could’ve had potential.

First up, Barbie and Oppenheimer both released last summer, igniting the “Barbenheimer” trend for those seeing both films back-to-back on the same day (myself and a group of friends did this as well).

Both films were eventually nominated for a number of Oscars, but the hype leading up to their release was so great that it would’ve been cool to see both end up on paint schemes — especially given that Universal and Warner Bros. were the distributors. Both have plenty of money to throw behind promotions like this (and both have before).

Other blockbusters of recent releases fall into the category of feasible-but-didn’t-happen, too. The Batman, Dune (and Dune: Part Two), Top Gun: Maverick and a number of others would’ve been neat to feature on paint schemes — The Fall Guy is another one when considering releases from this year.

Speaking of 2024 films, Furiosa — and its 2015 counterpart Mad Max: Fury Road — would’ve been perfect. Both are literally about going fast, albeit in different kinds of machines, in a seemingly endless chase.

I liken what those schemes would’ve looked like to Joey Logano‘s 2012 GameStop scheme for the video game Max Payne 3.

George Miller’s most recent two Max films have a similar color palette. For Furiosa, this year, give me Anya Taylor-Joy on the hood of the car, Chris Hemsworth’s character Dementus on the driver’s side and then Immortan Joe on the passenger side. Would’ve been scheme of the year.

Here’s another two-movie run that would’ve been cool: Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2.

Quentin Tarantino’s masterful double feature (though we’re all still waiting for an official cut of The Whole Bloody Affair) honestly might’ve made for a perfect twin bill. I could see the Evernham Motorsports cars doing something when Vol. 2 came out — both Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield could’ve sported yellow-and-black and red-and-yellow schemes during a 2004 race to promote it.

Worried about R-rated movies being on NASCAR schemes? Never fear, because The Passion of the Christ graced Bobby Labonte‘s car at Daytona that same season.

Last year, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would’ve been a solid promotional film, especially since its predecessor had been on Kyle Busch‘s car 15 years prior (and won) at Darlington Raceway.

This one is far-fetched, but the Grindhouse double feature from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino in 2007 — consisting of Planet Terror and Death Proof, divided by five fake trailers (some of which became real movies, eventually) — could’ve been a really entertaining marketing opportunity. Put some blood-spattered paint schemes out on track, mock a car up like Kurt Russell’s stunt-driver car in the latter film, something like that, and you’ve got a winner in my eyes.

I think the two biggest missed opportunities in the past decade or so were centered around Marvel and DC. For Marvel, besides the awful Skittles scheme for Captain America: Civil War at the top of this article, there was ZERO scheme promotion for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. True, neither film probably needed the extra kick in advertising, but Thanos being on a car with the Avengers would’ve been pretty neat.

The other is both renditions of the Suicide Squad films, from 2016 and 2021. Despite being a pretty horrendous movie, the 2016 rendition had a pretty vibrant color palette associated with its marketing, and incorporating Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn probably would’ve gotten some eyes.

Similar vibes with the (actually competent and good) 2021 reboot. The vibrant colors are there. Get a four-car team to field a quadrant of schemes: red-and-white for Harley Quinn, multicolored polka dots for Polka-Dot Man, a red-white-and-blue car with a chrome nose for Peacemaker and a car featuring all the characters as standard promotion.

A couple other fun ones I thought about would’ve been the Mission: Impossible series, with the schemes reflecting whatever crazy stunt Tom Cruise does in the movie; for the fourth film, design the car like the exterior of the Burj Khalifa, with Cruise hanging onto the quarter panel or something. Have fun with it.

I love NASCAR movie paint schemes, man. But there’s so many missed opportunities.

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