Universal Pictures’ “Halloween Kills” was the latest installment in the Halloween movie franchise which was set to release the same day in theaters and on the streaming platform Peacock. The challenge was simple: how do you create more awareness and excitement for the film in a way that would capture hearts and minds of fans of other film horror film characters – thereby extending the reach and appeal.

In the co-branded spot, Chucky and Halloween’s Michael Myers came together in one creative execution for the first time ever. The infamous killers crossed paths in the film that aired ahead of the October 12 series premiere of Chucky, which was his new television series. However, instead of simply meeting – they clashed in a comedic and unexpected twist centered around a surprise moment of Chucky carving Michael Myers’ face into a pumpkin. Since the movie and the TV series aired leading up to Halloween (the actual October 2021 holiday), the carving of the pumpkin helped further connect the creative to both the cultural holiday and the title of the film. For horror movie fans, two villains were far more exciting than one – and these two are amongst the world’s most famous.

When it comes to the horror film genre, there are die hard fans of franchises that have followed the films and characters for years, even decades. What hadn’t been done is to bring the characters from separate film franchises together. By doing so, fans of Chucky (who were watching his new show) saw Michael Myers from Chucky’s point of view. By partnering them together, a new way to entertain and capture audiences was now possible.

In 2021, on network television channels USA & SYFY, Chucky is the star of his new hit series, an extension of the films he starred in. As fans awaited the show’s series premiere, the partnership unfolded as Chucky and Michael Myers (the villain from the Halloween movies) came together on screen to launch the next film in the Halloween movie franchise. The partnership began on October 12, running on USA & SYFY (both linear and digital streams), and across social media. As with the strategy for the show, running the vignette on both networks provided Halloween the broad reach of USA’s audience, while tapping into the hardcore fans you find on SYFY.

The impact of the partnership ignited conversations and press on social media as horror films fans were both shocked and delighted by the unexpected partnership. The campaign created a frenzy on social media and in the press with over 500,000 impressions. The film Halloween Kills was a huge hit at the box office, grossing over $127 million box office while simultaneously generating the best non-live performance to date with its release on streaming platform Peacock.