On Monday, Lionsgate sent fans of The Hunger Games on a wild goose chase through the internet for a deleted scene from Mockingjay – Part 1. You can watch the scene below:
View this video on YouTube
The scene, which leaked early on Tumblr, features President Snow (Donald Sutherland) explaining to Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) why he needs to be the Capitol's "voice of reason."
It's certainly a strong scene, but one can also see why director Francis Lawrence chose to cut it from the film and put the audience in the same place as Katniss — unsure as to what was happening to Peeta beyond what the Capitol was letting her see.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Lionsgate also released this hilarious deleted scene of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) undergoing some unconventional makeup.
View this video on YouTube
The release of the first deleted scene on Monday, meanwhile, followed what has become a standard playbook for working fans into a lather.
Step one: Get everyone marking their calendars.
On Sunday, a message was posted to The Hunger Games' official Facebook profile promoting "an important message" from President Snow.
Yet again, Lionsgate seems to be treating the real world like it's Panem — and specifically, the Capitol.
Not creepy at all!
Step two: Activate the internet nerds.
Step three: Start trending.
The binary code led fans to a series of websites, where a message to tweet the hashtag #UnlockMockingjay was hidden inside the respective sites' HTML code.
This was involved.
Almost immediately, the hashtag indeed started trending.
“You're still trying to #UnlockMockingjay. Real or not real?" "Real, because that's what the fandom does, unlocking things.”
And although some were skeptical…
i bet they have a specific time they are going to release the scene no matter what, like last time #UnlockMockingjay
…others were committed to making this exercise in fan engagement work.
We're all in this together 🔥 #UnlockMockingjay
AW REMEMBER THE OLD DAYS WHEN WE HAD TO UNLOCK CATCHING FIRE STILLA USING THAT ONE HASHTAG AW THEYRE BRINGING IT BACK #UnlockMockingjay
#UnlockMockingjay DO IT FOR FINNICK IN HIS UNDERWEAR
Eventually fatigue set in.
My thumbs hurt #UnlockMockingjay
Step four: Tantalize fans with evidence of excruciatingly slow progress to a seemingly attainable goal.
Roughly two hours after the promotion first started, fans grew impatient.
We're only at 11% omfg it's gunna be a long day #UnlockMockingjay
#UnlockMockingjay ugh i wanna SEE MORE THEN THE CAPITOL LOGO
FALTAAAA POOCOOO #UnlockMockingjay
Whether this was a covert step five — whet fans' appetite with a low-res "leaked" version — or an actual breakdown of the system remains unclear.
EU TO MORTO #UnlockMockingjay
But either way, even though the scene seemed to include a knowing jibe at some of The Hunger Games' "rabid fans"…
…those fans commenced flailing anyway.
THIS HURTS #UnlockMockingjay
PEETA LOVES KATNISS SO MUCH #UnlockMockingjay
FUCK YOU SNOW #UnlockMockingjay
My tl right now -why was that scene cut!!!!!!! -fuck snow -peeta baby -still tweet #UnlockMockingjay -peeta didn't deserve this -crying
#UnlockMockingjay It was right before the HIJACKING!!!! Poor Peeta!! #mockingjay 💔
I AM SOBBING OMG PEETA BABY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 @TheHungerGames #UnlockMockingjay
And that is how you drive Hunger Games fans insane.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is available for digital download on Feb. 17.
This post has been updated to include the second deleted scene of Katniss getting bad makeup.