For the release of 42, the Jackie Robinson biopic starring Harrison Ford, Warner Bros. tapped AvatarLabs to create an HTML5 website that captured the inspiring themes of the film and Robinson's role in history.
In order to be broadly accessible and appeal to all ages, they wanted to develop a site that felt contemporary and modern. Although the story took place in the 1940s, the themes of it are very much relevant today. Jackie Robinson is known for his role in breaking color barriers. The site serves to highlight this as well as his extraordinary life and incredible athletic prowess.
The site features two main sections. First, fans are invited to explore "The Legacy" via a rich, vertically and horizontally scrolling interactive timeline of Jackie Robinson's life. The timeline highlights his journey to becoming a Brooklyn Dodger, his astounding success as a rookie, his astonishing athletic ability and his legacy. Story elements, statistics and quotes are interspersed with beautiful images, dynamic animation and compelling copy. Fans can actively navigate the site by utilizing the scrolling feature at the bottom of the page, or by utilizing the traditional copy-based navigation at the top.
"The Movie" section houses EPK content and features. One of the features AvatarLabs concepted and developed was the "My Inspiration Sweepstakes". Within, users can nominate a coach that inspires them on and off the field, the winner being awarded a package of sports equipment sponsored by Rawlings. The site and features were supplemented by a banner campaign that AvatarLabs executed based on the design of the website.
Critics and moviegoers spoke highly of the film, a box office success that opened to $27 million and went on to earn over $95 million domestically.