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One of the other big factors why District 9 worked is Peter Jackson. The worldwide success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy means that Jackson is now one of those directors that can bring an audience in on his name alone. Even though he was only involved as a producer, it is Peter Jackson’s name that appears before the title in the film and on the posters. Blomkamp also cited him as reason the film even exists in the first place. When speaking to A.V. Club, he said, “There’s no way I could have gotten this film made as what I wanted to make, without his involvement…It’s like, now I really realize how lucky I’ve been as a first-time filmmaker. Because it could be a completely different scenario, you could do some studio film that could just trounce you, and not an ounce of yourself is on the screen.”

Sony’s creative marketing team (headed at the time by Marc Weinstock) was told by Blomkamp to not give everything away. This would probably explain why the posters for District 9 did not fit the usual summer sci-fi blockbuster mould that one would typically expect. None of them feature any of the actors. One of the first posters showed a printed outline of an alien on a target board, with bullet holes. Later posters would show the alien mothership hovering above District 9 with helicopters descending towards it. They created an aura of mystery.

The trailers were similar in that they didn’t really oversell it. The teaser trailer appeared to be selling a faux documentary (which is also how the first half hour of the film presents itself). The theatrical trailer continued this up to when we Wikus sprayed with a strange substance, then showing an assortment of strange images that don’t seem at all connected (close-ups of MNU banners, military men with guns and a large exo suit in action). The trailer ends with a voiceover saying, “There’s a lot of secrets in District 9.” Essentially, it was a hook designed to tell viewers that if they pay for a ticket, then they would understand what the hell this all means.

In July 2008 (a year before the film was released), Sony displayed MNU posters at the San Diego Comic Con, similar to the ones that appear in the film. As the release date drew nearer, there were MNU posters at bus stops informing people that the bus was for humans only (with a number to call to report non-humans), as well as banners to let people know that the building they were approaching was for humans only. There were also websites such as multinationalunited.com and mnuspreadslies.com (an online blog written by one of the aliens). Unfortunately, these sites no longer exist. The film had a panel as well as a secret screening at the San Diego Comic Con in July 2009, just weeks before its release, which also generated a fair amount of buzz and positive reviews.

District 9 had a production budget of just $30 million. Opening in the US on August 14, 2009, it reached #1 at the US box office with an opening weekend gross of $37 million, essentially making its budget back in three days. On the Monday after its opening weekend, the film shot straight into IMDb’s Top 250 at #26. The film reached $100 million in its fourth week and ended its run earning $115 million. Overseas the film earned $95 million, making for a worldwide total of $210 million.

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