"Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter" Courts the Military - NYTimes.com Stephen Vaughan/20th Century Fox Benjamin Walker in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," directed by Timur Bekmambetov. The next threat: vampires. With publicists. As early as this week, 20th Century Fox is to announce a series of promotional events - they used to be called publicity stunts - intended to introduce one of its less likely movies, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," to some hoped-for fans serving in the United States armed services. The military push for the film, which opens on June 22 in the United States and on various dates around the world, starts with screenings for land-based troops at undisclosed locations in the Middle East. Then it will move to the Abraham Lincoln, with appearances by the film's star, Benjamin Walker; its director, Timur Bekmambetov; and Seth Grahame-Smith, who was a writer of the script and the book on which it is based, said Jim Lemley, who is a producer of the movie and will join the others, both on the ship and at the bases. "We're going sailing on one of the flagships in the nuclear arsenal," Mr. Lemley said in a telephone interview on Monday. Mr. Walker will be in character as Lincoln. Stovepipe hats and glow-in-the-dark fangs will be handed around. Presumably, any Iranian patrols in the vicinity will not notice. But the 15,000 or so military personnel who will get a first look at Fox's revisionist tale of a warrior president may ignite the sort of international buzz that helps a movie open these days. The Fox screenings are part of a recent boomlet in publicity stunts. Those have become more elaborate as bigger theatrical openings are needed to offset declining home entertainment revenue, and as ubiquitous tools like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have put a new premium on elaborate attention-getters. "Social media changed everything," said Tony Angellotti, a veteran Hollywood publicist who works with studios like Universal Pictures and the Pixar Animation unit of Walt Disney. No slouch when it comes to promotion, Mr. Angellotti 27 years ago walked the streets of New York with a very short man stuffed in a hot latex lizard suit. The idea was to boost "Godzilla 1985: The Legend Is Reborn" for New World Pictures. Is he real? Mr. Angellotti recalls Manhattanites asking. But the publicity value, he reckoned, was exhausted in a day or two, while contemporary stunts have greater reach and a much longer shelf life on the Web. In recent years movie studios have figured out that active-duty members of the military are especially valuable in building global word of mouth, because they travel widely and have powerful communication links. "G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," for instance, turned into a surprise hit after Paramount Pictures introduced it with extensive screenings for the Army and Navy in 2009. The military presence can also bring an air of authority that might elude more conventional stunts. If nothing else, it may avoid the sort of indignity that afflicted Sacha Baron Cohen, when he showed up in character on - and tumbled off - a balky camel while promoting "The Dictator" at the Cannes Film Festival last week. Mr. Baron Cohen had no better luck in 2009 when he arrived for a premiere of "Brüno" astride a battle tank lined with disco-ball mirrors: Michael Jackson died the same day and received far more attention. But Hollywood and its media corps were riveted when the Navy's Leap Frog jumpers dropped into the middle of Sunset Boulevard for a premiere of "Act of Valor" in February. In the publicity wars, an appearance by Lincoln aboard the Abraham Lincoln in a contentious part of the world considerably raises the ante. "I'm not egotistical, but it was literally my idea," Mr. Lemley said. He had gotten to know members of the military when serving as a producer of "We Were Soldiers," a Vietnam War story that starred Mel Gibson, and was released in 2002, Mr. Lemley explained. After calling a friend now in a central command position, he was put in touch with officials who cleared the "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" events, he said. And if the military screenings do not churn up interest, there is always the New York premiere. It will be held on June 18 at - where else? - the AMC Loews Lincoln Square.