LONG BEACH, Calif. — Commuters who were snaking along the 405 freeway in Southern California on Wednesday morning caught an unusual sight. Just about 800 feet above them, a 135-foot orange blimp drifted along the coast.

Inside a gondola below the airship, the pilot was gently pumping foot pedals to steer the blimp over the Queen Mary and the L.A. River as the sun rose over the Pacific.

The aim of this peaceful morning ride was in fact a bold one: to save independent film, or at least one film. Indie studio A24 rented the blimp to promote “Marty Supreme,” its new Timothée Chalamet movie that rolls out in theaters on Christmas Day.

The blimp, which floated from Nashville to Los Angeles last month, is just the latest in a series of unusual marketing techniques the studio is deploying to sp

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