Chicago Promoting Transformer Tourism

USAToday: The Windy City may get blown to bits in Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Michael Bay's summer blockbuster about a battle between rival alien robots, but local tourism promoters are hoping that devotees of the year's top-grossing film will want to see the real-life version of its sci-fi battleground.

Then-mayor Richard M. Daley was so eager to host Transformers last summer, notes USA TODAY's Bryan Alexander, that he personally assured filmmakers they would have all the resources they needed — to destroy the city. The production generated more than $20 million in local spending, and actor Josh Duhamel recalled thousands of fans watching the downtown filming in lawn chairs. "Explosions would go off, and people would start cheering," he said.

Through a partnership between the location-based social networking site Foursquare and the city's tourism office, Explore Chicago, visitors can earn a Foursquare badge by checking in at such key Transformers locations as the Tribune Tower, the Old Chicago Post Office, Hotel 71 and Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Both Hotel 71 and Trump International are touting their own promotions, as well. Movie buffs can toast the film's Autobot good guys with Transformers-themed cocktails at Trump Chicago's Rebar, and Hotel 71 - showcased as the heart of the Decepticon battle site - offers a $199 per night package that includes a room, two tickets to Transformers and a $20 food and beverage credit.

Explore Chicago doesn't have any stats on whether Transporters' celluloid mayhem has translated to new visitors, but its "On Location" Foursquare badges promote other high-profile movies filmed there: The Blues Brothers, The Dark Knight, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, High Fidelity and "Chick Flicks in Chicago" (including The Lake House, While You Were Sleeping, When Harry Met Sally and The Break-Up).

Now, I don't know an Autobot from an automat - and would much rather check in at Chicago's "speakeasyesque" Green Mill Cocktail Lounge (the Uptown jazz bar where High Fidelity's John Cusack reminisced about an old flame) than ogle a building that had been smashed on screen. But let's hear from Transformers-crazed readers: Does viewing a destroyed Second City make you want to see the real thing?