BMW GB's £7m Mini advertising and marketing launch campaign will include a series of “mini blockbuster films”, now premiering at cinemas.

Emma Scammell, Mini marketing manager, said: “The cinema and TV ads portray the car as the star, the personality of the short films. It is a small car, playing a huge hero with a big character.”

The Mini at the movies theme covers science fiction, action adventure and light horror, with “a British tongue in cheek sense of humour”, said Ms Scammell.

She added: “The previous Mini's heritage is not for us to own or keep. New Mini has its own fun and adventures in this campaign. It shows that even dropping down to the shops can be an adventure in a Mini.”

Fibreglass models of the car are being “parked” on the domed roof of the Screen on the Green cinema complex in Islington, London.

The Mini promotional assault ranges from female models distributing matchbooks and “good time” visiting cards in pubs and clubs, to posters on outsized, specially built display frames in major cities.