Trailer Made
Trailer Made
Jul 18We fankids get so invested in trailers. They present a lot of different issues for us to…decide on. Are we pants-pissingly excited for this film or are we just…pissed? Does this actor look like a good match for such-and-such comic book role? Does Mulder look too old? Does Nite Owl look fat enough? The judgments start from the very first frame.
And yet, sometimes trailers aren’t a very accurate gauge. The Phantom Menace had a fantastic trailer, and we all know how that turned out. So, you know, just to give a hypothetical, is it really worth our time to get into an IM argument with someone over exactly how kick-ass/un-kick-ass the Watchmen trailer is?
Apparently, it is, because that’s what I spent yesterday doing! (For the record: I think it looks cool, Husband Jeff not convinced.)
Things got a little dicey, though, because my opponent tried to present The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as an example of a “good” trailer that made for a shitty movie. I was so offended by this, I went and looked up said trailer, because in my opinion? This is one case where the trailer told you EXACTLY how shitty the movie would be.
Every bad call, every wrong decision pulsates through its 1:26 running time. The muggy quips that fall flat, the clunky CG, the hamminess of The Connery. It’s all there, right down to the part where the name is too long for them to say out loud, so they shorten it to “The League.”
Here’s hoping that the Watchmen clip (which I still think is super-swell) is an equally accurate barometer of the film’s ultimate quality.
(On a semi-related note: did you know you can follow Rorschach on Twitter? Get to it!)
I remember taking a friend to go see Frighteners and when it was over, she hated it. And she wasn’t alone, because the movie didn’t do so great in theaters and only found it’s feet later on video and DVD. That movie made $30 million, and even with a homegrown effects house, that can’t be a good return.
And I remember asking her at the time why she hated it – “The trailer made it sound like it was going to be a funny Michael J. Fox movie.”
Technically it is a funny MJF movie, but it’s not a light-hearted one. It’s a dark comedy, and she was right – the trailers made it out to be yuks a minute, which it isn’t. You can’t promise one thing and deliver another – no matter how good the other is, it’ll cost you.
The theater trailer is not bad, but most people saw the TV spot, which is a) not online, sadly and b) a laugh riot! Imagine the surprise when you get to the theater expecting Family Ties and you get serial killers.
You mean the Keatons from Family Ties weren’t serial killers? Or is that my pitch for a remake?