Jeffrey Stoltzfus

Movie trailers in decline.

I'm a fan of movie trailers. They're quick little bursts of hope. And over the years I've prided myself on becoming incredibly accurate when judging a movie from its trailer. Saved me from quite a few horrors in the theater (only to see them later on cable with a self righteous smile).

However lately I've discovered a disturbing trend. The television trailers have become increasingly vague as of late. They show snippets the movie - but not the plot - and then focus on the cast (and any awards they seem to have won, ever). This is nothing new as far as using stars to sell a movie. But this new trend of avoiding the story (aka the movie) isn't going to pull people to the theater.

Let me pepper you with some examples. I first noticed it with Nicholas Cage's action movie Bangkok Dangerous. The television trailer showed Nicholas Cage's character shooting everything that moves followed by his V.O. of "My name is Joe. This is what I do." Oh well sign me up. I can't buy enough tickets for this one. And how did the movie fare? Not well. It topped the first weekend with such a low number (because nothing else was out) that it would have been buried during the summer.

The crappy trailer phenomenon continued into other movies: Righteous Kill, Body of Lies, Pride and Glory, Nights in Rodanthe, Miracle at St. Anna. I'm not saying any of these movies are crap. And maybe their theatrical trailers were much better. But the state of television movie trailers seems to have shifted from quality to confusion. "Just show the stars." seems to be the new order.

Or maybe they're just trying to hide the fact that all these movies are terrible.

October 4, 2008 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | Add Comment