I used to love trailers when I was a kid. I remember the day my small town got the E! Entertainment Channel and on came a show called "Coming Attractions". It promised nothing but "The best part of going to the movies... the trailers!"
Here is an episode from 1996.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElqEg-4_WQ
Watching this video makes me think of two things. First, what in the world happened to Cameron Diaz? I understand that it has been about 16 years since then but she looks like a skeleton compared to how she looked in that "Feeling Minnesota" trailer. Also, this show makes me realize I will never look at trailers the same way again.
The days of 28.8 kbps modems allowed me to view trailers as they were released after loading them... for a very... very... low time. I remember waking up early on a snow day and downloading the latest trailer to "Batman and Robin". It only took me 2 hours. Was it worth it? I thought so. Was the movie worth it. No. Definitely not.
Flash forward to now where I'm seeing every movie that is coming out and my views on trailers have completely changed. In a perfect world, I wouldn't even have to see them. I could come right into the theater to my reserved seat just as the studio logo comes on for the film. More often than not, all I need to know is who is affiliated with a movie and the basic plot to know if I want to see it.
Take for example, "Pacific Rim", coming out in July. It is a movie directed by Guillermo del Toro who is the director who directed the modern-day classic "Pan's Labyrinth" along with the much-better-than-they-shoud be "Hellboy" films. It is about monsters who attack major cities (!) who must be defeated using giant human-controlled robots (!!!). Also Charlie Day of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Horrible Bosses" fame is in it as is Idris Elba (!!!!). You don't need to show me one frame of that movie and you've got my $7.50. Any trailer will just hurt my initial experience of seeing it. I've already seen one trailer and it actually made me LESS excited for the final product. Apparently a new trailer was released. I imagine it will play before "Iron Man 3"
Do you need to see a trailer to know if you want to see a big summer blockbuster? Did seeing a trailer for "Transformers", "The Avengers" or anything big-budget spectacle really convert anybody to see them? I would imagine not. These were tickets that could have been sold purely on a 10-second static picture of the poster with the release date below it.
I don't need a loud, flashy trailer to appear and spoil the movie for me. I remember hiding from the "Inception" trailers before that came out. I somehow managed not to see it (probably by not seeing many movies in the theater) until it played before "The A Team". I put my head down and hummed to myself. I must have looked insane but it definitely allowed my first viewing on that movie to be relatively blind.
I have seen the trailers for the upcoming summer films far too many times. I know this is because I've seen far too many movies. I know that when theaters are playing roughly 15 minutes of trailers before a movie, I'm bound to see them repeatedly. I don't think I can handle another viewing of "The Lone Ranger" trailer though. I'm happy "Iron Man 3" is coming out on Friday not just because I'm excited to see what Shane Black can do with the franchise but that I won't have to hear Ben Kinglsey say "You'llllllll nevvveeeeeerrrrr seeeeee meeeee commmmming" in his odd accent before every movie again. I'd also very much like not to hear David Allan Grier say "Well... now you're having puppies!" in the "Peeples" trailer again.
I was listening to the Rope of Silicon podcast recently and heard the critics Laremy Legal and Brad Brevet talk about how they are fairly subjected to what a film is like before seeing it. It appears that critic screenings don't come with trailers before them. Not only do they get early entry to a reserved seat away from the crowd but they also don't have to see trailers. Oh. My.
In my quest to replicate the experience of going in rather blind to a movie, I've decided I'm going to do my best to hide from trailers. I'm going to start bringing in headphones to movies. I'm going to have them lodged in my ears playing an audiobook. Maybe a How to Learn Spanish tape ("Un boleto para Hombre De Hierro Tres, por favor". Maybe I will catch up on some "This American Life". Maybe I will just blare Slayer to get me primed to suffer through "Smurfs 2". I may look slightly deranged but at least I will be going in mostly pure to these movies. I also won't have to be reminded about the upcoming "One Direction 3D" experience.
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