Movie previews ftl
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @maniacalmorgan
This rant is long overdue because this is something that has perturbed me for quite some time: Movie previews. I understand the need to market movies, but there's a right way and a wrong way.
I love being surprised when I watch a movie, especially if it's one I've looked forward to for quite some time. When I saw District 9, I went out of my way to not watch any previews. I had only seen the billboards and posters which were anti-alien propaganda from the movie. I remember seeing the ad at a bus stop and not knowing what the hell it was for. Not knowing anything about the movie made it so much more enjoyable. I didn't know what to expect, and as it was it was amazing. Had I seen all the trailers and previews that had been circulating, I can't say that I would have had the same experience.
My point is that trailers SPOIL movies. Like I said previously, I understand the need for marketing. Even having a short little trailer isn't the end of the world. Look at the movie Despicable Me. There was only 1 trailer out for the movie that I only saw a handful of times. And it was the same trailer, not different ones that each gave away some important part of the movie. Their marketing was through other mediums by seeing the little minions on commercials for other products. Despite not drilling our brains with trailer after trailer, Despicable Me opened at number 1 with $54.6 million.
I went to go see The Dark Knight back in 2008 at a big time theater in Hollywood. I did watch the very first teaser trailer when the film was first announced, but went out of my way to not see anything else about it. I changed channels, fast forwarded my DVR, even plugged my ears and hummed whenever necessary. I wanted it to be a surprise. As I sat in the theater with my friend, a short documentary came on about The Dark Knight. I thought "Awesome," before I realized that this was yet another excuse to spoil scenes and secrets from the movie. How dare they! Luckily, I proceeded to use the "fingers in the ear and hum" method whilst onlookers gave awkward glances.
Movie executives and whoever else has any say in the making of movie trailers: stick with one trailer and don't give away all the best stuff in the movie. Not everyone is a goldfish. We will remember what we see when we see the actual movie. Just because some of the things in the trailer are out of context doesn't make it okay. The attention span of our generation may be somewhat short, but we still like to be surprised.