“Enough Already With The Never-Ending Trailers”
What he said:
So the girlfriend and I went to the movies the other night, and I could have sworn we sat for a sextuple feature. This was because five trailers preceded the main attraction.
At least, I think they were trailers. It’s was a little tough to tell given how they showed what appeared to be pretty much the entire movie on fast-forward.
I think you know what I’m talking about. There’s no such thing anymore as a mere tease. Every trailer now comes with its own spoilers minus any alerts.
You emerge from viewing each with the overwhelming urge to leave the theater, grab a coffee and download the experience complete with storyline debate and performance critique.
It’s the studios’ fault!
What was the tipping point when the marching orders from film studios to trailer production houses was, “Okay, just take a little from each part of the film. Mix in plenty of jarring music and every shift of plot.
And don’t forget to include the climax! In slo-mo!”
Trailers: Like the movie, but only the plot points!
I know part of the explanation here is that studios marketing people have their marching orders: Do whatever you can to cut through all the ‘noise’ out there — buffeting consumers on all side — and get their butts in the theaters. So over time, trailers have become longer, bigger, louder.
But apparently they have zero concern that people who watch a trailer, which gives away virtually the entire plot, will be less inclined to want to see the movie — because they’ve basically almost already seen the movie (in the trailer).
I wonder if the studios think if viewers will go to see remakes and sequels, which contain multiple plot points they can already anticipate, and buy DVDs of movies they’ve already seen, viewers are basically preconditioned to plunking down cash to go see ‘pre-seen’ movies.
How about you? Do never-ending movie trailers that give away so much of the plot bother you?
For your entertainment, here’s one take on the worst movie trailer ever: