I think we’ve all encountered movie trailers – especially for action/adventure movies or thrillers – that pique your interest in an upcoming movie, have you salivating with interest, can’t wait to see it – but then you see the movie and realize all the best parts were saved for the 60 second trailer. Or that stuff was made up for the trailer that never was seen in the movie.
What are some GREAT trailers for BAD (or disappointing) movies you recall?
For me, the first teaser trailer for Godzilla (1998) was the best – that was the one where a group of children in a museum are following a musuem guide as they look at a T-Rex skeleton. The guide drones on and on about the T-Rex’s size and undisputed savagery. In the distance, however, an omnious thumping noise can be heard. The children look around nervously. Gee, it sounds close. Is it thunder? The unflappable guide talks louder and louder until – Godzilla’s foot comes down through the roof and smashes the T-Rex skeleton to bits. The foot immediately rises back through the ceiling and a massive tail whips through the remains of the museum and the petrified, stunned onlookers. CUT TO: the title credits. “Godzilla. Coming Summer 1998.” Grown-ass man I was then, I was still hooked! Nice indirect dig at JURASSIC PARK with an unexpected thrill that the movie it all its gross stupidity and unoriginality never matched. Of course, if helped they kept Godzilla’s revamped appearance under wraps, too; if they had ever shown Godzilla’s face in the trailer, I would’ve passed on the movie. I should have known something was up when the subsequent tagline, “Bigger Is Better!” kept popping up everywhere…
I worked in a movie theater in 1992 when the John Ritter/Pam Dawber movie “Stay Tuned” came out. The trailer was pretty funny and always got good crowd reaction, but the movie was awful and sank like a big rock at the box office. Turns out all the funny bits could be neatly edited into a quick trailer.
How about Reign of Fire? Decent looking trailer, great looking ads, horrible film.
And then there’s The Musketeer…sounds good enough, based on great historical novel, Tim Roth is cool, fight scenes choreographed by the guy who did the fight scenes in The Matrix, weird, but why not? Baaad baaad baaad movie. First one I ever nearly walked out of.
[Nitpick] The Tristar Godzilla movie posters actually read “Size Matters.” This lead to a horribly ironic joke at LucasFilms, wherein some wag photoshopped a poster to read “Plot Matters.” Who knew?
[/Nitpick]
And you’re right, the trailer was a whole lot better than the flick itself.
I think the biggest discrepancy I’ve ever encountered between how much trailer/tv ads got me stoked to see a film and the film’s actual quality was with Hudson Hawk.
I wanted to see that movie so bad, the ads made it look so cool. Then I actually saw it. Not the worst movie ever, but damn close.
Yeah, but if the trailer’s better than the film, then you know you’re in trouble…
I agree about the trailer for X-Men. Though the movie didn’t exactly “suck,” it certainly didn’t meet the excitement level I had after seeing the trailer.
Another one for me was A.I. The trailers for that were stunningly good, with a soft woman’s voice speaking the words that activate the emotional center of the android, the words showing against a white background which resolved eventually to (I think) an eye. Between that and the Evan Chan online mystery at the same time, I was way hyped for that movie. It wound up being only so-so. The online mystery game was actually much better… Cloudmakers Rule! Nancy did it!
Between “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) and “True Lies” (1994), Arnold made “Last Action Hero” in 1993.
The summer teaser trailer, as I recall, was understated and very very well done. A frame still where police could be heard yammering in panic for about 20-30 seconds before Arnold’s character simply steps into the frame, promising to come to the rescue.
No woebegotten little kid with a magic ticket. No dual roles for Arnold. No movie killer who twists tries to reality to suit his needs. No, “What if I came out of the movies and into YOUR world?”
I always suspected another reason that “Last Action Hero” bombed so bad – besides a miscast kid sidekick and not fully exploring its “magic movie ticket” premise – is that the trailer essentially promised an ENTIRELY different movie than the one delivered.
The trailer was BEAUTIFUL, featuring all the movie’s most gorgeous, cinematic shots. None of the main characters spoke a word of dialogue. A fantastic, fantastic trailer.
As for the movie… holy Christ Jesus in heaven, it was bad.
