It’s that time of the year. Not only is everyone festive and in the theaters to watch the holiday crop of films, they’re also being sold the next batch of genre projects that will be butting their heads into social calendars in the coming months. It’s a great time for movies but it’s also a great time for trailers. This is the last big chance to push the next wave of tentpole films and how these trailers are received helps play a role in the overall buzz these films have.
Here’s a few standouts from the last weeks of 2015.
Independence Day: Resurgence
Just when you thought it was safe to not give a damn about Independence Day comes proof that a sequel actually exists and with a lot of firepower behind it. This is a big movie and though Will Smith is no longer involved it brings back the rest of the crew and with them a much bigger threat from space. It has everything a trailer like this needs. Ominous music. Vague threats. Newly bearded characters. The question is: Do we still care? Judging from early buzz, we do. There are a lot of people who were the right age at the right time for ID4 to kickstart their inner geek.
X-Men: Apocalypse
With Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine at most a cameo role in the latest X-Men flick, the burden of carrying this gigantic new film in the series rests on the capable shoulders of Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence. Apocalypse (played by the now ubiquitous Oscar Isaac) is the last huge X-villain audiences have been waiting to see and this trailer certainly helps make his presence known. I don’t know if it’s the fact that the superhero movie bar has been raised too high in recent years but this one doesn’t have that wallop it needs to. It’s just the beginning. The next trailer’s going to have to bring it.
Star Trek: Beyond
To say that Star Trek in its new incarnation is polarizing would be a massive understatement. Now with JJ Abrams off doing little indie space movies the franchise rests in the hands of Justin Lin, fresh off an excellent run in the Fast and Furious films and a jaunt into the muddy second season of True Detective. Fun seems to be the dominant goal in the third film and the beloved Simon Pegg even had a hand in writing it. With Idris Elba lending his gravitas it’s hard to imagine this not being a fun time at the movies.
Gods of Egypt
Well they might as well already seal up the Oscars for 2017 because nothing is going to compete with Gods of Egypt. This is amovie made for people who thought Wrath of the Titans was too highbrow. That said, if director Alex (I, Robot) Proyas is able to balance the tone in a manner where we’re laughing with his and not at him this could be a fun diversion in the Spring. If Gerard Butler can channel some of his 300 glory and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau can bring some of the Game of Thrones magic it may just be a fun guilty pleasure.
Kubo and the Two Strings
The latest film from the geniuses at Laika, Kubo and the Two Strings is a star-studded heroic journey that seems to have a really unique identity. This isn’t a project geared towards selling toys but rather something that feels rich and confident. It’s always nice to see intelligent and painstakingly made art for audiences of all ages.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Grace went into great depth here on the subject, but the bottom line is that this is a big deal. The appetite for J.K. Rowling’s creations is nearly infinite and this looks like a fun new direction that has enough of the familiar and enough of the new to really carve out a nice foothold in fandom.