Feeling the anticipation for an upcoming blockbuster that a exciting trailer leaves you with has always been an event in itself for me. However lately I’ve noticed that studios are revealing more of the set-piece moments and plot points in their trailers, ruining the movie experience in an attempt to get you to buy a ticket. The problem with this is that by showing so much of a movie within the trailers, the experience of discovering the story along with the protagonist is lost. Let’s look at a couple of this summers blockbuster titles, starting with “The Avengers.”

*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*

The Avengers was a great action flick. The characters had unexpected depth and the plot, acting, action, and most technical aspects all came together to make a very satisfying experience. The only problem is that going into the movie I knew EXACTLY what was going to happen! Loki would be the antagonist, Tony and Thor would clash, the final battle would be in New York, and the Hulk would save Iron Man as he fell limp to the ground. That last part is the kicker for me; I knew as Iron Man flew through the portal during the climax of the film that he would fall unconscious to the earth where the Hulk would catch him. Just by deducing what scenes I had seen in the trailers, I knew that it was the only one I hadn’t seen yet…and it was kind of a buzz kill.

While that may seem like a minor gripe, it’s simply one example of many. The next movie we need to address is Prometheus, which was one of my most anticipated movies of 2012 and eventually the inspiration for this article.  As I watched its numerous trailers in the months before release, each one revealed some new spoiler that ultimately served to ruin the experience for me. Some of the things spoiled were the snake-like aliens attacking stranded crew members, the base on the planet revealed to be a ship, the aliens’ desire to destroy earth, and even that some of the crew would “change” and attack the other crew members. However, if you set aside the predictability of the plot, my overall experience with Prometheus could have been elevated simply by avoiding the trailers. I didn’t know it going into the movie, but everything I’d already seen in the trailers was nearly everything delivered in the movie.

It’s going to be tough trying to avoid marketing for blockbuster movies in the future, however I know doing so could drastically increase the value I get out of my already costly theater ticket. From now on, I pledge to only watch the initial teaser to any movie I’m anticipating.

What do you think, will avoiding movie trailers help to make a movie-goer’s experience better?

Comments

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments