This week, the final trailer for 20th Century Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released. Now, granted it does look pretty good, I can't help but wonder "what if this movie totally sucks?" I'll admit that after seeing a movie, I would probably be the last one to say that it "sucked". I don't know why, thats just me. Anyway, my reason for saying this is that in the past, there have been plenty of movies with mind-blowing trailers that attract tons of people but in the end, the trailer ended up being better than the movie itself. For the sake of this blog, lets call it TRAILERITIS. Lets journey back to several movies with kick-ass trailers that led to not so kick-ass movies.
Exhibit A) Spiderman 3
The first movie on our list of traileritis victims is none other than Spiderman 3. This movie marked the highly anticipated debut of the ani-hero, Venom. Most of the advertising for this movie centered around the black suit. Everything was like "black suit, venom, black suit, venom." This drew in more people throughout its theatrical run than either of the previous movies. Upon its opening, it was WIDELY criticized for bad acting (which included fake tears, and a sudden "emo-esque" persona taken on by Toby McGuire), horrible dialogue (including the scene in the park or whatever where Peter Parker and Mary Jane break up), and most of all, LACK OF VENOM!! the one major thing they used to advertise this movie in trailers and TV spots! Venom's total screen time was like ,what, 20 minutes out of the whole movie? Lameee. Even though it went on to be the highest grossing of the 3 (because of traileritis of course), it was almost unanimously panned for those 3 reasons.
Exhibit B) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Being a fan of the first 2 Mummy movies, I had high hopes for this movie. However, as more and more details about it were released, my hopes dwindled. First strike against it, new mummy. Not having the mummy come back from the other 2 movies pretty much sets up some kind of failure in my opinion. Second strike against it, new mummy isn't even Egyptian, he was Chinese and played by Jet Li...seriously, wtf. Final strike against it was that it took place years in the future when the son from the previous movie is all grown up and going on his own little adventures (apparently Brendan Frasier's character doesn't age if his son can now be an adult while he looks exactly the same...). Oh, and not to mention the fact that Rachael Weiz's character was played by someone else. Anyway, all doubts were put aside after seeing the trailer. Lots of action, interesting story, etc. Unfortunately, it fell victim to Traileritis. I said earlier that I don't say movies suck, but I will say that this movie is at the bottom of my list. Chinese clay mummy with abominable snowmen? No thanks.
Exhibit C) Cloverfield
I don't even know where to begin with Cloverfield. This was one of the most talked about movies in a looooong time, well before it even had a proper title (which many believed to be "1-18-08"...its a release date, not a title, come one people). Trailers showed NYC being destroyed by some mysterious creature that was never properly seen until the end of the movie. Ridiculous internet hype surrounded this movie too. There were countless viral marketing sites for it as well as tons of people trying to slow down and freeze the trailer in order to get the tiniest glimpse of the monster. Many believed it to be Godzilla, Voltron, or even Jurassic Park 4 (seriously, I read it somewhere). Once the movie was released, everyone and their mothers flocked to see it, only to be disappointed by Traileritis. The trailers made the movie look crazy with so much chaos and destruction when really all that went on was this guy and his friends trying to find his ex-girlfriend...boringggg. The ending was pretty abrupt too. I was recently told that the city was blown up, but I honestly don't recall that happening. Either way, Cloverfield fell victim to Traileritis...crazy trailer that attracted almost everyone to a lame movie about a guy looking for a girl.
Anyone noticing a pattern here? 2 out of these 3 movies were the 3rd entry in their respective franchises. We'll talk more about that later. Anyway, there you have it. Traileritis, the unfortunate plague that haunts many movies these days. Well maybe not so much a plague on the movie as it is on the viewer. The movies still do well.
Take a look at the Wolverine trailer I spoke about earlier and see what you think is gonna happen.
