Winner Feb '01

Other Winners & How to Win!

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Do trailers give away too much plot?

Posted by: ANTHONYKEITH

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Yeah man Yeah!

In a previous thread, I stated how much I really enjoyed "The Long Kiss Goodnight", and I think my degree of enjoyment was directly proportional to the fact that I had NO idea what to expect.

I hate for people to tell me even a little bit about a movie I'm gonna pay $5 to $10 to see. But just the same, I go to new releases as much for the trailers as I do for the movies themselves.

I do think that studio execs think the general public is stupid, and sometimes give the whole story away in the trailers. Personally, I don't like my food chewed by the cook before he serves it to me. I go to movies to be entertained, challenged, thrilled, stimulated, etc., not to be insulted.

Those marketing a movie should remember that oftentimes less is more. Generally speaking, I'd go for less substance in the trailers. And most movie trailers are entertaining in themselves, but execs need to know when they're giving us too much. I won't spend the money to see a movie I've already seen summed up in its trailer.

Knowing where to draw the line may take some special wizardry, because you wanna draw as big an audience as you can to make money, (And who wants to begrudge Hollywood makin' money?) so you can't put too little in the trailers either - - - Also, it very well does depend on each individual movie. There are movies I know I would have seen in the theater rather than on cable or video had there been enough of a clue in the trailers that they'd be enjoyable to me. But comedies probably don't suffer from too much preview exposure as much as dramas, mysteries, and thrillers.

And I watch E's "Coming Attractions" as eagerly as many other TV shows.

Oh, I also stated before that I would not be going to see "Charlie's Angels" and that I did not expect to enjoy it. We have a late release theater (deep discount) in our town where I am able to see prime movies four to eight weeks after their initial release in premium theaters. I saw "Charlie's Angels" for 50 cents. Low Expectations. And I was pleasantly surprised. I knew I might like the movie in the initial moments when LL Cool J's character is on a plane in 1st class when the opening credits on the in-flight movie display "TJ Hooker: The Movie" and he makes a disparaging remark about another old TV series trying to come back to life in the movies. That was my hint that this movie in no way was gonna try to take itself to seriously, (like Batman, Mission Impossible) and I was immediately disarmed enough to give the movie a chance to entertain me.

But might not have enjoyed it at all if I'd have paid a real price to see it. The trailers told me it was ridiculous, so I knew I wasn't going to see it on first release in any case. Had Mr. James comment been in the preview trailers, would I have seen it? Probably would not have made a difference. If so, it would be on the down side of including one of the few high points from the movie in its trailer. I'm glad it was left for me to catch it when viewing the whole movie.

Well that enough of my wind for today. More later.

Much later!

- .k

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