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I was going to call this thread “Trailers better than their movies”, but then I realized how many awful movies had deceptively good trailers.

I’m more looking for decent to great movies that have mostly accurate trailers, but the trailers fulfill the whole movie experience in an efficient package. I want trailers that scratch the itch of watching the movie better than watching the movie.

One example that came up recently was The Watchmen. Fine movie, although it has some flaws; great trailer.

X-Men Days of Future Past and Logan are both good movies…and both had trailers that felt like the whole emotional journey from their movies, with the awkward flaws excised. When I think of rewatching those movies, I rewatch the trailers and I’m good.

Which movie trailers work the same way for you?

The first Denis Villeneuve Dune trailer:




Pretty much shows the whole first movie too, now that I see it. All the important bits, none of the filler. And you get Eclipse by Pink Floyd thrown in!

 nels1031 wrote:
The first Denis Villeneuve Dune trailer:




Pretty much shows the whole first movie too, now that I see it. All the important bits, none of the filler. And you get Eclipse by Pink Floyd thrown in!

It's a Hans Zimmer cover... it's on one of the many albums... Sketchbook of Dune, I think.

Since it was mentioned but not shared lets get it out of the way.




There were several official trailers but I think I'll go with this one for TDKR.

Lit might not quite be in the right place, as I adore Rogue One, but I could watch the trailer with the minor key epic Imperial March forever. The xwing engine noise always makes my hair stand on end

The Millennium Falcon's appearance still makes me smile.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


One example that came up recently was The Watchmen. Fine movie, although it has some flaws; great trailer.

When I saw the thread title, this was the first movie I thought of. I know directors don't actually make the trailers for their movies, but Znyder is at his best when he's selling a vibe, and the Watchmen trailers (first more than second, but both are great) sell the feeling of the book. The unease, the dread, the bursts of almost cathartic violence... it's in the trailer. In the same way, the opening credits are unimpeachable.

Two tangential points:

1) Watchmen isn't hard to make into a movie because the story is so long, it's a shockingly simple plot when you boil it down. the problem is that the actual story (the killing of heroes and attack on NY) while fine, isn't why the book is incredible. The book includes so many asides and in universe texts that provide background on what, almost a dozen fleshed out characters? It then deconstructs them, and breaks them, and shows who they really are, in ways that just take time that a movie doesn't allow. It's hard to call the movie a clear cut success, but it's hard to imagine a better feature film adaptation.

2) It cracks me up every time that a movie made in 2008 and set in 1985 (?) uses a smashing pumpkins b-side from 1997 to carry the trailer, and it works perfectly. The fact that it's also a different version of a big hit written for Batman & Robin, arguably the worst major superhero movie, is even better. In the context of a deeply post modern book, using a slower, grittier, less well known version of the song was almost certainly a piece of meta commentary on top of justa great musical choice.