Dear creators of movie trailers:
First of all, despite what I am about to say here, I’m a big fan of your work as a whole.
I am one of those people who hustles to get to a movie early for the trailers. I will gladly sit through segments featuring Maria Menounos’ laugh and advertisements for how your business can buy an advertisement for “the big screen” to make sure I don’t miss the movie’s appetizer: those delightful bite-sized movie trailers about what’s coming soon to a theater near me.
I fill my mental calendar with release dates and invite lists of who should go see them with me. I enjoy being surprised by the announcements of films I never had on my radar until now.
Speaking of surprises, though…that is where my love of spoiling the surprise ends with your trailers.
In recent years, I have noticed a trend that troubles me. A trend that makes me hesitate when watching your trailers for the movies I am most excited to see opening weekend.
So please, explain to me: Why, why, WHY do you all insist on sharing every twist, turn and spooky jump scare in your trailers?!
It used to be that your trailers tantalized us with disembodied audio clips, menacing texts and voice-overs, and an image or two that were plucked out of any context, but that still spooked us and urged us to come back in a few weeks to see what the hell THAT was all about.
Those trailers let us ponder during those waiting weeks to come up with scenarios and stories that in our imaginations were usually way scarier than what would actually happen on screen. But that was the fun of it.
Your trailers used to breed a feeling of anticipation, an apprehension, a sense that one simply MUST see it in theaters as soon as possible lest we face even more days of mental unrest conjuring up what exactly the plots of these movies could really bring about.
Nowadays, your trailers are CliffNotes versions of the entire movie plot. A classic case of TMI-itis. Even the gnarliest jump scares are robbed of their edge after being shown a dozen times between episodes of Below Deck on Peacock.
When I see a trailer that gives a beat by beat rundown of what to expect, my first thought is “Eh, I’ll catch it on streaming.” Why? The allure of the movie is no longer a puzzle box to think about, but just another cookie cutter mandate that screams: “I CHECKED ALL THE BOXES YOU LIKE! PLEASE LOOK AT ME! PLEASE LOVE ME!”
Imagine my fury when I saw the teaser trailer for Companion months ago and allowing myself to sit in confusion over what could possibly be happening, only to have the WHOLE TWIST spoiled for me in the full trailer. We had a good thing going and you blew it. The mystique was gone and I shrugged. There was no need to rush to the theater to see it anymore, you guys took all the suspense out of it.
It’s overbearing and needy and I’ll even say, a teensy bit pathetic. You can’t love-bomb me with plot points on day one and expect me to stick around. You’ve overplayed your hand and expect me to be surprised when you show me that same pair of Kings three weeks later?
You and I both know you’re better than that.
So please, follow the same advice that you’d give a middle schooler with a can of Axe Body Spray: “Less is More.”
Save some (preferably most) of that good stuff for opening weekend so we have a full buffet of frights to enjoy.
XoXo, Chel
