Comic-Con Trailer Round Up
Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 9:40AM Chris here with some post-Comic Con excitement. We've already shown you the two standouts of footage revealed at Comic Con (Wonder Woman and Kong: Skull Island) but they didn't suck all of the air out of the room. This year felt like the first in a long time to be jampacked with buzzy titles, from early first looks, deeper dives, and "Gotcha!" surprises. Here's some of the footage (and first thoughts) you might have missed:
Justice League
• Jason Momoa as Aquaman is the standout, striking the right balance of brooding and fun that BvS never struck.
• ... but haven't we been promised that Justice League would be a less morose affair? An amped up rock tune is not a levity factory - turn the volume off and unfortunately this looks like more of the same.
• If it brings more of Ezra Miller's charm to the masses, will it all be worth it anyway?
• No hinting at Superman's inevitable return, so thankfully no long-game tease of what we already know, killing any tension in the actual film.
Fantastic Beasts, a new take on King Arthur, and more after the jump...
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
• Finally some real plot details besides the pitch of magic in America. Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander inadvertently releasing magical beasts on New York could either be just entertaining world-building or a welcome self-contained antidote to serialized storytelling.
• The Harry Potter connection grows more peripheral the more we see of Beasts, but the design elements are as polished as the best of the series. Eye candy!
• Wait, Jon Voight is in this??
• Do I detect a political campaign tucked in the imagery? We can't escape the election even in the land of Harry Potter.
Blair Witch
• Months ago, the film had been teased (trailer included) as The Woods only to surprise the Comic-Con crowd already seated for a screening as a reboot/sequel to the 1999 game changer. Talk about announcing your arrival.
• However, if you'd seen the original The Woods trailer your mind naturally goes to The Blair Witch Project. The original's tropes are so defined by now that the reveal isn't all that surprising.
• A film revealing its true nature mere months before release worked wonders for 10 Cloverfield Lane. If Blair Witch is as successful, expect more genre films to try to pull the rug out too.
• Screening the film months before release shows confidence on the producer's part, and it paid off with strong word of mouth. Consider me intrigued.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
• Well, it is very much a Guy Ritchie King Arthur movie and it makes as much sense as you could expect.
• In comparison, the Ritchie wit and zippy editing is at least a fresh take compared to its CGI battling hordes and slo-mo seriousness.
• Can this be a more successful franchise opportunity for Charlie Hunnam than Pacific Rim?
• Shouldn't this be even a teensy bit sexier? And where are the ladies?
Snowden
• Even though Oliver Stone is a more populist filmmaker than he's often considered, Snowden's inclusion in Comic Con is rather odd. Something tells me not many cosplayers are stoked for the new Melissa Leo joint.
• ... though maybe Comic Con isn't such a bad place to launch certain Oscar hopefuls. It worked out quite well for Django Unchained a few years ago.
• I'm not sure I remember what Joseph Gordon-Levitt's natural speaking voice sounds like anymore.
• The best work from Stone is enough to make any film he makes worthwhile in case he makes a big return to form, but his last great film was some time ago.
What of the new trailers has you most excited? Have they given you any future cosplay ideas?
Reader Comments (7)
Whoa, I had no idea about Blair Witch. It's a much better idea for a sequel than that stupid Blair Witch 2. It looks like it takes the scares of the low-budget indie and pumps a mainstream studio's budget into them, which is neither good nor bad. Although it looks like they flesh out moments from the original that were scary due to their vagueness ("Get in the corner! Don't look!"). Color me intrigued.
I had a friend of a friend get a copy of The Blair Witch Project from someone at HBO, and we got to watch it at home on a dark and stormy night just before the film was released in theaters, and that brilliant campaign had led us to believe in this "found footage". (And before the hype went insane about the film.)
Terrified me. Did not sleep for 2 days. This looks like more of the same. Those child like hand prints on the walls.....
And yet the best trailer to come out of the convention was for Legion. Am I right? Noah Hawley's Legion, anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SZ3rMMYBLY
It looks so freakin' good!
Wanting very much Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
to succeed. Especially for Eddie Redmayne.
Oh gawd, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's accent! But, hey, Oscar winner documentarian Laura Poitras is being portrayed by Melissa Leo!
Redayne is such an annoying actor. Have hated him ever since he stank things up opposite a wonderful Julianne Moore in Savage Grace.
Ben Affleck is not funny