Hyping the hype: 'Star Wars' and 'Jurassic World' trailers premiere
The world loves movies, but sometimes it seems to love movie trailers even more.
This weekend brings film fans their first looks at two of next year's most-anticipated films, and Hollywood studios are starting to market the release of their trailers with the same breathless excitement as the films themselves.
Thursday's premiere of the trailer for the fourth "Jurassic Park" film, "Jurassic World," was preceded by a 15-second web teaser - yes, a trailer for a trailer - that induced goose bumps with glimpses of new dinos and new star Chris "Star-Lord" Pratt, and a sparse piano rendition of John Williams' famous theme. The new(ish) marketing tactic of making trailers for trailers is frustrating overkill, but I can't deny I watched the "Jurassic World" snippet four or five times. The film hits theaters on June 12.
Perhaps that is preferable to what director J.J. Abrams and Disney are doing to "Star Wars" fans.
An 88-second trailer for next December's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" premieres Friday in 30 theaters - including just one in our area, the Regal City North Stadium 14, 2600 N. Western Ave., Chicago. The trailer won't be released online until December, which means insatiable fans will have to pay for a movie ticket to see Luke Skywalker and pals briefly return to action.
There is precedent for this, albeit in a time when the web was not the all-encompassing entity it is today. The first trailer for "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" premiered in theaters before 1998's "Meet Joe Black" - how's that for an unlikely pairing - and melted nerdy brains with tattooed villain Darth Maul and his double-edged lightsaber. While I, of course, think any cinematic event is best experienced in a cinema, Disney's good intentions may backfire; I suspect most rabid fans will first see the "Force Awakens" trailer in a low-quality cellphone video posted to YouTube.
You may be wondering why all the fuss over what are, essentially, short commercials for films that cynics would call long commercials. "The Phantom Menace" does seem to be the source of trailer-mania; how could George Lucas' film possibly live up to the years of anticipation that exploded when that first trailer appeared? Though initial reactions were positive, time proved that the film could not, and many "Star Wars" fans wish they could preserve that perfect memory of seeing that preview.
So here's hoping we all enjoy the minute-and-a-half of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" we are now allowed to see, and that the full 2½ hours can fulfill even a small percentage of the hype.
<i>Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald copy editor and a tireless consumer of pop culture. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.</i>