The Case Against Watching Movie Trailers

[Maccix]

The hype leading up to something like endgame,but also lots of other movies to a smaller extend, is something i really love. A movie is done after 2-3 hours,but the buildup to a movie can give me entertainment for months. Discussing the trailers with coworkers, watching some of the crazy theory YouTube videos,reading era on it and stuff like that is part of the fun for me

 

[Slayven]

That's crazy talk.

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Look who I am talking to

 

[Deleted member 32374]

And i also can't count how many trailers spoils things that happens near the middle/end of the movie and totally robs you of the surprise

to each their own, i legit understand people who enjoy watching a good trailer, but it's not hard to understand why i lot of people don't want to watch them

the argument that "they want you to know this, so don't complain and watch" is so stupid... not every trailer is done well, too many show way too much

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Its official marketing. Spoilers for pre release from unauthorized sources are shitty but a lot of places are cracking down.

How do you avoid trailers? They're free and on youtube and there's a thread here with people discussing them openly? Should trailers be spoiler tagged?

Too many popular movies riding on "SURPRISE!!!" these days. That trend needs to be brought down to a reasonable level but it drives up interest and the drip feed frenzies fanbases.... :/

 

[Darknight]

I did this with a few movies and it was amazing. But it's hard to avoid if you go to movies a lot. It's like 30 minute of trailers.

I'm not going to strategically leave my comfy seat and wait until they are done. Seems way to inconvenient.

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Trailers these days are almost the same amount of time at the same theater. With reserved seating, you can pretty much show up 20 minutes after the listed show time to skip the trailers. It's so much easier to do these days.

 

[RDreamer]

I really don't get the spoiler phobia around the internet. A story should be good regardless of twists. If that's the only reason it would have been good then it's probably not a good movie to begin with. There's so much more to a movie than being surprised and I think it's crazy how much stock we put into that one element.

 

[excelsiorlef]

Trailers are great to discover new films you might not have known you were interested in... if I already know I'm going to see it, I skip em, or rather don't go out of my way to see them... if I do I do so whatever.

 

[Violet]

I almost never watch trailers anymore, outside of big event trailers that are sort of like their own thing, or movies that I don't care about. I find that I enjoy going in blind to most movies, and usually trailers aren't how I find out about new movies, I more follow directors or festival hype.

 

[entremet]

Trailers these days are almost the same amount of time at the same theater. With reserved seating, you can pretty much show up 20 minutes after the listed show time to skip the trailers. It's so much easier to do these days.

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I usually get their early--habit from longtime theatre watching. I also rarely go to theatres alone so my companion will think I'm crazy lol.

 

[LakeEarth]

Watching a trailer once isn't a big deal. But if you get obsessed about a trailer and know it like the back of your hand, you might spoil yourself. Recent example being the Us trailer.

Spoiler

While the 'twist' of the movie was fairly obvious, it was especially obvious from the trailer because of the part where the young main character's clone is choking the other.

 

[gutter_trash]

Also avoid streamers who freeze frame trailers

 

[Darknight]

I usually get their early--habit from longtime theatre watching. I also rarely go to theatres alone so my companion will think I'm crazy lol.

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Heh, I have the same habit. I'm just saying it's pretty easy to do so now thanks to reserved seating and trailers being pretty on schedule these days. I love trailers personally, but I also get not wanting to see them too. I purposely avoid Star Wars trailers after realizing that I liked having the huge moments come to light during the movie rather than the trailer. It's just so much more fun. I regret seeing Darth Maul's dual bladed lightsaber for the first time in the trailer rather than in the movie and ever since then I avoid Star Wars trailers. So I get the argument from both sides.

 

[Beren]

If you are revieiwing something and not taking into account how it is sold and what it promises, then you aren't "serious" as a critic. That is fine if that is your method, but you have to recognized it if kinda of half assing it

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Forgive me if someone else has brought this up and you've already responded to it.

I think your method makes sense if you're reviewing something as a product (the box office thread here does this). But if you're only reviewing something as Art and judging it on artistic merit alone, then it doesn't. If you're doing both, then your method also makes sense. I believe most movie critics are (or want to believe they are) judging it on artistic merit alone - so they wouldn't mention the trailer or marketing material.

The trailer isn't a part of the final work of art, in the same way that deleted scenes aren't a part of the final work - and, indeed, discussions on this forum have taken place that discuss deleted scenes in movies that would have altered canon if they had been included, but because they ultimately weren't in the final cut, were not considered canon.

 

[CassCade]

I don't watch trailers that much. Even if they spoil the whole movie for me, I'll just forget what I just saw immediately so it won't affect my viewing experience, the benefits of a shitty memory.

 

[honavery]

I'm a big fan of the Slashfilmcast, so I'm familiar with Dave/Jeff's take on this.

I somewhat agree, especially for people who review movies as part of their livelihood. I will avoid trailers for movies I know I'm going to see anyways. Hereditary last year I watched no trailers. John Wick 3, haven't seen one trailer. (I make an exception for Star Wars, mainly because I can't help myself)
But sometimes, the only way I even know about a movie is from a trailer before a movie. I see a lot of movies myself, but I can't keep up with every release.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

I like how IW handled it by swerving the viewer with scenes that never actually appeared in the movie. That was one of my favorite parts of IW - I got to enjoy the hype AND the movie!

 

[Border]

I stopped watching movie trailers, by and large, after seeing the trailers for Cast Away show him getting home. I'm like, "WTF?!

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People always mention this one, but does anybody who watches that movie really think there is any remote possibility that Tom Hanks is going to die on the island?

 

[AlteredBeast]

People always mention this one, but does anybody who watches that movie really think there is any remote possibility that Tom Hanks is going to die on the island?

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It isn't about that for me, because one can always assume a positive outcome in Hollywood, but I hate knowing the story beats and this one was way too revealing. Some of the most vibrant moments of the movie are depicted, even down to talking to Wilson, making fire, the journey on the raft, coming home and seeing Helen Hunt, etc.

People mention this one because it is egregious as fuck. It's Robert Zemeckis' M.O., though. I don't watch trailers normally, but if it is a RZ film I am remotely interested in, I avoid them like the plague.

The trailer for What Lie Beneath was similarly spoilery, as well, as I recall.