This past weekend saw the return of that giant bird of the American airwaves, the Superb Owl. It ruled with its mighty beak and wise, staring eye… All right, so it’s the Super Bowl, one of the biggest dates on the US sporting calendar, where two American Football teams compete for a big shiny trophy, viewers compete to see who can eat the most without exploding and purveyors of products, services and movies compete to see who can draw the most eyes to their adverts. Here is this year’s crop of commercials eager for your attention. But do they have you itching to head to the cinema this spring and summer?
UK Release: July 3
Essentially a Best Of from the trailer, this one attempts to cram the film’s twisty, time-hopping, chronology-curving alternate universe plotline into a thrifty 30 second spot. It’s naturally big on nostalgia, going heavy on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ageing take on the T-800, but also featuring Emilia Clarke’s alterna-Sarah Connor and Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese. Plus some extra glimpses at the set pieces, including the idea that San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge gets into trouble again.
UK Release: March 20
More Matrix-y razzle dazzle from the Divergent sequel, which cranks up the sci-fi angle and goes for lots of dream-like shattering glass and gravity-mocking leaps. It’s essentially Tris (Shailene Woodley) vs. Jeanine (Kate Winslet) as the former attempts to harness her heroic destiny and the latter looks to tighten her grip on power in the dystopian future. Given what happens, it’s a wonder they didn’t decide to score it with Queen’s I Want To Break Free.
UK Release: June 26
The Despicable Me critters do represent the likely main Super Bowl audience, at least after they’ve downed a few alcoholic tipples. One of the few teasers to reference the Big Game itself (not surprising, since the film has already put out a Christmas-themed ad), it’s very much about the little yellow guys drinking fun fruit drinks and, er, taking their denim overalls off. Won’t somebody think of the children?
UK Release: April 10
Much shorter than even the Minions spot, the promo for the Hot Tub Time Machine sequel crams in as many big game references as it can into a brief 17 seconds. It helps if you know that A) one of the teams on the field was the New England Patriots and B) that the team is embroiled in an alleged cheating scandal surrounding deflated game balls. The filmmakers must’ve been thanking their lucky stars on the last one since the movie, which reunites Rob Corddry, Clark Duke and Craig Robinson and swaps out Adam Scott’s character for John Cusack, features a futuristic joke about inflated testicles. The movie appears to be more of the same, so if you liked the first dip in the Hot Tub, you’re probably happy.
UK Release: April 3
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s very much the motto for the current iteration of the Fast franchise. So expect more of Vin Diesel’s Dom and the rest of the gear head gang getting into scrapes. Especially when the new movie features the brother of FF6’s Owen Shaw, played by Jason Statham, who is none too happy that his younger sibling was taken down. We predict a three-pronged baldy battle between Diesel, Statham and The Rock. And yes, it makes no nod towards the big game, but that’s not what you come to the franchise for, is it?
UK Release: June 12
Initially looking like it’ll offer a shorter version of the trailer, the Jurassic World spot expands to talk more about the film’s main attraction. No, not Chris Pratt (though he’s featured a lot thanks to his freshly minted movie star status), the Indominus Rex, which has been specially bred to be bigger, better and better than any of the other dinosaurs in an attempt to attract fresh punters to Jurassic Park. You can guess what happens: of course it gets loose and starts hunting down humans... These trailers keep on buoying our positive feelings for the film, and the idea it’s in safe hands with director Colin Trevorrow. Still, the proof will be in the roar-packed pudding.
UK Release: May 22
Just a quick look at Brad Bird’s latest – after all, he and Team Disney don’t want to give away everything before George Clooney and co. make their way into cinemas. But the feeling is still very much of a nostalgic throwback adventure to a world of wonder under threat from something inside itself. There are some new peeks at the wider world on display, more narration from Clooney and just a hint of what Tomorrowland itself is all about, without ruining anything.
UK Release: March 27
After weathering one missed release date after another, and a change of studio hands, this latest fantasy adventure goes heavy on the supernatural carnage as its US release draws near. Legendary and Universal will be hoping it fares better than the last film featuring Jeff Bridges mentoring a young man and changing the world, because no-one wants another The Giver. This one may surprise us all, but it’ll have to, given the baggage it arrives with.
UK Release: July 24
After suffering through a Pixar-free 2014, we do at least have two films on the way from the company this year. Inside Out, which stars the emotions running around inside a young girl’s head, is first from the ‘toon warehouse, and this little extra tease is really just a roll-call of the various characters, including Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Anger (Lewis Black). There’s really no new footage besides the shots of the characters themselves, but at least it means there is a lot more of the film to unveil.
UK Release: May 15
The Pitch Perfect sequel might not seem like the first film you’d think of when targeting the traditional Super Bowl audience, but with a massive viewing crowd including families and sports fans of all genders, it’s pretty much the chance for any movie to score an awareness boost these days. For the Super Bowl spot, it’s really just an excuse to insert performers made up of the Green Bay Packers defensive line-up, who crop up for one joke in the pic and allow Rebel Wilson, who pretty much gets all the lines in the trailer, to react to their presence.
UK Release: March 6
Vince Vaughn’s latest comedy used one of the newer Super Bowl gambits – a short ad promising a look at footage that couldn’t be shown on TV – to point the way to a new Red Band trailer. Well, we say “new” but there really are only a few unseen moments from the film sprinkled in between the Red Band promo that has already been online, all set to The Lonely Island’s Like A Boss. Which seems fitting, we suppose. Naturally, there are some elements in the footage that are NSFW.
UK Release: July 10
Following mere days after the first trailer for the comedy sequel, this spot doesn’t attempt to squeeze that promo into one new ad, but instead offers up some specially-shot footage of Ted (Seth MacFarlane) and John (Mark Wahlberg) trying to extract sperm from quarterback Tom Brady. The, er, old-fashioned way… Suffice to say it does not go well, especially when they’re caught sneaking into his bedroom and thrown from the balcony. It’s more of the same from the Ted team, is what we’re saying. Gross-out-meets-good-natured with a side of snark? You betcha.