The recently releasedMortal Kombat 2 movie trailerwas a fun watch, with the introduction of Johnny Cage, plenty of foul language and gore, and the inclusion of the iconic ‘Mortal Kombat’scream to top it all off. What’s not to love? I’ll tell you what, the hours-long streaming “event” that ran before it across social media.
Stunts like this have become far more common in movies, TV, and even video games in recent years. Whether it’s watching the reveal ofway too many director’s chairsso you’ll know filming on the next Avengers has started or viewing thetrailer for a Transformers movie debut in space.Even the final season of Game of Thrones had fans sit through over an hour of watching ice melt – seriously – just to learn the date of the season premiere.
The Worst Way To Get Me Excited For A Movie
At some point, marketing firms in the entertainment industry seemingly lost their minds and decided we all want to stare at a YouTube video for two hours just to see a three-minute clip. I don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I absolutely do not want that. Sure, part of the problem is I’m an entertainment journalist and covering stuff like this is technically my job.
More than that, though, I’m someone who loves movies and TV. And if your preview or announcement is worthy of our time, it won’t need to be preceded by astream allowing you to pick which character poster you want revealed. By the time the two hours are up, I simply don’t care as much about whatever it is you’re trying to sell me. So pretty please stop wasting my time.
And I enjoyed the Mortal Kombat 2 trailer. However, I would have enjoyed it more without the forced faux excitement. We aren’t watching this video because we’re dying to see a character poster for Kano, even if we don’t understand why he’s in the movie since he was previously killed off.
And don’t think video games aren’t guilty of this, too. You all remember last week’shour-long DJ Pikachu setthat led to the announcement off… not much at Pokemon Presents?
How Did We Get Here?
This all goes back to the promotional cycles for Cloverfield and The Dark Knight, both released in 2008 with interactive campaigns leading up to their release. With The Dark Knight, we were slowly revealing our first looks at a teaser, as well as an image of Heath Ledger’s Joker. The idea that we, as fans, could use the internet to uncover actual clues about a new Batman movie was exciting and fresh.
The same can be said for Cloverfield, except none of us actually knew what it is we were looking for. That made it even more exciting, as it often felt like an internet-wide exploration for bits and clues about whatever Cloverfield was going to be and how Slusho – a fictional brand featured in the franchise – would bring about the end of the world.
Those two early examples of engagement-driven marketing for movies were perfect examples of the time they happened in. At the time, YouTube was only three years old and the advent of endless searchable streaming video, where you could find the clips themselves or videos theorizing on what they meant, was a novel idea. Now, in 2025, that’s just YouTube. It’s stuffed with commentators who have thoughts on everything, and they’re shouting them at you 24/7.
The reason those campaigns worked so well is because they were novel approaches to an aging system. Now, the watered down version we get these days has aged even worse. And it’s time to go back.
The Solution Is A Pretty Easy One (And Cheaper, Too)
While I have a hard time believing studios will backtrack into how trailers used to be released, it would certainly be a better option and one that would cost them far less money. Just release the trailers. Put them online, promote them on social media accounts, and let the internet do its thing.
There are still blockbuster movies that simply release their trailers online and let press and fans carry them to the far corners of the internet. When I see that, it gives me more faith in whatever is on tap because it’s no frills. When the first trailer for 28 Years Later arrived, it took my by surprise because it simply appeared – and it was wonderful. Meanwhile, Superman went on to debut as one of the biggest movies of the year. However, it’s trailers were heralded little by little more than an excited James Gunn letting his social media followers know to be on the lookout the next day.
Of course, releasing a trailer with no fanfare doesn’t automatically mean you’re headed for something great. Sadly, not all movies are good – good for me, anyway. But, at the very least, I’m enjoying a viewing experience that’s more likely to ensnare me in the unfolding story.
I sometimes have a hard time calling a movie, TV show, or video gametrulybad because there’s always someone out there who loves it unashamedly, and that has to mean something.
However, there’s an even more interesting solution, and it’s one that has somehow made me like James Cameron’s Avatar franchise for the first time in history, which is something I never thought I’d say.
Did Avatar 3 Just Fix The Problem With Movie Trailers?
As I sat down to watch Fantastic Four on its Thursday preview night, I also settled in for what I expected to be 20 minutes of trailers, most of which I won’t pay attention to because that’s just too much content to properly absorb before watching a two-hour movie.
you’re able to imagine my surprise then when the AMC introductions started to play, Nicole Kidman told me about how heartbreak feels in a place like this, and the trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash began to roll. It was the only trailer that played before Fantastic Four began.
What an absolute delight to not wonder ‘isthisthe last one?’ constantly. Instead, an employee at the theater I was in walked in, said there would just be a single trailer, and left us ready to partake.
I should note here, I don’t like or care about the Avatar franchise. I find James Cameron’s public-facing personality is exhausting and that his directorial work peaked with Titanic. I can respect the visuals of Avatar – it’s a 3D black light poster in motion – but the story, characters, and performances just don’t do it for me. If you love them, that’s fine.
However, my feelings on Avatar have adjusted a little bit. And that’s thanks entirely to seeing the trailer on its own, not surrounded by other projects, giving me the chance to engage with it and really take in what was being shown.
I’m not saying I’m now an avowed Avatar fan. But I must admit, I do want to learn more about the new characters and tribes being introduced – I’m a sucker for world-building and for the first time I want to know a bit about the Pandora of the films.
If this trailer had been released online, with or without an event tied to it, I would have passively watched it on my phone after the fact. Instead, I was basically a captive audience, phone in my pocket, watching the larger-than-life trailer on the big screen. And as of the writing of this piece on Friday, in-theater remains the only way to see the clip. (The trailer was released online Monday.) The same goes for the very light tease forChristopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. It won’t be in theaters until next year, but for a teaser of the film, you have to go hunt it down in theaters.
This is how trailers were originally meant to be shown, so you’re able to fully grasp the scale and scope of what’s being presented in the way they’re meant to be seen. It’s a lot harder to capture that spirit when the trailer is simply stuck on the end of a two-hour prerecorded ‘streaming event’ that exists for little more than to juice your YouTube numbers.
