The Irony of Superhero Trailer Fatigue
We are far from saved.
Sure, social media is inherently surface level and you shouldn't read too much into it ever, but god damn, do people really not realize we live in the Golden Age of Trailers and that we're constantly getting duped by them? The tweet is worded like the movies have already come out and proven to be good. ALL WE SAW WERE TRAILERS!
Trailers have evolved into these incredible vignettes that have more impact-per-capita than the actual movies they're promoting. It's an obvious leaning into the social media ecosystem - make the coolest 2-minute trailer you can and then you're actually in contention for box office and streaming success. This shift quietly began during the superhero boom and has infected pretty much every genre that gets trailers now. The medium has evolved past its source.
It's not hard to imagine how fun and high-stakes the trailer discussions are among the filmmaking teams.¹ The craft has almost certainly become a social engineering challenge or even more of an accomplishment to make a better, more viral trailer than it is to make a good and talked-about movie. Champagne gets popped when celebratory tweets like the one above go viral, not when box office numbers or DVD sales come in.
The real irony of the tweet is that it declares the world SAVED FROM SUPERHERO FATIGUE when we're really not far from people finally realizing that TRAILER FATIGUE has set in and is a very real issue. It might not be these movies, but the more trailers that come out that get people this hyped only to be disappointed or just feeling meh when the movie does come out,² it will set in.
¹ There are apparently stealth companies staffed with young editing talent, ready to cut trailers for anything – ironically, lots of superhero films use them.
² Also an interesting study - the ways that a 2-minute trailer can emotionally manipulate you into upping your expectations for a much harder to pull off 2-hour movie needs to be studied.