Masters of the Hollywood Trailer
It's the cardinal rule of savvy moviegoers: Never trust a trailer. Even the most dreadful film can be spun into 90 seconds of cinematic gold. But the previews are so damn well done, we still get sucked in. So who are the artists – or con artists – drawing us into theaters? Here's a look at the top postproduction houses.
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New Line Cinema The Return of the King
The Ant Farm CREDITS: Chicago, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Signs, The Sixth Sense NOW PLAYING: The teaser for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Peter Jackson handpicked the Ant Farm to cut all three of his three-hour epics into two-minute shorts. GETS THE NOD FOR: Ensuring signature shots make the cut: In the trailer for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Uma Thurman appears in a formfitting yellow tracksuit, a la Bruce Lee in Game of Death.
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Courtesy Paramount Paycheck
Aspect Ratio CREDITS: Armageddon, Bruce Almighty, The Hulk, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life NOW PLAYING: The trailer for John Woo's psychological sci-fi action film Paycheck. GETS THE NOD FOR: Reeling in audiences for summer action blockbusters. The original Hulk teaser showed the green goliath for mere seconds – just enough to get viewers to the theater. Now that's a how-to for dialing the hype to 11.
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Courtesy Disney Brother Bear
Craig Murray Productions CREDITS: Bend It Like Beckham, Finding Nemo, Holes, Monsters, Inc. NOW PLAYING: A sneak peek of Brother Bear, Disney's next big-budget animated flick, which opens wide November 1. GETS THE NOD FOR: Making family-friendly fare sexy. The company is practically in bed with the Mouseketeers and has spliced Pixar's pixels on every film since Toy Story.
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Courtesy Warner Bros. The Matrix Revolutions
Giaronomo Productions CREDITS: Bad Boys II, Pirates of the Caribbean, S.W.A.T. NOW PLAYING: A hipper-than-thou teaser for The Matrix Revolutions, the last chapter in Keanu's excellent AI adventure. GETS THE NOD FOR: Tantalizing audiences with larger-than-life action. The Matrix Reloaded teaser was nothing more than a string of blink-fast glimpses. Downloading a copy and manically hitting Pause caused repetitive stress syndrome across the country.
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Courtesy ©2003 Revolution Studios Distribution Company Hellboy
Mocean CREDITS: 8 Mile, The Salton Sea, Snatch, Underworld NOW PLAYING: The trailer for the comic turned flick Hellboy. GETS THE NOD FOR: Splicing together the essential geek chic and mainstream-pleasing ingredients of Hellboy – a superheroic task. mOcean also pulled off the fast-paced, razor-sharp editing in the Underworld trailer, which stirred up enough chatter (and nabbed enough viewers) to get its B-movie material into A-list theaters.
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