Greatest Movie Trailers (UPDATED)

UPDATE #1:

Blimpy reminded me about the trailer for Black Dynamite:

The director capture the feel for 70's African-American cinema and parodies it perfectly.  My favorite joke in the trailer is at 1:18.

GREATEST MOVIE TRAILERS

I was speaking to my friend Rick O. He asked if I could post an article on the greatest movie trailers. I will be honest that I don't have a great memory of movie trailers. After the movie comes out, the content of the film is what usuallys sticks in my head.

But Rick O. has a great point. There is an art to making movie trailers. Having made a few for a school's film club projects, I can tell you that it is incredibly difficult to distill a 2 hour movie into a 2:30 montage and have it give you an accurate sense of the film while making it incredibly exciting.

There is a great article from io9.com about how you can tell the movie trailer is to a movie that sucks.

I'll share the 4 greatest trailers I can remember, along with some honorable mentions. Please feel free to suggest some yourself.

Greatest Trailers:

The Phantom Menace Trailer #2

While the first trailer was exciting because it was the first new Star Wars in 16 years, this one gave us more of the story and the visual spectacle that was in store. Plus that last beat with Darth Maul fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi was just awesome.

The Lord of the Rings Teaser Trailer.

This was the first chance I got a chance to see the scope of what was being done. But my favorite part was watching the Fellowship come over the hill as they annoucened each movie premiere. I got a special kick, like was I was in the know, when the title “The Return of the King” came up just as Aragorn came into view.

Cloverfield Trailer #1

This was an incredible trailer. I might even say it was the greatest trailer ever. The shock of watching the head of the Statue of Liberty made my jaw drop. What a brilliant bait and switch that was like a sucker-punch, but in a good way.

Taken Teaser #1

This is short on visual content. But the lines that were delievered by Liam Neeson was done with such violent sincerity that I knew I NEEDED to see this movie.

Honorable Mentions:

Dodgeball

I remember people starting to quote the movie just from the trailer. It brought back gym class flashbacks but also gave me belly-laughs.

Take Me Home Tonight:

Feel free to disagree, but when the refrain to theme song comes up, the sudden, high-octane images made me very excited to see this movie. This was actually the biggest money loser of last year, but I enjoyed it, flawed as it was.

The Lovely Bones:

The trailer was beautiful, sad, and scary. I thought this movie would be amazing. If only I knew...

Three Kings:

This movie does a fantastic job of manipulating the tone with classic rock music.

Star Trek Trailer #2

This is Rick O's favorite.

What are your thoughts. Post suggestions here or email me and I'll post an update.

Also...

Check out this slightly NSFW video about movie trailers, that capture some of the tropes: