Some people watch the Super Bowl for the game; others watch it for the commercials. Some avoid it altogether based on everything from their lack of action on CTE to their varying stances on allowing players to kneel to protest racial injustice. But for those who spent Super Bowl Sunday curled up binging Netflix or folding laundry (like me), the most important part of the Big Game is best saved for later: those glorious Super Bowl trailers.
2019’s summer season is chock full of highly-anticipated blockbusters, many of whom saved some juicy details for their Super Bowl trailers, teasers, and teasers of trailers. Whether it’s the latest crop of Marvel
Avengers: Endgame
We got a brief thirty-second trailer for Avengers: Endgame, bringing us ever closer to the resolution of Infinity War‘s brilliant (and undoubtedly temporary) cliffhanger. Here, we see all of Earth’s mightiest (remaining) heroes suiting up to take the fight to Thanos and presumably reverse the dreaded Snap – Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) building stuff together (presumably repairing the Guardians’ ship to get back to Earth?); Captain America (Chris Evans) strapping his shield back on for the first time since Civil War; and the reappearance of Jeremy Renner‘s Hawkeye.
What’s most admirable is their dedication to focusing their marketing on the after-effects of the Snap – haunting images of an empty City Field, fleets of tankers surrounding Liberty Island, and Snap-focused support groups with supportive posters. Here’s hoping we get to spend some time with this, the grimmest possible tone of any Marvel film yet, for the final chapter in this inaugural leg of the MCU.
Captain Marvel
Of course, the Avengers are going to need a little help, presumably in the form of Brie Larson‘s Captain Marvel, who’s getting her own solo debut mere weeks before Endgame‘s release. The latest Super Bowl teaser gives us thirty more seconds of Carol Danvers’ inaugural adventure, repeating her aspirational mantra “Higher, Further, Faster” as she flies through space and accompanies a whooping two-eyed Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in her fight against the Skrulls. It’s real inspiring stuff, and Larson looks like she’s having a blast (heh) – though we’ll reserve judgment for the actual film till it actually comes out on March 8th.
Toy Story 4
We’ve already gotten a short teaser for Pixar’s latest chapter in the saga of a group of toys grappling with the existential horror of existing in a timeless waking nightmare of abandonment and ennui. Still, the Big Game Ad for Toy Story 4 offers a cute little vignette in which Woody (Tom Hanks) looks for Buzz (Tim Allen), who turns out to be zip-tied to the prize rack at a carnival ride. A stuffed bear and bird (voiced by Keegan- Michael Key and Jordan Peele) try to kick him down from the top spot, but of course Buzz (and his retractable helmet) have other plans. It’s an adorable enough vignette, but we’ll have to wait until June 21st to see exactly how this new adventure will make us bawl our absolute eyes out.
Us
Of course, if you’re looking for something a little spookier, Jordan Peele‘s exciting followup to Get Out is right around the corner – Us, a creepy tale of an African-American family (headed by Black Panther‘s Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke) who end up running into their murderous doppelgangers. Already, Peele looks like he’s
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
We got the first real trailer yesterday, but here it is again – our first glimpse at the absurdly fun-looking Hobbs & Shaw spinoff movie. Just like with Fate of the Furious, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham are in prime wisecracking form, trading as many barbs as punches as they track down superpowered baddie Brixton (Idris Elba). I can’t even wrap my head around how
The Handmaid’s Tale
“Wake up, America. Morning’ s over.” Hulu’s third season of the acclaimed (and divisive) The Handmaid’s Tale kicks off with a faux trailer touting America/Gilead’s prosperity – putting women to work, birthing more babies, etc. “It’s a new morning in America” – that is, until Elisabeth Moss‘ June/Offred shows up with those aforementioned portents of doom, accompanied by fire and brimstone. June’s baffling decision to stay in Gilead at the end of season 2 was a real head-scratcher of a moment, so here’s hoping that the class revolution implied here justifies that tone-deaf cliffhanger sometime later this year.
Hanna
2011’s Hanna kinda came and went, but Joe Wright’s fascinating, unconventional mix of Little Red Riding Hood and The Bourne Identity is absolutely worth revisiting. Until then, though, Amazon is remaking the film into a limited series, starring Esme Creed-Miles in the
Wonder Park
Of course, no Super Bowl trailer bonanza would be complete without the latest dumbed-down CG kid’s movie parents can send their kids to in the spring, and Wonder Park looks to fill that gap. Paramount and Nickelodeon’s collaboration is a candy-coated confection about a young woman (voiced by Brianna Denski) who discovers that the magnificent amusement park she imagined as a kid actually exists deep in the forest. However, it’s abandoned, and occupied by a menagerie of cutesy talking animals, including a porcupine voiced by John Oliver and a beaver voiced by Kenan Thompson. There’s slapstick, top 40 hits, and a chase sequence involving “chimpanzombies,” so make of that what you will. However, we always hope movies will be good, and there’s nothing wrong with movies that teach young girls to use their imagination, so let’s wish Wonder Park exceeds our expectations when it comes out March 15th.
Our Planet
If your preferred media of choice is one of the many sumptuous HD depictions of the glory of nature, Netflix has you covered with their upcoming series Our Planet. This eight-part series narrated by Sir David Attenborough (natch) was filmed in some of the world’s only remaining wilderness areas, capturing animals from more than 50 countries around the world. The series is set to debut April 5th, and by the looks of it, it’ll have more than its fair share of wallpaper-worthy high-def images of the wonders of the natural world.