10 Most Creative Movie Trailers Ever Made
Even Don Draper would be proud of these film ads.
There's a formula for creating movie trailers and it's something along the lines of 'montage of the film's best bits plus scene-setting intrigue equals piles of money'.
Most Hollywood studios rarely deviate from the established blueprint, which usually includes a deep guttural voice delivered by a guy who sounds like he's smoked one too many packets of cigarettes, and a dramatic sequence of images that culminates in a deadpan shot of a title card.
Most blockbuster behemoths are capable of selling themselves. A few well-framed shots of a Lightsaber battle or a superhero showdown is all it takes to get the audience clamouring for tickets when release day arrives, but there are times when filmmakers have tried to be more creative than this.
Some have used trailers and teasers as an opportunity to further show off their creativity, breaking from the established formula by shooting bespoke footage to promote their film, or presenting its content in unique, unconventional ways.
These trailers can be almost as rewarding to watch as the movie itself, or at least serve as a tasty side helping to the main course when served up in the Blu-ray extras.
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide Rips Into Movie Trailers
The third trailer for Garth Jennings's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy was more of an anti-trailer that rips on the formulaic way Hollywood usually promotes its films.
Stephen Fry, who provides the voice of the titular book, reprised his role to lay down extra dialogue for this teaser, which plays out as though somebody has asked the Hitchhiker's Guide to explain what a movie trailer is.
The film itself has a few decent laughs, and the trailer delivered bonus jokes. Check out the depressed android Marvin's reaction to the woman in the bikini, for instance.
As well as serving as a unique piece of content in itself, this footage also did what all good trailers should and showed off some of the movie's best bits and central characters to built intrigue head of the main event.