10 Simple Fixes That Would Make Movie Trailers Awesome Again

6. Don't Ruin The Resolution Of Even Minor Beats

The primary role of a trailer is to sell the movie, and the best way to do that is to tease some of the big events while leaving enough unseen to make the viewer want to buy a ticket: "Here's an enticing set up for free, but you'll have to pay to see how it's resolved." Simple, right?

Well, someone needs to tell the guys making blockbuster trailers. You see, this rule doesn't just apply to the broad plot (although we've already established that's a problem), the same goes for smaller, contained beats too, particularly when it comes to action. Seeing Paul Walker running up a falling bus and making a leap for the edge of a cliff is an exhilarating promise of what you can get in the movie.

Seeing Paul Walker running up a falling bus and making a leap for the edge of a cliff, then catching Michelle Rodriguez's car and getting back on the ground safely is a fairly cool watch, but means there's nothing more to get out of seeing the movie proper. At some point it was decided you could carte blanche spell out an action sequence across multiple trailers, without anybody really considering that what you're doing over the course of a marketing campaign is systematically removing even the smallest surprise.