First impressions aren't always the most lasting. Movie producers and studio executives understand the important of a well-made, attention-grabbing movie trailer—one that's a knockout can upgrade a marginally anticipated project into the must-see tier, while ineffective previews can stain films with bad reputations before they're screened for anyone.
Coming attractions are equal parts first impression and preemptive strike, typically throwing as many attractive things at the screen in a three-minutes-or-less clip: some story, teasing looks at special effects, a few of the respective movie's best pieces of dialogue, and a closing blast of tightly edited footage to leave viewers on a high note. The best trailers leave you asking, "Damn, when does that come out?" The worst, "Fuck out of here with that mess."
Only a poor, far too optimistic fool, though, would ever watch a trailer and say to themselves, "There's no way that movie isn't going to be great." After all, it's the filmmakers' job to make sure people get excited about the product, so of course they're going to show as much as the goodness as possible—especially if the film in question has little else to offer or has the potential to underwhelm. Even the wisest of movie fans has fallen victim to believing a preview's hype on multiple occasions.
Just check out these 25 trailers that are better than the movie and see how many times you've been fooled.
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Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone) and Ross Scarano (@RossScarano)