Don’t take this the wrong way, entire population of the planet, but you do know that movie trailers have been around for some time, yeah? I only ask because it seems as the world is just getting in on this hip new form of advertisement the 24-hour online viewing record keeps getting broken. It's funny I bring that up, because said record has been broken again for the third time since September, this time at the hands of several jacked, bald men.
News broke via Deadline that the trailer for the upcoming action flick, THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, has generated a whopping 139 million views in a span of just one day thereby unseating the previous champ, last month’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST trailer, which defeated September’s FIFTY SHADES DARKER trailer. If you have your pencils out that means the coveted record has been broken every month since September. October failed to show-out, but fans seem to be kicking into overdrive to make up for it.
FATE OF THE FURIOUS generated such numbers thanks in large part to a massive trailer unveiling at Times Square in Manhattan with stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel, Michelle Rodriguez, and director F. Gary Gray making an appearance, with the trailer taking over 33 digital billboards. Such a big advertisement for the trailer then drove the masses online, where it promptly destroyed the record like a wrecking ball destroying a dozen cars.
Other stats accounting for trailer views include 38.8 million views in North America between YouTube and Facebook, and 49.5 million internationally. As well, numbers were undoubtedly added to the count thanks to Johnson and Diesel’s social media accounts (which amount to a combined 270 million followers across several platforms), and 18 million views from third party sources. To put this all into perspective, the first trailer for FURIOUS 7 in November 2014 generated a then staggering 30 million views in its first day. Of course this couldn’t top the astounding 34 million views of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, a record that compared to now would make sense if it debuted in 1955. Oh, the simpler times of 2014.
For instance, earlier this year the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST teaser—not the trailer, mind you, but the teaser—garnered a whopping 91 million views, and the awesome GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY trailer starring Baby Groot gathering 81 million views. I expected more from you, Baby Groot.
This is a massive increase in first-day traffic for movie trailers in just a little over two years, and there’s a lot that could be accounting for it. First of all, most social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have been joined by movie studios, allowing them to push their advertisements across more and more platforms, generating more interest. As well, there are more of the much-scoffed-about “trailer teases” popping up, giving fans a 20-second taste, and then leaving them wanting like a GAME OF THRONES cliffhanger. On that note, it probably won’t be long until the record is broken again, possibly in January by the look of it. I’m gonna call it now and say, oh I don’t know, the next JOHN WICK CHAPTER 2 trailer. A worthy crown for a worthy king.
THE FATE OF FURIOUS arrives April 14.