By now, you are likely one of the legion of MCU fans disappointed yet again that the first trailer for AVENGERS 4 has yet to appear. Like a cult predicting Armageddon, so-called experts have theorized that the first tease of the follow-up to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR would debut. When the date of their prediction came and went, another theory rose and was quickly shot down. At this point, everyone is banking that the trailer will hit before December 5th when Marvel Comics' prelude to AVENGERS 4 hits stores. Some think it will be December 13th which would be the date that aligns with Doctor Strange's 14,000,605 potential futures. Whenever the trailer finally debuts, it is going to break the internet. But, the longer that Marvel Studios waits to premiere it, the better it will be for everyone. Why? Let me break it down for you.
The Internet Has Spoiled You.
Many of you may not even be old enough to remember the days before trailers were available online. Twenty years ago, STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE debuted a teaser that sent fanboys to buy tickets for MEET JOE BLACK just to see three minutes of footage before walking out on the Brad Pitt romantic drama. In the olden days of 1999, trailers were almost exclusively debuted on Apple's trailer site. We all became very familiar with the QuickTime plugin and had to carefully choose which file size we wanted: smaller and faster, or larger and better quality.
Today, we have virtually every trailer ever made on YouTube with the newest ones premiering across platforms within minutes. While this allows us to quickly share the latest and greatest movie trailers on our mobile devices and streamed to our flat screen TVs, it removes that quest to see the trailer on the big screen. Don't get me wrong, I love working here at JoBlo.com and seeing dozens of new trailers a day and getting to write about them, but there was something really cool about sitting down in a movie theater and seeing a trailer for a movie you had no idea was coming. AVENGERS 4 could be on the verge of doing something no movie has ever done before.
Illustration courtesy of Paul Shirey
We Don't Need A Trailer.
Can you imagine if Marvel and Disney decided to not give us a trailer at all? Right now, Joe and Anthony Russo along with Kevin Feige and Bob Iger are all balancing on a precipice. If they keep trolling fans and not revealing the title nor any footage from AVENGERS 4, they could have a contingent of fans turn on them. The likelihood that it would be a large enough population of fans to impact the box office is neglibile, but the longer we go without any footage, the better.
What would really be the problem if we went into AVENGERS 4 without a trailer or even a subtitle? Studies have shown that audiences actually want more footage and spoilery details in their trailers which runs the risk of ruining the dramatic experience of the film. But, trailers are also designed to coax viewers into seeing a movie. AVENGERS 4 doesn't need to coax anyone. With box office results over $600 million domestically and in the billions worldwide, AVENGERS 4 is guaranteed to be a hit no matter what the studio elects to do
This Will Change Movie Marketing Forever
Currently, studios are staking out dates years in advance. Marvel Studios already has the next several years worth of projects tied to a release schedule that forces other studios to strategically plan around them. For a movie that costs hundreds of millions of dollars to produce, the marketing costs equal or exceed that amount. Trailers, publicity, advertisements, and poster all cost money and the launch of each one requires a carefully orchestrated crew to execute. What Marvel Studios is doing right now costs them absolutely nothing and is keeping AVENGERS 4 as a trending topic on Twitter.
By having the directors and cast contradict each other with stories about the film or posting vague images, we the masses are then sent into a frenzy trying to decode what every little shadow or shape could mean. The moment a trailer drops, we will be picking apart every single frame for clues to what the movie's plot will be. A quick search on YouTube will show all of the film clips and trailers released for tons of movies cut together into what amounts to a significant portion of the finished film. Do we really need to see half an hour of scenes for a movie we will be watching in a few months? Going in fresh with no preconceived notions or impressions alters the movie-going experience. Right now, we get teasers for some films over a year before release. What AVENGERS 4 is doing right now fundementally alters how studios tease audiences.
Waiting Is The Hardest Part…But It Is Also A Lot Of Fun
Do you remember when the first teaser for THE DARK KNIGHT debuted? Using the Internet to partake in solving puzzles and games that required people to visit real world locations made the reveal of the teaser something special. Then, it ended up just being sound clips and the image of Batman's logo. Were you disappointed? I wasn't. In fact, the "less is more" approach made my anticipation for the movie even greater. Many people likely think that they will get more excited for AVENGERS 4 if they see footage. With the current temperature of the online fan community, I would instead expect a lot of bitching and moaning about inconsequential details that deviate from expectations. Someone is going to be disappointed no matter what AVENGERS 4 ends up being.
The only reason we are even expecting a trailer is because we are conditioned to. Because AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR's trailer debuted one year ago, we assume AVENGERS 4 will premiere right about now. But, if the Russos are being honest and the trailer doesn't debut until 2019, that just means we have so much more to theorize about. I am not angry or frustrated that I haven't seen an AVENGERS 4 trailer yet. Hell, I am expecting that when it does debut, it will be archived scenes from the films that came before and will not show us anything new. I don't even need to know the title of the film until the end credits roll. How amazing would it be to only have a poster that has a giant A on it and a single teaser with just existing footage from the MCU. We then sit in our local movie theater and collectively experience something unlike how any film has been experienced in decades, if ever, and when the screen fades to black, we learn what the movie was actually called. That would be something monumental.
Whatever ends up happening with the title or trailer for AVENGERS 4, the movie is coming to theaters May 3, 2019. I am willing to wait another 156 days, are you?
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