The Best Movie Trailers Of 2022 (So Far)
Image Source: Pexels
Although the box office is still recovering from the production delays of the past two years, this year's movies seem to be showing serious potential. Despite releasing 50% fewer film releases this past summer, the domestic box office still earned $3.34 billion in ticket sales. That’s lower by 2019 levels by only 21%, showing that moviegoers remain excited by what the theaters have to offer.
This is why trailers for upcoming releases in 2022 and 2023 are pulling out all the stops. Today, editors are utilizing their specialized digital media education to adopt a more flexible design and better use the trailer for visual communication. The resulting trailers are grounded in a solid understanding of the psychology of design, drawing us in and convincing us that the movies will be a hit. These practices are best exemplified by the most impressive movie trailers we’ve seen in 2022. Here are some of them.
RELATED:
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Music can do a lot to set the tone of a film, and that’s exactly what Marvel has done with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This jaw-dropping trailer presents a nation mourning the loss of its protector, T’Challa, the Black Panther. It is raw and emotional, but it loses none of the vibrancy that Wakanda is known for. Underscoring all of this is the trailer's excellent use of music. It uses Sampa the Great’s “Never Forget,” which evokes the narrative journey that the characters in the movie will seem to undergo in this installment. Not only does the rhythmic soundtrack grab the viewers’ attention, but it also sets the tone for the trailer, posing it as a sharp deviation from the previous Black Panther movie. This clearly lets the audience know that what they’re walking into is nothing like they’ve ever seen before.
Avatar: The Way Of Water
These days, movie magic relies on suspending disbelief with realistic visuals. This has raised the demand for professionals with specializations in computer-generated imagery (CGI). Movies like Avatar: The Way of Water exemplify why this advancement is so critical to movie magic. The film’s trailer is an immersive experience, primarily using visual communication. It tells us precisely what the movie is flaunting—unbelievable otherworldly sights and intriguing glimpses into the oncoming conflict. It is not even past the halfway mark that we are verbally given insight into what seems to be the story's theme. CGI can be transformative in how a story is told. When spectacles can hook viewers into your world, the effort you put into its visual effects can be rewarding. If this trailer is anything to go by, Avatar 2 will be an unforgettable visual experience — just like its previous installment.
Men
Sometimes, a movie trailer can loop you in despite giving almost nothing away. This is true for A24’s Men, whose trailer uses an unsettling repetition of a singular sound. Its protagonist Harper is shown screaming into a dark tunnel right at the beginning of the trailer. While seemingly unremarkable, the incessant repetition of this sound heightens the eeriness and horror of otherwise unalarming scenes. What first seems like subdued hauntings—the figure of a man, apples falling from a tree, and a dark tunnel in the daytime—are elevated and become genuinely intriguing. The trailer does not use anything too fanciful or grand, but it hooks you and makes you want to know more thanks to how it's expertly edited.
The best movie trailers show you what to expect and drive its selling points home without giving too much away. When done right, the music, visuals, and editing they use can give you just a tease of what you will be experiencing in the cinema. These three trailers exemplify how to maximize the trailer’s potential, leaving us excited for movies to come.
READ NEXT:
