Impact of Movie Trailers and Marketing on Viewer

Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening

to the Geek Cast Radio Network. You're tuned

in to Steve Megatron on Altered Geek. Hello and

welcome to a special, shortened edition of Altered

Geek. I am your sometimes host, Michael Boothinja

-Powers. I am, of course, joined by your almost

every single time host, Steve Megatron Phillips.

Yo! So I posed an interesting thing over the

over the Christmas weekend I don't remember what

exactly spurred me to post it. I think it was

about We've got five months until the next Star

Wars movie and There hasn't been Any type of

a trailer for it? which I guess is kind of unusual.

I think we'll get them kind of fast and furious

here in a second, you know, after the first of

the year. But I posted, I posited on Twitter

and Facebook, I wanted to see if people would

go see the Han Solo movie if there were no trailers,

if there were no TV spots, or if they would go

see the Han Solo movie if there was no Rotten

Tomatoes score? Or what if there was neither

one? What if you just had a movie title, maybe

you had a movie poster, and a date? Would you

still go see it? It didn't quite spark as much

conversation as I was hoping. But you know, I

there were some people that said yes, they would

you know, they would absolutely still go see

it But did you answer that Steve I don't I don't

remember I don't know if I answered it but I

remember bookmarking it as a you know, a good

talking point because I think I I think I favorited

Multiple of it just because I thought that it

was a relevant question Because we as in you

know social media heavy culture now kind of put

a lot of emphasis on the either the trailers

or the multitude of you know 30 trailers that

come out now or the Rotten Tomatoes score or

critic thoughts And it does kind of pose an interesting

question of you know whether people would still

care if they didn't have any of that Yeah, well,

I think it also stems from What I said on our

Jedi episode which was People are mad because

the movie didn't follow their headcanon You know

for fair, you know various things happen in the

new film that Or things weren't answered in the

new film that for unknown reasons people thought

were important or they built up to think that

they are important Not to dive down that rabbit

hole again, but it kind of stemmed from that

like if you had if you know nothing going into

a movie But one of my fears about the Han Solo

movie though from the get -go was It's a prequel

yeah to something we already kind of know the

outcome that it's kind of anti climatic It's

not even that we know the outcome. They're walking

right back into the Every Star Wars quote -unquote

super fan has their Opinion their story already

made up in their head Like they're they're wandering

right back into that minefield like you didn't

make the movie I would have I wanted to see on

screen therefore your movie is horrible But this

isn't that either like this could be I mean we

could apply this to You know the next the next

Marvel movie You know like how how much weight

does You know does do rotten tomato do you place

on rotten tomato scores How much how much weight

do you place on a review for for said movie before

you go seeing it or like the trailers of the

TV spots? I mean personally I Don't even I I

I don't go I don't do rotten tomatoes. Okay,

I don't do reviews for movies until I've seen

the movie and Then I only read them if I'm looking

for somebody to back up my feelings Or I just

want to see what people have to say about the

film themselves like I But I do not read excuse

me. It's been a long weekend long week I Do not

I do not see a movie based on what somebody else

has really told me like I I can see a trailer

or all here Like a title for something? Or maybe

it's just like a favorite property and I know

that I want to see that movie. Like a case in

point would be Ready Player One. Like I didn't

need to watch either one of the trailers that

came out for that movie. I read the book. I love

the book. I like Steven Spielberg. I would be

there on day one having not seen a single thing.

So how much does that stuff, because you said

when you were getting ready to see Star Wars

that you follow up on everything you possibly

can. Well, it's kind of a case -by -case basis

for me. There's certain films I don't put that

much emphasis into finding out about. Star Trek

and Star Wars seem to be that sweet spot for

me. I honestly don't care about the 50 bazillion

trailers that they drop. I watch the The the

two major ones that they do and then that's it

but because it's just mostly rehashing the same

stuff But like I I've looked up the spoilers

and I've looked up the All the leaks from the

film and I'll watch the clips and and kind of

read whatever I can on the material But that's

because of what they are and because of how rabid

the fan bases are That I kind of want to know

what I'm getting into before I get into it and

to know what to watch for and whatnot. Not that

it's going to detract from my opinion of the

material or add to it, it's just so that I can

focus on the film as a whole rather than being

caught blunt force of what's going to happen

in the film and hanging up on that one concept.

Right. So for me, it's it's kind of a helping

tool to kind of Alleviate that and so I can actually

just sit down and watch the movie and enjoy it

And not have to focus on the the two materials

that may jar me and either upset me or irritate

me before the But how much does how much bearing

does like a trailer have on you going to see

a movie though? Like like would you go see the

next you'd probably go see the next Star Trek

movie without having seen anything, right? just

because of the property. Right, so like is there,

and this is where it gets like in the tough hypothetical

business, right? Because you can't, like we can

sit here and go, oh, I'd go see a Star Wars movie

without seeing anything. Oh, I'd go see a Marvel

movie or a DC movie without having seen anything

in Star Trek. I mean, I guess it works if you

have an established... Property right? Yeah.

Well, I think it's kind of iffy too because I

I watched the you know There's there's been a

couple of Marvel and DC movies that I I saw the

trailer and I didn't either a have an affinity

or care for the characters because I'm familiar

with the comics Like Suicide Squad, I didn't

like the film I didn't like the trailer and I

didn't like how it just looked so the whole thing

was a bomb for me, but And I think that the trailer

thing kind of goes hand -in -hand with the amount

of like leaked pictures and casting notices we

get Okay, just because of you know You get this

again. It's it's the headcanon and it's you know

You're not allowing for the the the creative

differences of the the director to reimagine

them Such as Suicide Squad, which is probably

why I didn't like it And like I said, the thing

with Deadshot didn't really get me as much. It

was the majority of the rest of the characters.

Most of it was Joker, kind of hung me up on that.

But again, it was headcanon. I didn't like what

they were going for. So it didn't appeal to me.

And so I had my gripes and then I just had peace

with it because ultimately that's what they made.

my thoughts absolutely have no bearing on how

it comes down other than, you know, how other

people use their pocketbook. Right. I'm not,

see, this is where it gets kind of tough because

I like to say, like I, there was like a, there

was a six month, well. You went, you went quite

a while without watching trailers. Well, okay.

So in 20, See again, it was I knew it was movies

that I knew I was gonna see right so What okay

when I went without watching trailers, okay when

I first pulled that experiment I did it in 2015

Okay, and that was the year that Star Wars came

out and the Jurassic World came out Trying to

think what else came out in that time span Wasn't

Batman v Superman or was that that was 16? Maybe

it carried over to that too. I think though like

Batman v Superman Civil War like it kind of bled

over because it was like, okay These movies have

trailers that are coming out now and was like,

I'm not you know It I kind of kept I kind of

kept it up more or less to a certain point and

then it just kind of was like, okay I'll just

watch Trailers once the experiment. I think I

chose a deadline. It was like, okay like I don't

know what it was after this film comes out. It's

you know, right, right I don't I don't want to

get too too much into what I actually did But

it was like I what I did was I I would only watch

the first trailer that was released That was

all I was allowing them to show me To get me

hooked and that was and that and that was it

from there and that Those those movies in 2015

I think it made those feel that much better because

there was no I don't feel like the first trailer

that I saw for any of the movies that were part

of my experiment spoiled anything that I didn't

already know about but one of the things I'm

pulling right now is I'm not watching any trailers

for Infinity War and I want to see if that improves

my my my experience going into that movie, you

know, just being completely surprised by by whatever.

Now, I've seen memes and I've seen like headline

articles. I've seen screenshots from the trailer,

but I've not seen the trailer. I've seen the

very first trailer and then I just I've been

kind of actively avoiding. So that film. But

what I was what I was getting at though was there

was a period of time where I when I got this

job I got fed up with going to the movies because

I didn't want to go because that was my Job,

so there was like a four or five month period

of time there where I didn't go to the movies

and what I did was I'm gonna take a risk and

just Pre -order or buy the movies that I want

to watch in the theater and I'll just watch him

at home So like I didn't even get to spend You

know the 30 bucks to go see if I liked the movie

in the first place before I bought it. You just

bit the bullet and just bought it because I was

like I was like you know my I did that because

I felt like my track record for picking movies

that I know that I'm going to like was Pretty

solid like if there was a chance. I want to see

it in the theater 99 % of the time Don't even

know I I don't know what the actual percentage

would be but like 99 .9 % of the time like I

buy that movie when it comes out or I'd be willing

to buy that movie when it comes out because of

I Like 99 .9 % of the time I would own I would

have a lot more movies than I have right now

if I bought every movie I went to go see in the

theater But up until this past the first five

months of 2017 every movie that I owned, I'd

already seen in the theater. So I still didn't

fail. The movies that I bought, they weren't

a letdown for me. I still did the, I'm only gonna

watch one trailer, not gonna watch a whole lot

of other things about them, get them home and

watch them. There are some things that I don't

know. I mean, I would like to say I probably

would have bought Ghost in the Shell still. Site

unseen or that I would have gone to see it in

the theater But it's kind of tough because you

can't you can't really think of what's coming

around the corner, right? You can't maybe like

I said earlier. We can't make something up but

it kind of it kind of goes back to how we used

to I Positive this huge long thing also on Facebook

around Star Wars with which was how each You

know Thing was kind of each each trilogy is kind

of You know, it's a remnant of its own time,

right in terms of how media moved around Yep

and the one that I remember the most or the the

first one that I remember because By the time

I was old enough to watch Star Wars four or five

and six were already out like I Watched all of

them within within hours of each other if not

days. So there was no mystery for me in the first

Star Wars trilogy. And I remember, like, when

the second, when the prequels rolled around,

you had to wait 15, 30 minutes for a trailer

the size of a postage stamp to load to watch

it at home. If you were lucky, you know, and

you got all your movie news out of, like, Wizard

Magazine. Yep. Like, or there was a movie magazine,

Cinna... something. I think it's still going

on. CinnaScape. Yeah But like that was that was

how we got our movie news, you know, like that's

what got me excited I mean obviously there were

still trailers, but you didn't you saw trailers

when you went to the movies You didn't get to

watch them on YouTube and dissect them. No and

Those were the good old days when when you didn't

know anything and you just had to fly by the

seat of your pants and kind of just hope for

the best Yeah, you didn't have you didn't you

weren't you didn't get to go Frame by frame and

deconstruct something and and then post the first

comment and say man. I hope they fix the special

effects for this movie you know like you didn't

get to do that like you You were just happy that

a franchise is made in the first place yeah,

you know it still happens to this day like I'll

watch a trailer at home and I'll be like okay,

that was Okay, trailer, but I gotta see it in

the theater. Because to me, there's a big difference

between watching a trailer on YouTube and watching

that same trailer in the theater, and I don't

think that's ever been more evident to me than

the Pacific Rim Uprising trailer. Like, I watched

that at home. And it kind of looks meh. Yeah,

it kind of looked a little man. I thought it

was like a Poor man's version of Power Rangers

Yeah, pretty much which the first one is the

other way around right like it's like It it's

it's really it looks really good, and I realize

it's because all the scenes in this one are during

the day like They're doing something that you

really don't do. You don't see a whole lot with

special effects, which is daytime special effects.

I mean, it's becoming more and more prevalent,

but special effects in daylight look worse than

special effects at night. Oh, yeah. But where

the first one was all set at night, this one

set during the day and at home, it kind of looked

a little mad. But when I saw it in the theater,

I was like, man, I'm all in on this. This looks

like. This this looks like fun again, you know,

it didn't look as cheesy But you know, it's just

you know, do you I Guess it's just how much how

much weight do you put on? Marketing of a movie.

I guess like is it is knowing that your favorite

franchise is getting You know made into a movie

enough for you to go see it sight unseen like

Like if you know like like like my example earlier

Which is ready player one like if it's a book

or a comic or a TV show that you liked And they've

got like you find out they've got an actor that

you like and a director like is that enough for

you to go see it? Without knowing anything about

it For me the The the franchise has a big thing

to do with it like if it's Star Trek Star Wars,

you know Batman something I'll go see it regardless,

but Let's try this. Let's try this one. But I'm

also a very actor -centric person, so if there's

a bunch of people I don't know the names of or

like their films, 90 % of the time I won't watch

it unless my wife just turns it on anyway and

then I have to sit through it. I That's one of

the things that she's always had a great with

me about is is I won't give Films a shot if I

don't know if if their names in the IMDB are

not people I've seen in something else Like if

I can't pick one actor, that's that's at least

like a B level actor from something then it's

it's Automatically like I start Kind of ripping

the movie apart Well, okay, so let's look at

it this way. I guess we can kind of play this

like would you go see a Thundercats movie? Yes,

because I was familiar with the animated series

But still like that's I mean, but that but it's

never been a movie and we all know that a lot

of things Don't make that jump very well, but

like yeah look at Transformers Okay, it's fun,

but it doesn't it doesn't look good So But like,

you know, would you go, but you know, it's the

whole, it's the question of would you go see

it without knowing anything about it other than

a release date and that it was being made into

a movie? Yeah. So would I. I mean, what about,

I had a, okay, so Voltron is on Netflix. What

if they did a Voltron in the theater? would still

see it because the animated series is really

good and You kind of know the formula you're

getting with it regardless, and it's it's kind

of tried and true It's well see but you think

that you think that but look what happened to

Transformers like again, it's it's an artistic

difference with the Writers and the director

and we've more or less gotten transformers on

screen. They're just really bad and and that

was really bad, too So I'm Trying to think if

there's any other you know ones that I could

throw out there Well, like we got GI Joe live

-action. The first one was terrible and the second

one was good. I Like the GI Joe movies. I didn't

say they weren't fun. But see that's and they're

gonna make a third one, too There's there's even

a micro nuts movie in the or maybe animated series.

I don't know. What about a mask movie? Would

check it out that I didn't I wasn't a big fan

of the animated series, okay I mean we can get

really obscure we can start talking like sky

commanders Centurions yeah, I remember all those

I I don't know if I would I mean I would I would

probably see them They would not be theater watch

for me Well, okay, so that's the thing that's

the thing that's different Like I feel like I

feel like there's a bit like if I'm gonna Like

you can say, oh, I watch it on Netflix. Like,

yeah, but that's at that point, it's almost the

type of movie like I'm going to put this on the

background while I might be doing something else.

Yeah, that's that's that's kind of the same thing.

But OK, so I feel like those I feel like if that

if that is where it goes and then the answer

to would you see it like the answer to would

you see a theater that is no like like that's

that's I'm going to watch that movie, but I'm

going to lump it in with the. $10 a month that

I'm paying to see all these other movies or TV

shows like I'm not willing to pay $15 for something

sight unseen on its own now if it's if it's Completely

original property something that doesn't have

a name that's tied to an animated series or something.

We've seen Would you still see the film not knowing

anything other than the title and in the description

Like if it's something we know or if it's something

we don't know Something we don't know something

that that's not an established property something

that's completely original Well that that's what

I've been kind of trying to beat around because

I don't really I'm trying to think of something

that I've done Because I've watched movies I

don't I don't Typically pick movies based on

directors or writers if it's if if I know that

the actor has a good track record And the synopsis

sounds decent And in the let's say the only thing

you saw was the like the movie poster saying,

you know You know the person's name and then

having the title of the movie Okay, if I got

all that information coming soon, and then that's

it like there's no trailer There's nothing right

if I got all that if I got like a synopsis and

a poster That would be enough to entice me Think

that would be enough like it but like I Just

can't think of anything where I can say yeah,

I think I can give to back that up because Like

I'm looking at my movie collection right now

in front of me. I'm trying to think if there's

a movie that I went to see that I knew like Next

to nothing about like going in you know, and

I hope Don't see too much because I mean at that

time I knew I wasn't playing little experiments

with my brain about you know Let's not watch

a trailer for this movie. It was it was I love

trailers. Let's watch trailers all the time Yeah,

that was that was kind of my boat for a while

Watching I mean I still do it I still blitz through

trailers on YouTube and I don't necessarily watch

the movies but You know, there's some trailers

that it helps and then there's some trailers

like, you know, what happened recently, you know,

so I mean, it's it can go either way. But I think

that a lot of the times, like especially what

we've noticed with Justice League and The Last

Jedi is if it's a big name property, the trailers

and a lot of the extra buzz around it. uh tend

to actually hurt it because people have their

preconceived notions of what should happen and

then they're basing it off of a rotten tomato

score or the trailers or uh and then it's just

it's it's just a downward spiral from there so

what was the first trailer or like okay the first

trailer slash franchise i guess that you were

ever Burned by like you were like, okay the trip

This is the this movie is like that moment where

you went the trailers are so much better than

the movie Like do you know that what the first

one was? Because it doesn't stand out that that

that much Not really I'm trying to remember some

I mean Yeah, I don't know I think the Justice

League trailer was pretty decent Then going into

the film. I was like, it's I mean, it's not bad,

but it's not great Well, that can't be you like

but I'm talking about like your first time man.

Yeah I don't remember too much from the 90s actually

like just the early 2000s, I think Well, it's

cuz you couldn't nitpick over the trailers back

then. Yeah That's because that's if you saw him

It was on a TV commercial and you had to catch

it at the right moment or you watch the preview

channel Like, for me, I think, just as an example,

the first time I ever felt burned by a movie

trailer was X -Men 3. Like, the one that stands

out as, you know, movie trailers aren't always,

aren't indicative of the final, or indicative,

I don't know if I'm using the right word, but

they're not indicative of the final product.

It was x -men 3 Which obviously that movie is

a trainwreck and I highly recommend listening

to the commentary track on that movie if you

own it so kind of spider -man 3 Well, I know

that the commentary track for x -men 3 is brutally

honest It's probably one of the most enlightening

commentary tracks I've ever I've listened to

outside of a Pixar movie But anyways that yeah,

so that was the first trailer that ever Sold

me like a wrong bill of goods or wrong I think

I think spider -man 3 was kind of bad, too Was

the trailer good though like the trailer was

good enough to make you want to go see it and

the movie was bad. Yeah Well because they had

that premise of venom Yeah, and then yeah spider

-man getting Venom's powers and everything and

then I was kind of like oh this looks like it'll

be pretty good and then we get emo Peter Parker

and then like All kinds of other like villains

just being tossed in the mix and it was just

terrible You know Sandman Venom Goblin it just

it was just a mess but Yeah, I would say that

would probably be my first one that I kind of

that stands out to me that I remember All right,

well on that note If you guys have any trailers

that you you know like how do you consume your

movie news like is it do you? Do you rely on

rotten tomatoes to tell you if a movie is good

enough for you to see or not? Or is a trailer

enough to get you to go. Do you not care? Do

you not need either one? What was the first trailer

to ever rub you the wrong way or to sell you

the you know like it like it like we said it

wasn't the The movie did not live up to the promise

of the trailer like what was the first time that

happened to you if you can recall that Let us

know what you think about trailers in general

you can do that using the hashtag altered trailer

You can follow myself Michael powers on Twitter,

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