The Top 10 Teaser Trailers of All Time
Remember the days of going to your local movie theater on a Friday night, grabbing your oversized, over buttered popcorn, and Cherry Coke in a cup that was larger than your head? Before the days of Netflix and “let’s just watch it at home”? Posters for next summer’s blockbusters fill the lobby. You finally sit in your seat as the lights dim, and that beautiful green screen appears with the “The Following Trailer Has Been Approved For Appropriate Audiences By the Motion Picture Association of America” text sprawling across the screen. The level of excitement and anticipation in the theater is palpable. The images are practically flying off the screen, advertising a film that’s still in production as you sit there viewing the trailer. Don LaFontaine’s voice echoes throughout the theater. Finally, the three words you’ve been waiting for, explode off the screen: “Coming Next Summer”, It’s a teaser trailer. Whether it’s for the B grade rendition of Godzilla with Matthew Brodrick, or the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, teaser trailers are an artform all on their own. By providing the audience with just the right amount of information, or lack of information, teaser trailers have a way of igniting a level like no other, sometimes even leaving a bigger impact than the film itself, and they just aren’t made the way they used to be anymore. So we at Good Grief Media have taken the liberty of breaking down our top 10 favorite teaser trailers of all time.
10) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
This is one of kind trailer to say the least. Competing against the hastily thrown-together teaser trailer for Batman, Indiana Jones a different approach with their teaser trailer to remind audiences that there is in fact another movie to see that summer besides Batman. The “behind-the-scenes” approach of this trailer is, in fact, one of the main reasons why this trailer made our list. By giving us an insight into the making of this sequel, it tells us everything we need to know, without telling us very much at all. Simply name dropping the dynamic duo of Spielberg/Lucas, and providing us with a taste of some action packed scenes, we now know all we need to be sold on this movie.
Don’t believe us? Check it out here!
9) The Goonies (1985)
Surprise, surprise, another astonishing teaser from a different dynamic duo, this time with Spielberg and Donner. If tooting your own horn wasn’t cool before to this trailer, it certainly is now. This rare gem could almost be seen as farcical by how bold and cocky it seems at first glance. There is truth to it however. The entire trailer is simply taking letters from previous Spielberg/Lucas box office hits, having it turn into the word “Goonies” by the end.
You’ll definitely want to check this one out.
8) Godzilla Trailer A & B (1998)
One of our first examples of how you can get a great trailer out of a terrible movie. Although this is technically two trailers, they are both using the blueprint of taking something completely mundane and out of context, then flipping it upside down, thanks to Godzilla and his wacky antics. If we’re being completely honest, there’s not a whole lot to unpack here. Just check out the trailers below.
7) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Now there are NUMEROUS teasers out there that can be fairly compared to this one content wise, but how many trailers have you seen that simultaneously tease the subject matter, announce a trilogy, AND their release dates in less than two minutes? Talk about a lofty goal. Imagine a time before lightning fast internet and leaked production images, when all you had to base a movies release off of was the trailer. Now watch the trailer below:
[*Also a fun game, see how many people in the comment section mention downloading the trailer with dial-up. Those were the days.]
6) The Da Vinci Code (2006)
If you thought Peter Jackson announcing the LotR trilogy release dates was a bold move, you haven’t seen the teaser for The Da Vinci Code. With this teaser playing in multiplexes across the country in front of “Star Wars Episode III” in 2005, a 2006 release for Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code was announced in the trailer, without shooting a single frame of the actual movie. A trailer for this movie was created, BEFORE SHOOTING BEGAN. Needless to say, this is one of the most mysterious teasers ever released. It’s too bad the film itself was met with a slew of negative reviews.
5) Wall-E (2008)
Why is the Wall-E trailer number 5 on your top teaser trailer list you ask? Well, it’s just such a different trailer. It starts with a pioneer at Pixar telling the story of a very special lunch. In this lunch they came up with the ideas for A Bugs Life, Monsters’ Inc., and many other films we know and love today. He ends his story by introducing the final idea of that day, that idea was “Wall-E”. All of a sudden, we kick into the actual trailer. Now, the actual trailer is great on its own, but it’s the trailer introduction that brings mysteriousness. Questions like “Where is this going?” “What movie is this?” are asked. While they are eventually answered, we end up being left with more questions than answers by the end. Don’t take our word for it though, check it out below.
4) The Shining (1980)
1980 was a weird year. We were on the cusp of a new decade, which meant it was time to purge the old, and insert the new, weird, and exciting. That’s exactly what The Shining trailer delivers. Not a single soul walks onto frame, no change in the scene, no cut, no context. All we are given is a static shot of an elevator with text scrolling up the screen as the infamous eerie score plays over the scene. Just when you thought it wouldn’t get any creepier, the elevator doors open as blood begins to flow out of the elevator. If there is any example to take from, this should be one of them.
*Fun Fact: Kubrick told the trailer censors that the blood was actually rust from the elevator so they wouldn’t flag it*
3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Eternal Sunshine has always been one of those movies that everyone talks about, yet no one remembers (no pun intended). This trailer is absolutely brilliant however. Much like the two-part nature of the Wall-E trailer, this trailer begins as an advertisement for Lacuna Inc. (if you’ve seen the movie, you understand). About halfway through the trailer, it begins to actually showcase scenes from the movie. There is still very little context given, and although the trailer might be slightly misleading, it sets the overall theme of the film without giving anything away, which is why it deserves the number three spot on our list.
2) Garden State (2004)
This trailer will always go down as our personal favorite. Although it may not be the most clever on this list, it somehow evokes such a beautiful and one-of-a-kind emotion, by doing so little. The film itself is executed in such a meditative state, and the trailer is clear representation of that. Having “Let Go” by Frou Frou play over the beautifully composed scenes, as all of the films accreditations fade in and out, it seems to really wear its heart on its sleeve. At the end of the day, this is one of our favorite trailers, for one of our favorite movies, and you need to see it. (If you disagree, that’s cool, make your own list then). Please check out this trailer below and let us know what you thought.
1) The Minus Man (1999)
Well, here we are! The number one spot. If you’ve seen this trailer before, then you should’ve seen this coming from a mile away. The Minus Man trailer will haunt you. It will get under your skin, and to be honest it’s difficult to tell that this trailer was even for a movie. We won’t spoil the trailer for you, but the general story is a couple on a date, walk out of seeing The Minus Man, and begin discussing it. It’s meta, it’s creepy, and it’s absolutely genius. It’s a damn shame the movie wasn’t anywhere near as good as the trailer made it seem. With that being said though, The Minus Man teaser trailer will forever go down as the best teaser trailer of all time.