More and more popular films come from massive multimedia franchises, and that comes with upsides and downsides. The cinematic universe model features never-ending marketing machines that keep hype up for every project, but they also run the risk of giving away some of the films' best moments.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2featureda ton of fun moments throughout, but savvy viewers may have been slightly disappointed to find that they’ve seen several of them already. Marketing big movies is a very difficult balance to strike, andSonic 2does some things right and some things wrong in its trailers and previews.
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With every big film, comes a multi-million dollar marketing scheme. Fans would have a hard time avoiding the ads forSonic the Hedgehog 2if they wanted to. The first trailer dropped last December, kicking off a marketing campaign that lasted over four months. The trailers will continue even after the film’s initial release, occasionally incorporating new details.
The ads sparked tremendous public excitement, especially after the first one revealed Idris Elba’s performance as Knuckles. Though the character was revealed to be in the film before his first on-screen appearance, actually seeing and hearing him was an enormous applause moment worldwide. Tails, Knuckles,the Master Emerald, Eggman’s classic giant robot, these things were all hugely exciting for longtime fans and newcomers alike. But, does that pre-film hype justify the diminished experience when it comes time to see the film?
The obvious question is; how does seeing these bigmoments in the traileraffect the film experience? For those who’ve seen most of the trailers, it ensures that many of the funniest gags, most impactful lines, and most exciting action beats are already familiar. This weakens a huge percentage of the film’s best moments. While there certainly are plenty of moments that didn’t make the trailers, some of which are enormous reveals, the trailers still have a negative impact. When viewers see the characters enter a snowy environment, Sonic answers his door at night, or Eggman fire a missile, there’s a strong feeling of foreknowledge of how the exchange will end. There are far worse examples of fully spoiling a film in its own trailer, butSonic 2puts a tonof its best stuff out before the film hit theaters.
Restraint would be the obvious antidote to this issue. If trailers risk giving too much away, surely the answer would be to put less stuff in the trailers. Unfortunately, this is very rarely an option. The big studios, Paramount, in this case, would be inclined to put every detail in the trailers to get fans into the theater. Disney and Sony make the same mistake far too often. It is often more important to the big studio that viewers see the film than that the film is a satisfying experience. Many viewers adopt a strong no trailers policy, intentionally blacking out marketing materials along with social media to avoid any spoilers. Luckily, there is a way to keep everyone happy. There’s a solution that allows studios to show off tons of the films, keep fan spoilers to a minimum, and preserve the impact of the full experience. Just maketrailers that actively lie to the viewers.
Some studios have already cracked this code. They aren’t going to make fewer trailers or rely on a word-of-mouth marketing campaign, so they just have to create trailers that show off false information. This is not to say that films should falsely advertise themselves, or depict things as better than they are, but that the plot details revealed in the trailers should often turn out to be wrong. The trailers wouldn’t even have to be false most of the time. Once two or three big details turn out to be completely different from the trailers, fans will cease to trust them, and the element of surprise can be regained.Sonic the Hedgehog 2doesthis a few times in a few small ways. Lines are played in false contexts and scenes appear out of order. They’re small changes, but every change counts. The film could have benefited from further subterfuge in the trailers, and so can every new entry in these big franchises.
There are a ton of fun surprises inSonic the Hedgehog 2, many of which are completely unspoiled by the trailers. Some of the weird details teased in the marketing go in interesting ways that fans may not have expected. But, the trailers do still weaken the impact of some of the best moments. A fan who never saw a trailer would likely have a better experience overall than one that’s already taken them in. Big franchise films should do everything in their power to hide their best details as fan culture grows out of control.Sonic the Hedgehog 2could be a valuable lesson to the next big film that is cutting its trailers together.
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