Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice trailer released but it’s only teasing another teaser
The first Batman v Superman movie trailer is here.
Time for film and comic book fans around the world to get excited. Except, there's not really that much to get excited about.
A 20 second clip released by the film's director Zack Snyder on Twitter is more of a teaser trailer for a teaser trailer – the clip is not advertising the film's release, but promoting "IMAX special teaser screening events" where the actual full-length trailer will be screened.
The short clip, which trended on both Google and Twitter, gives a glimpse of the two superhero suits for a couple of seconds and leaves you with the hashtag #BatmanVSuperman. An accompanying link then asks fans to RSVP for the screening events being held around the US.
Seriously. The booming horns and bands are now par for the course for film trailers.
Confirmed 4.20.15 #BatmanvSuperman @IMAX special teaser screening events. Limited space. RSVP http://t.co/TasYGlJGig https://t.co/fnxFIERUlv
— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) April 16, 2015
For many of Hollywood's biggest films, a simple two-minute trailer and some stylish posters are no longer enough. Like Batman v Superman which is scheduled for a March 2016 release, hype for films more and more are being steadily built well ahead of the cinema release date.
Will fans really flock to cinemas to watch a trailer? Will they really be satisfied by the drip, drip, drip of details? It may sound slightly uneccessary to the casual movie goer, but it's a strategy Warner Bros and its marketing and distribution director Sue Kroll have been following for a while.
Last year Kroll told The Hollywood Reporter that the film studio wanted to be "more inventive about how we reach consumers. Moviegoers are very savvy. You have to figure out new ways of appealing to them. We are seeing significant changes in the way we spend across all [media] platforms."
In the past, Kroll worked on experimental campaigns for Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises had IMAX screenings of six minute clips ahead of the film's debut helping both films become huge smashes at the box office.
Yet increasingly "inventive" methods invariably come at a cost. Warner Bros spent a huge $582m on marketing in 2013 – over 10 per cent of its box office gross and the largest of any studio in Hollywood.