Historically, the Super Bowl has been a hugely important moment when it comes to movie marketing. This was the first place we ever saw the White House explode ahead of the release of “Independence Day,” after all. And this year felt even more movie-oriented, thanks to the game happening in Los Angeles and a Los Angeles team (the Rams) playing in the game. Not every Super Bowl starts with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making an inspiring speech, after all!
Below are all the trailers that aired during this year’s Super Bowl (and we’ll be adding more during the game):
“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”
If causing chaos for Spider-Man wasn’t enough, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) returns for the first official sequel to 2016’s “Doctor Strange.” This entry is directed by the legendary Sam Raimi, with a decided emphasis on spookiness and also potential cameos from other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Nope”
The trailer for Jordan Peele’s forthcoming “Nope,” which is a shorter version of the jaw-dropping trailer released earlier today, features a few alternate/new shots and all of the mystery of the longer version. Press materials say that with “Nope,” Peele “reimagines the summer movie with a new pop nightmare: the expansive horror epic.” After the one-two punch of “Get Out” and “Us,” this sounds about right.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”
This prequel series, coming this fall, is one of the most buzzed-about TV shows of the year. But until now nobody had ever seen anything from it. This evocative trailer double-underlines just how expensive the new series really is (the first five seasons are supposed to cost more than $1 billion total). While the spot doesn’t reveal much in terms of the story, it’ll just be nice to be back in Middle Earth for the first time since 2014’s “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”
“Jurassic World: Dominion”
Another shorter version of a trailer that was released earlier, this new spot for the third film in the “Jurassic World” trilogy (directed by Colin Trevorrow). Of course, in keeping with the general Super Bowl commercial emphasis on nostalgia, much of the spot focuses on the returning face of the franchise – Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill. Life, uh, finds a way this summer.
“Moon Knight”
This is our best look yet at the new Marvel Studios Disney+ series, coming in late March – Oscar Isaac plays the title character. Is he going insane or being possessed by an Egyptian deity? And what is Ethan Hawke’s deal? Much darker and more mysterious than other Marvel Studios TV fare, this was an intriguing spot that is making the wait until March 30 very arduous.
“Ambulance”
This spot for the upcoming, R-rated Michael Bay heist movie emphasized the movie’s Los Angeles setting, which pairs perfectly with the Super Bowl setting. Starting off with an idyllic shot of the city and text about it being a beautiful morning in Los Angeles, before slowly turning up the insanity, along with glimpses of the all-star cast (led by Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). This looks like pure madness, in the best possible way.
“The Lost City”
Honestly, this spot was great. “The Lost City,” starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, is giving off extreme “Romancing the Stone” vibes and we are positively here for it. Bullock’s line delivery of, “What am I? Taken? Tooken?” had us rolling. And that was before Brad Pitt showed up with his great joke about his father being a weatherman. Truly, what more do you need?
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2”
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is nearly here. And after several Super Bowl-themed spots, we got an actual Super Bowl spot, which is about what you’d expect. Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is cute, Jim Carrey is very over-the-top and now Idris Elba has joined the freakshow as the voice of a morally nebulous echidna (look it up). No notes.
“The Adam Project”
The Netflix spot was a shorter version of the extremely starry look at their 2022 slate from a couple of weeks ago, which gave us brief glimpses of, amongst other things, the Russo Brothers’ “The Gray Man,” Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” sequel and Jamie Foxx as a working class vampire slayer in “Day Shift.” But there was a twist! The end of the spot was a lengthier look at Ryan Reynolds’ “The Adam Project,” which based on early word of mouth is a winning sci-fi comedy. This is great and all but where the heck is the “Stranger Things” spot? We miss those kids.
