Sometimes you can gauge the audience interest in a potential tentpole blockbuster movie simply by observing the great lengths certain individuals will go to in order to honor those big-budget entertainments, or even burn them in mocking effigy.

Whenever a new trailer for one of these eagerly-anticipated features is released you can always expect there to be a “sweded” version or two uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo within days. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, “sweded” basically means a group of amateur filmmakers get together with whatever resources they can scrounge up and make their own identical version of the slicker Hollywood trailers. Some of them often use shots from the real trailers to plug in gaps in their dollar bin attempts, but the makers of the best sweded trailers will recreate every component themselves, from the visual effects to the shot composition to even the bloody generic music that underscores these 2.5-minute blasts of money shots.

Submitted for your approval and enjoyment are sweded trailers for 8 of the year’s biggest blockbusters, like Star Trek Into Darkness, Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, and more. Depending on your perspective you might find some of these homemade previews better than the genuine articles. Even if you don’t, you have to admit they are pretty amusing.

Videos

Iron Man 3

Star Trek Into Darkness

Man of Steel

Pacific Rim

The Wolverine

Thor: The Dark World

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug