Regardless of how movie marketing campaigns evolve to keep up with the changing times, trailers will always be one of the most crucial tools in the selling of a new film. A typical trailer for a major studio’s potential blockbuster and franchise hopeful tends to look the same as another of its type, from the editing beats to the choice of overdramatic music cues (not to mention that annoying and loud horn sound that can be traced back to Inception‘s brilliantly executed previews).
Naturally this opens the door for aspiring filmmakers and people with both a strong sense and access to pretty decent cameras and recording equipment to create their own improvised spoofs of those occasionally overbearing trailers. Putting their friends and relatives in front of the camera and using whatever materials available to them to recreate the multi-million dollar visual effects, the makers of these “sweded” trailers often end up with something far more entertaining than their inspirations.
I have taken it upon myself to scour YouTube for the funniest, most bizarre, and flat-out fun spoof trailers for the biggest blockbusters (and in one special case, a gigantic bomb), and as a special bonus I’ve included a few for some of 2016’s most anticipated movies. Enjoy, and have a happy new year!
Toys, hastily-assembled costumes, cardboard box “shields,” fake eyebrows, cheesy effects that make Mystery Science Theater 3000 look like 2001: A Space Odyssey, sock puppet “sandworms,” lots of overacting, and of course…space pen. Yes, friends, David Lynch‘s much-derided 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s landmark sci-fi novel Dune has become the latest film to receive its own sweded video.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press