Even if you’ll never admit to being a geek, you’ll have to agree that all the entertainment industry news and trailers bursting out of San Diego Comic-Con have been pretty damn thrilling — it’s like Christmas came early and you got to open all your presents in one shot. Though it’s near impossible to catch up with every detail of what’s happening, we’ll help you along with a round-up of the biggest trailers and reveals that you should be updated about, which, unsurprisingly, amounts to a lot of superheroes fare and follow-ups to hit television series.
Thor: Ragnarok (26 Oct)
Marvel seems to be having a lot of fun with this one — they’re taking an almost Guardians of the Galaxy tone for this instalment of Thor, note all the trippy flashes of colour, crammed visual spectacle and quick pacing, plus a refreshing humour, something that was brought up with main star Chris Hemsworth and director Taika Waititi who were getting bored with what Marvel had presented before. Oh we’re definitely loving this new direction alright; goodbye Shakespearean-level serious Asgardian God of Thunder!
In the latest trailer, we also get more deets on the new Goddess of Death, Hela, played by Cate Blanchett who’s downright gorgeous in a flowing silk cape and grand headpiece (who smashes Thor’s beloved Mjolnir, nooo), as well as wide shots of the Norse apocalypse Ragnarok. There’s also a scene of the two brothers working together to save the universe, to appease all you Loki fans. Still, wherefore art thou Avengers: Infinity War trailer?!
Justice League (17 Nov)
Honestly, we were just staring in awe at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman the entire first part of the trailer — are we to blame, really, because she’s obviously the best and most honourable part of the Justice League right? In less biased news, the new trailer, revealed at this year’s Warner Brothers panel, also gives us gratuitous screen time for heroes Aquaman (Jason Momoa), The Flash (Ezra Miller), who’s already set to be the comedic foil, and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).
Of course, Batman’s (Ben Affleck) the one bringing this superhuman co-op together, after realising they have to stand united against big baddie, Steppenwolf. Also, that strange encounter with Alfred at the end, could it be the moment Superman… returns? Well, theories aside, with the trailer adopting a more traditional superhero movie style, serious “the world as we know it is ending” overtones, and action-packed scenes of stylised slow motion stunts — a marked difference from Marvel’s reveal — we’re definitely hoping this brings, um, justice to the DCEU.
Stranger Things (27 Oct)
One of the more… thrilling releases for television this year saw our first trailer for the second season of Stranger Things — one that makes impressive use of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and that classic voiceover to amp up the spine-chilling suspense. There’s plenty of 80s nostalgia (of course, our foursome dress up as Ghostbusters for Halloween), and nice callbacks to horror genre tropes to depict a world that’s still reeling from the grotesque demogorgon and Will Byers’ return from the dreadful Upside Down.
Sure, we’re getting questions more than answers, but that’s a good thing; for once, compared to the deluge of information/spoilers that big-budget movie trailers tend to divulge, we’re getting actual old-school suspense that film students would be more than happy to study. Oh, and yes, welcome back Eleven.
Westworld (2018)
Seeing how they only started filming just this month, we’re surprised to get this many scenes packed into the 1:49 min trailer, but hey, we might as well start breaking this down and speculating about it for an entire year. After the violent robot uprising of last season, it looks like we’re landing in the immediate aftermath of that bloody gala dinner. The trailer starts off innocuously enough, though with a sinister blood splatter over the iconic piano, before we see Bernard (or, Arnold?), played by Jeffrey Wright, staring at the body of a dead tiger — immediately, we find ourselves questioning the locale of this “world”.
And then, to the ironically cheerful tune of “I Gotta Be Me”, we get Mauve (Thandie Newton) and Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) sizing up the massacre in the control room, followed by scenes of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and ever-loyal Teddy (James Marsden) on horseback, all trigger-happy and vengeful towards the park’s guests. Cut to Bernard/Arnold back in an all-terrain vehicle with the only park employees we like, Elsie and Stubbs. Huh. And right at the end, a bloodied Man in Black (Ed Harris) grinning, finally happy that the game’s about to get started for real.
There’s still no specific release date tied to Westworld‘s return next year, but we’ve been told that it will take a while; after all, showrunner Jonathan Nolan claims this is an “ambitious project”. Well, we at least have this footage to mull over. And looking at how the show actually rewards the fans who come up with the most detailed analysis, it’s best you do a Westworld and watch this little snippet over, over, and over again.
Ready Player One (30 March 2018)
Here’s a new movie to get excited about. Instead of sequels after sequels, the Internet for once got pretty excited about this upcoming release, a virtual reality movie that also marks Steven Spielberg’s foray back into the genre that he’s so lovingly known for, sci-fi. It’s also the director’s first live-action action fantasy since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008.
The film, like the Ernest Cline novel it’s based on, is set in the year 2045 where people use virtual reality to escape from their miserable circumstances; they thus enter OASIS, an expansive universe created by the eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When he dies however, he leaves behind a massive fortune for the first person to find a digital Easter egg he’s hidden somewhere, which is where we find our young protagonist Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), at the start of this epic hunt — cue mind-bending action and fantastical scenes, along with loads of 80s nostalgia that include the Iron Giant and Back to the Future‘s Delorean.
Death Note (25 Aug)
Spoiler alert! If you don’t already know the premise of this popular manga/anime series, we suggest not getting into this short clip of the Netflix movie adaptation because it’s a lot to take in. Those that don’t mind though, go right ahead. As said by Ryuk (also, elsewhere, Danaerys Targaryen), shall we begin? Right off the bat, we get our first chilling encounter between this American-version of Light (Nat Wolff) and death god Ryuk, played to snarling perfection by William Dafoe.
Those red eyes and shadowy skeletal figure have the exact feel of the original! But Ryuk’s look isn’t the scariest part of him. It’s the casual way he urges Light to “take care of this situation” and “help her”, even though it entails a death wish on the girl’s perpetuators, one that’s far more sinister than the original — we can imagine looking away from our computer screens if they actually show how the scene plays out. The show comes off the back of controversy about its all-white casting, but hey, we’d still watch it anyway.
Marvel’s The Defenders (18 Aug)
The panel lit up with appearances from all of the heroes — namely, Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). While Comic-Con attendees got all the perks of actually watching the series premiere of Marvel’s The Defenders, let’s just be content with this teaser: in it, a villainous and jaded Sigourney Weaver goes up against our unlikely New York-based heroes who seem to have gotten off on a rocky start. They’re not thrilled, alright.
The series is probably gonna play off on the weird combination of misfits, since they’ve kindly provided this description “Blind ninja. Smart-ass detective. Bulletproof ex-con. Kung Fu billionaire”. Man, we haven’t even gotten to their personal issues! Good luck, New York City.
Bright (22 Nov)
It isn’t a surprise that Netflix Originals are dominating all the post-Comic Con hype, but see, we’re slowly realising that they’re not just about highly-anticipated tv series — there are movies too. And they have high hopes on this one: a big-budget film that stars Will Smith, which mixes up your usual L.A. crime movie with strange fantasy creatures including orcs and elves. Essentially, Smith plays a policeman who’s cop buddy’s an orc (Joel Edgerton), who must work together to protect a young female elf and a forgotten relic.
At the panel though, Smith hilariously said, “It felt really great to be an African-American police officer. They found somebody else to be racist against. I’ve never been on that side of racism when you’re black: ‘Listen, man, I don’t want no Orcs in my car!’” Maybe this will bring some insightful perspectives, like Zootopia did. No doubt, there are plenty of grand, otherworldly scenes here, rather unexpected if you imagine their original premise being something of an urban flick (the drab scenery of L.A. Confidential comes to mind). Mixing prophecies and police drama? Netflix pulling off a blockbuster? Count us in.
Game of Thrones
Season 7 has already started, so consider this more insight into the show of the season, which we assume you’re about to watch… right about now.
Other honourable mentions: The Walking Dead (23 Oct), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (22 Sept), Pacific Rim: Uprising (Feb 2018), Jigsaw (27 Oct), American Horror Story (5 Oct), Star Trek: Discovery, Gotham (28 Sept), Arrow (12 Oct), Marvel’s Inhumans (1 Sept).
