Superman Cinemacon Sneak Peek Released Online
Most of the presentations shown at Cinemacon are taking a “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” approach, meaning they’re for attendees of the festival only, and we’ll likely never see them. But today, average Joes looked up in the sky – or, more accurately, at their YouTube feed – and saw a bird, or a plane, or the Superman footage screened by Warner Bros. That’s right, WB and DC have made the Superman Cinemacon sneak peek public, and it’s… nothing special, really. It’s an extended look at the scene where Krypto shows up to drag a battered and broken Superman to the Fortress of Solitude. It does give us a look at the Fortress and some of Superman’s amenities, but it’s not much, and it’s followed by the clips we saw in the trailer. You can see the Superman Cinemacon sneak peek below:
I really don’t understand the advertising for this movie. That first image from last May that showed Superman slowly and casually putting his boots on as a sky beam lit up Metropolis was a bust that didn’t capture the urgency of such a moment or Superman’s forthright heroism. In fact, thinking about it again, it looks like a very James Gunn moment – “Isn’t it funny how he’s like, ‘Ho-hum, another one of these?’ while there’s a big alien thingy?” – and that’s the kind of thing a lot of people were afraid of with Gunn writing and directing Superman. If it were me (with the benefit of most of a year’s hindsight), I’d have the sky beam in the background while Clark Kent was dramatically taking off his glasses, maybe with his shirt just slightly opened to reveal a piece of Superman’s suit underneath. Same idea, but the feel is more “This looks like a job for Superman!” than “God, I hate Mondays!” Anyway, not counting all the behind-the-scenes shots from Cleveland.com, then came the image of Superman and Krypto watching Earth spin from the moon, followed by the motion poster that showed Superman flying, the first of which was neat enough (and invoked an image from the comics) while the second was kind of bland, especially because of Superman’s pose, which, once again, didn’t suggest urgency or danger or even just fun. Next was the Super Bowl trailer, which wasn’t bad, but choosing to highlight Krypto rather than Superman was a little strange; the best stuff was all in clips, and while I get not spoiling too much, I’d have highlighted something else – maybe a scene between Superman and Lois Lane – and put Krypto in the short clips. Finally, there was the short TV spot that showed Superman flying, which looked goofy and poorly rendered.
And now, we’ve got the Superman Cinemacon sneak peek, and instead of doing something different, Gunn and Warner Bros. once again show that Krypto scene. Why do they think Krypto is the big draw for this movie? I’m fine with him being in it – I think his inclusion helps communicate that this is going to be a more traditional Superman film – but Superman is the one who will get me excited to see it, not his dog. I also think it’s a mistake to keep showing this bloody, defeated Superman instead of showing him rescuing someone from a disaster or something like that; again, it’s fine to have that in the movie, but why not sell it on the promise of seeing Superman being Superman instead of relegating that to the quick clips? And the stuff with Krypto in this clip is weird; I’m not sure if I’m supposed to think it’s funny or not. Maybe it works better in context after we’ve seen Superman and Krypto play with each other. I will say that I love the look of the Fortress of Solitude, and it’s a relief to see a superhero movie with good special effects again; the last one I can remember was… Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, another James Gunn movie, so I guess that makes sense. The robots look good, too, although I don’t think the humor quite works, partly because it’s contradictory; one robot tells Superman not to thank them because they’re simply automatons and have no conception of feelings, and the next one gets excited when Superman looks at her. As with all these out-of-context moments, it could make more sense in the movie (that clip where Superman takes the hand of one of the robots suggests this may be a running theme, something James Gunn is very good at), but for now, it seems not to make sense. And after they give him a healing dose of yellow sun rays… that’s it, and we’re back to the clips we’ve already seen.
The Superman Cinemacon sneak peek feels strange. This is what you showed theater owners to get them excited for your big summer superhero movie, the one that will bring a new cinematic universe to theaters and debut your new version of the most famous superhero of all time? Why not show them a big moment, like Superman fighting that giant monster or performing a daring rescue? You know, these guys are struggling right now; they’d like a sign that Hollywood is finally going to deliver some movies people will actually want to see, and Superman would’ve been the perfect one to make them believe that. I don’t understand their approach to selling this film. Chris Gore has said that Warner Bros. is planning a huge advertising push for Superman in the coming months, something he said would be akin to the one they did for Barbie, and that makes sense. There’s a lot riding on Superman, and there’s no reason this shouldn’t be the biggest summer movie this year (although I don’t think it will be). But the ads have been weirdly subdued and focused on the wrong things when they need to start generating excitement. I’m interested in seeing what this new ad campaign looks like, and I’m still hopeful for the movie, but for now, they’re underselling Superman (I hope).
Let us know what you thought of the Superman Cinemacon sneak peek in the comments!
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