The Super Bowl is the most-watched telecast of the year, and ad rates are priced accordingly. While not everyone is a sports fan, the event attracts viewers with the half-time show (this year featuring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira) and of course, the ads. Companies unleash their edgiest commercials in hopes that they will get folks talking about their products. But one 30-second ad during the Super Bowl costs $5.6 million (higher than last year’s rate of $5.2 million) and for the second year in a row, Sony and Warner Brothers have opted out.
That means fans will not be getting new trailers from Sony for ‘Fantasy Island’, ‘Bloodshot’, ‘Peter Rabbit: The Runaway’, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’, ‘Morbius’, ‘Monster Hunter’, ‘Escape Room 2’, ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’, ‘Venom 2’, or ‘Wish Dragon’. Nor will they be getting trailers from Warner Brothers for ‘Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’, ‘Scoob!’, ‘Wonder Woman 1984’, ‘Tenet’, ‘Malignant’, ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’, ‘The Witches’, ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’, ‘Dune’, or ‘Fyre Festival’ (another one?).
In all honesty, the Super Bowl may not really be the best outlet for movie trailers anyway, as most people are more attentive to the irreverent ads for other products. There’s only so much that can be done with a movie trailer.
Last year, Nickelodeon wasted $5.2 million by airing an ad for its dud ‘Wonder Park’ during the Super Bowl. Universal debuted a new trailer for ‘Us’, while 20th Century Fox promoted ‘Alita: Battle Angel’, and Disney unveiled the highly anticipated trailer for ‘Avengers: Endgame’, the slightly less anticipated ‘Captain Marvel’, and ‘Toy Story 4’.
So those studios could deliver again this year. Universal has ‘The Invisible Man’, ‘Fast and Furious 9’, ‘Candyman’, ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, ‘Halloween Kills’, and ‘The Croods 2’ arriving this year, while Disney/Fox have ‘Call of the Wild’, ‘Onward’, ‘Mulan’, ‘New Mutants’, ‘Black Widow’, ‘Artemis Fowl’, ‘Bob’s Burgers’, ‘Jungle Cruise’, ‘The One and Only Ivan’, ‘Death on the Nile’, ‘Eternals’, and ‘West Side Story’.
Definitely expect Disney to deliver trailers for ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Eternals’, two of the most anticipated movies of the year, as well as ‘Jungle Cruise’ a would-be smash starring Dwayne Johnson, and possibly ‘Artemis Fowl’, a risky YA adaptation that could go either way.
Will you be tuning in to the Super Bowl this weekend?
