The Top Five Movie Trailers We Saw During the Super Bowl

Yesterday, millions of people skipped out on brunches, yoga classes and Sunday chores to witness arguably the most “American” tradition out there: The Super Bowl. Sure, we love the game, and the half time show almost never disappoints. But as filmmakers, the best part of Super Bowl Sunday is the unveiling of the year’s biggest movie trailers. Here are our top five Super Bowl movie trailers of this year:

Despite mixed feelings about the last Jurassic World movie, we can’t help but get excited over another one. Maybe it’s the throwback to the simpler days of our youth when the original (and irrefutably the best) Jurassic Park was released.

The latest addition to the franchise takes a turn towards terrifying. The trailer comes across as more of a horror movie than the relatively family-friendly Jurassic World of 2015. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard return to the island which is yet again full of unmanaged dinosaurs unveiled in a series of over-the-top action scenes. These are matched with some slower, creepier scenes including one that hints to a man-made dino species joining the park, as if they hadn’t learned their lesson last time.

Tom Cruises needed this trailer, especially after his not-so-stellar reboot of The Mummy last year. The Mission: Impossible franchise is Cruise’s bread and butter and the trailer for Fall Out is a sign that he’s still got it. It opens on a rather ominous message from a man at gunpoint which sets up yet another seemingly impossible mission for Cruise.  The remaining minute and thirty seconds are comprised mostly of motorcycles, guns and death-defying stunts, which is exactly what we want from a Mission Impossible film.

The newest addition to the Cloverfield family takes the franchise into space. From a space station, a group of astronauts work to solve a massive energy crisis afflicting Earth in this ultra-futuristic installment. Due to some experimental technology, life aboard the station takes an unexpected turn, putting the team in serious danger in a fight for survival.

The most surprising thing about this trailer is the message that comes at the very last moment: The entire film will be available on Netflix immediately after the game. The film was originally set to be released in theatres in April, but producer J.J. Abrams opted for an unprecedented release tactic for a film of this size.

This trailer is impressive in part because the film itself almost didn’t get made, and there’s been relatively little hype about its release. That’s because original directorial duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by Ron Howard part-way through production, thus delaying publicity for quite some time.

Technically speaking this is not the official trailer, which was released this morning on Good Morning America. But this short teaser for the prequel depicting Han Solo’s career has got us excited. Harrison Ford steps aside from the role of Han Solo and is replaced by Alden Ehrenreich. He is joined by a star-studded cast including Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Donald Glover.

Part of the reason why Red Sparrow is our top pick is that it’s the only film on the list that isn’t a sequel. As much as we love the anticipation of waiting for a new instalment to our favourite franchise, a fresh idea is always welcome. Jennifer Lawrence teams up once more with Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence in this spy thriller.

Lawrence plays a prima ballerina whose career is abruptly ended by an injury. After witnessing something she shouldn’t have seen, she is given a choice “die or become a Sparrow”. She joins the “Sparrow School”, a secret intelligence service recruiting young people trained to “seduce and manipulate”. She emerges from training as a fully-fledged spy and total badass. The trailer itself is surprisingly low on rapidly cut action sequences which gives us hope that this film might be more than your typical rogue spy flick.