The 15 Best Movie Trailers Of 2015

Two minutes. After years of planning and filming, studios only have two minutes to convince audiences that their film is the one worth seeing. Sure, interviews, posters and a little old fashioned thing we like to call "word of mouth" also have their part to play, but trailers will always have the most impact. Some trailers are now more highly anticipated than the films themselves and subsequently, promos have themselves become an art form, successfully selling movies that aren't even very good at times. We've all been misled by fantastic trailers before, only to discover that the final product isn't even worth playing during a Netflix and chill session, but fortunately, 2015 has been a great year for trailers. Forget the movies themselves. In a world where the average attention span is now no longer than a basic snapchat, trailers are the new blockbusters. So, let's take some time to relive the most exciting trailers that premiered this year. And, as always, remember to add your own suggestions in the comments section below. 15) Joy Jennifer Lawrence holds much in common with the shape-shifting Mystique that she plays in the X-Men franchise, slipping effortlessly between roles, but the trailer for Joy reveals what may be her biggest challenge yet: playing a middle-aged woman. While we're not yet convinced on that front, everything else about the trailer for David O. Russell's latest collaboration with Lawrence has got us very excited indeed. Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro are set to appear once again in powerful supporting roles, but unlike Silver Linings Playbook or American Hustle, this is purely Lawrence's show and the trailer suggests that this could very well be her finest moment to date. Also, the clip is super Christmassy. Tis' the season and all that. 14) Avengers: Age Of Ultron The general consensus now is one of mild disappointment, but before Avengers: Age Of Ultron was released, fanboy hype for Whedon's sequel was at an all-time high... and why not? Whedon's trailer was a masterstroke in building anticipation, to the point where every single frame was meticulously pored over by fanatics desperate for clues regarding the films' plot. Where do we even start? The Hulkbuster fight looked phenomenal, the team shot in the snow blew our collective minds and Ultron's disturbing voice over led many to believe that he could be the first great MCU villain since Loki did his thing in the first movie. All of this would have easily guaranteed Age Of Ultron a place on this list, but what cemented the trailer's appeal was the blink and you'll miss it cameo at the end from everyone's favourite infinity gem wielding android, The Vision. 13) The Visit The trailer for The Visit did something that many thought had become impossible. It actually made us excited for another movie from M. Night Shyamalan. The world wasn't exactly screaming for a found footage film about scary old people, particularly from the man who brought us The Happening and The Last Airbender, but the surprisingly gripping clip from The Visit made audiences sit up and take notice. It's common for trailers to spoil pivotal scenes these days, but the promo for The Visit is decidedly old school in this regard, choosing to omit exactly why the children's grandparents are acting the way they do. Sit up and take notice, Hollywood. When the grandmother sweetly asks her granddaughter to climb into the oven at the end, it's hard not to laugh, but this is more down to the creepy unease of the scene than poor filmmaking. In recent years, Shymalan's succeeded only in making people laugh at the sheer shoddiness of his work, so this was a refreshing change of pace for him. 12) Magic Mike XXL The beauty of the trailer for Magic Mike XXL is that those who made it know exactly why people want to see this movie... and it sure as hell ain't for the nuanced script. It would have been easy to just show off Channing Tatum's pecs and grinding dance moves, no one would have complained, but the filmmakers behind this trailer decided to go the extra mile with something a bit more intelligent. For the first half of the promo, the words, "We didn't want to show the best parts of the movie in this trailer..." are intercut between conservative clips where the dancing is surprisingly absent... that is, until the trailer teases with the words, "but it was very very hard to resist." Extra emphasis on the hard there people. The rest of the promo acts as any traditional trailer would, showing all of the footage one would expect from a movie about male strippers, but it's that genius use of satire at the beginning which earns the clip a place on this list. Well, that and every single moment Mr. Tatum's chest blesses the screen with its presence. 11) Queen Of Earth You may not have heard of Alex Ross Perry's Queen Of Earth before, but the marketing for this powerful little indie is a stroke of genius and deserves to be seen by a far wider audience. Taking inspiration from the melodramatic dramas it homages, the trailer for Queen Of Earth is literally a blast from the past, using everything from overblown dialogue to a ridiculously urgent voice over that demands to be re-watched again and again. Even if the final product wasn't very good, (don't worry, it's as awesome as the trailer suggests), this clip works as a hilariously unsettling short film in and of itself. Just make sure you wait until the voice-over guy reads out the credits at the end. For better or worse, they genuinely don't make trailers like this anymore. 10) Deadpool X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a failure on every level, but the blunder that stung comic book fans most was the shockingly poor depiction of Deadpool. The filmmakers literally sewed up the mouth of a character typically known as "The Merc with a Mouth." It doesn't get much more painful than that for geeks like us, but fortunately, Fox saw the light of day and decided to rectify their mistakes, giving the fans exactly what they wanted in the form of this Deadpool trailer. The jury may still be out regarding whether Fox can pull off an entire Deadpool movie successfully, but the marketing campaign up to this point has captured the essence of the character like no other superhero, throwing in Deadpool's trademark wit and R-Rated shenanigans at every given opportunity. A few jokes veer towards becoming almost too self-aware, referencing Spider-Man and Reynolds' Green Lantern travesty with gleeful abandon, but everything from the violence to the hilarious one-liners feels like Deadpool has literally come to life from the pages of the comics. Let's just hope the filmmakers don't become too keen on parodying themselves and resort to stealing his voice away again in an attempt to lampoon X-Men Origins: Wolverine. No one wants that. 9) Mad Max: Fury Road This stunning trailer for Mad Max: Fury Road is quite spoiler-y in a sense, showcasing a number of key fight sequences from each of the film's three acts. Fortunately though, the clip is perfectly edited, providing just the briefest glimpses of the action from one moment to the next in a relentless barrage of nightmarish images that successfully capture everything that the movie is about and more. Anyone who doubted that George Miller could successfully return to his signature franchise thirty years later was quickly silenced by the gorgeous aesthetic of this trailer, which somehow captured the look of the original trilogy yet still looks like nothing else released in cinemas today. Action films come and go, but how often do we see men play flamethrower guitars!? Not enough. The answer is not enough. 8) The Lobster It takes a special kind of trailer to successfully convey the premise of a movie as ludicrous as The Lobster, which is exactly why this particular clip more than deserves a spot on this list. For those unaware of its story, The Lobster is set in a dystopian future unlike any you've seen before. In the film, Colin Farrell's character is sent to The Hotel, a special facility where single people are forced to find a prospective mate within forty-five days. Failure to find love results in being killed and reincarnated in the form of an animal who is then released into The Woods around the facility. Every bit as strange as it sounds, the trailer also highlights the film's unique humour, while providing a fascinating showcase for its eclectic cast, including Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman and Ben Whishaw. Once you've finished watching this trailer, also seek out the promo for Dogtooth, an even more freaky film from director Yorgos Lanthimos. You won't be disappointed. You will be freaked out though. 7) Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Man Of Steel received a huge backlash after fans derided Superman's wanton destruction of Metropolis. The Dark Knight seemed to agree, setting up an iconic battle between the two most iconic heroes the world has ever seen. Whether Snyder planned this all along or simply used the backlash to his advantage remains to be seen, but it's hard to deny how satisfying this trailer is, watching the people of earth demand penance for the events that occurred within Man Of Steel. That's not all that this trailer has going for it, though. Obviously, the action sequences between Batman and Superman were bound to impress, but what's most appealing about this initial showcase is how they used it to dispel two preconceptions that many held about the film. First and most importantly, Ben Affleck actually looks like he could be great in the role of Batman, something that a huge bulk of the internet had held in serious doubt beforehand. Secondly, our first glimpse of Wonder Woman instantly made us forget the naysayers campaigning for Gal Gadot to be replaced. While we still have to see her actual performance, Gadot certainly embodies the Amazonian Princess far better than we could have possibly hoped. 6) Hail Caesar Out of all of the trailers featured on this list, Hail Caesar is the most giddily exuberant, reminding us exactly why we love cinema so much in the first place. The unbelievable cast look like they're having the time of their lives and the Coen Brothers don't disappoint, bringing a glossy sheen to the old Hollywood style proceedings. The sheer star power alone should guarantee Hail Caesar at least one Academy Award next year, but if the film doesn't manage to obliterate the competition somehow, then something must have gone seriously wrong... and who knows? Maybe Channing Tatum might even build some award buzz. He's dressed as a sailor for god's sake. What more do the Academy want from him? 5) Suicide Squad DC movies have always been willing to go darker than Marvel, but Suicide Squad is another beast entirely. Part of that is down to the fact that David Ayer's movie focuses solely on super villains, foregoing the heroics usually associated with the genre, but there's something else that also sets this ensemble pic apart from other films of its ilk. While most comic book promos focus on building the action up to a thrilling crescendo, the Suicide Squad trailer takes a far more restrained approach, slowly establishing each of its primary characters with close ups and slow tracking shots that allow the strength of their personalities to speak for themselves. Sure, there is still action in the trailer, but the most powerful clips are those quieter moments where Harley Quinn spins upside down in her cage or when the squad march forward on their mission. Despite the presence of Batman and the Joker, both of whom impress here, Ayer's take on the infamous villains feels far more real than what fans of comic book movies are used to. Deadpool may have received the R rating, but it's the trailer for Suicide Squad that makes us feel like "superhero" movies have finally grown up. Oh, and how about that music... 4) Goodnight Mommy For a genre often associated with its B-Movie trappings, the best of horror is usually far more artistic than detractors would suggest. Whatever you think of the final product, it's hard to deny that Goodnight Mommy is chock full of hypnotically nightmarish images that are hard to look away from, and the trailer exploits this to full effect. A constant sense of unease is threaded throughout the entire promo, building to a crescendo as the images of the boy's mother become more and more disturbing. It must have been tempting to reveal the emotional finale of the film in some form, but the editors show great restraint here, instead focusing on the chilling atmosphere that Goodnight Mommy evokes, tantalizing us with horrific moments that hold no explanation. 3) The Revenant Trailers are usually designed to tell us as much information as possible about the movies they're showing clips from, but after watching the promo for The Revenant, I still have no idea what the story is really about. However, that doesn't matter a damn bit when the presentation is as stunning as this. From the sweeping landscapes to the intense close-ups, every moment of the trailer is infused with a harsh beauty that stirs something primal within the viewer. Alejandro González Iñárritu has proven himself time and time again as one of the best filmmakers of our generation, creating daring movies that few would even consider possible. If we were to judge The Revenant based on this trailer alone, Mr. Oscar would certainly come knocking on his door once again. Let's just hope he swings by Leonardo DiCaprio's place on the way, too. It was funny for a while, but these constant snubs can't be good for DiCaprio's mental health. 2) Star Wars: The Force Awakens For all of the hoopla surrounding the relentless onslaught of superhero movies and the return of iconic franchises like Jurassic World, there's one film that mattered more to most people than any other in 2016, and that's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. On top of the impossible expectations fans have placed upon the return of everyone's favourite sci-fi saga, the team behind this first look at Force Awakens had the unenviable task of balancing nostalgia for the original trilogy, while still looking forward to the future. Fortunately, Disney managed to pull off exactly that, combining characters old and new in fantastical settings that truly felt like they belonged in the Star Wars universe, something that the last three movies utterly failed to achieve. The whole trailer is exhilarating from start to finish, but it's hard to put into words exactly how lifelong fans of the franchise felt upon finally seeing Han Solo and Chewbacca together on the big screen once again. Also, leaving Luke Skywalker out of the clip was yet another stroke of genius, sparking a million debates and a million more memes on this humble network we like to call the internet. 1) Captain America: Civil War Ok, we know what you're thinking. Why didn't Star Wars nab the top spot? Well, for Marvel fanboys like me, selecting the trailer for Captain America: Civil War as the best of the year was an easy choice. Sure, Cap and his mates were late to the party, appearing online only a few short weeks ago, but this trailer represents the epitome of everything that Marvel has worked towards so far. Seeds were sown in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, but the clash between Iron Man and Captain America finally comes to life in this exhilarating promo, showcasing the best action that we've seen yet from any movie in the MCU. Civil War was one of the most popular crossover events ever featured in the comics, so it's extraordinary that the Russo Brothers already seem to have pulled off an impressive adaptation, despite the legal restrictions placed on using key characters such as the Fantastic Four. There are too many highlights to list from this trailer in full, but the first appearance of the Black Panther on the big screen certainly didn't disappoint, Falcon actually looks pretty cool for once and that exchange between Cap and Stark makes the trailer surprisingly heart-wrenching for fans of the franchise. The moment that truly made us geekgasm though occurs right at the end where Cap and Bucky tag team against Iron Man, taking it in turns to pummel his armour with that iconic shield. If the final film can live up to even 50% of the hype generated by this trailer, combining insane action sequences with genuine emotion, we could be looking at the greatest comic book movie ever made.