Stay Wide Awake – STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Teaser no. 2

Today was a strange day for sneak peeks.

Over morning coffee, there was talk of the first SUPERMAN v. BATMAN Teaser. This is a project that has so much riding on it, so many people betting against it, and is the very definition of “high profile”…so suffice it to say, interest is high. But what did we get? A bunch of graphics and a look at two hanging costumes (one of which we already know from a previous film).

Why in the world was this a thing? How did anybody at WB allow this to be the crumb that was supposed to tease a hungry audience?

If you looked up “non-teaser” in the dictionary, you might well see the bat-symbol wrapped around the Superman shield. That “S” might mean hope, but there was no hope here.

Then closer to lunchtime, we got a teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s HATEFUL EIGHT. Really, there was nowhere to go but up, so I can only imagine someone in QT’s camp having seen the SUPERMAN v. BATMAN clip and saying “Now! Now! No better time than now!”. Here’s the thing though…besides the neat use of a Stooges song, this teaser didn’t offer us a whole lot more. Sure it used its animation to spell out an unknown story, but there was no witty dialogue, no imagery, none of the usual Tarantino crackle.

Considering that the first teaser we got of DJANGO UNCHAINED featured several of the film’s best lines (“The D is silent”), and iconic imagery (the blood spattering the cotton plants), this too feels like a letdown.

Both of these films are somewhat pre-sold, so why do a half-assed job at selling them now?

But then, right around the time lunch was digesting and we were all getting into our afternoon workload, the teaser awoke.

This second clip from STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS was all anybody could talk about this afternoon…and for good reason. It showed us things without really showing us things. It could have just been voices over a black screen with that yellow logo drifting off into nothing, but it built upon nostalgia and whetted our appetite for the new.

In short, it was a clinic in teasers.

I can’t remember a day where I saw such a gamut – hell, I can’t remember a day where I saw so many high-profile clips drop at once (and I didn’t even mention the new look at MAD MAX). These cookies are nice, but none of them feel like they are bringing in any new business. Why not just hold off and give people that one great clip they’ve been wanting?

Anyway, while I say a few prayers that SvB looks better when we finally get our good look next week, and wonder when I’ll dedicate a day to the Machete Marathon of the STAR WARS Saga, here’s another look at that amazing FORCE AWAKENS teaser…and a hope that we all start getting some better marketing.