If you're a hardcore movie fan, you're probably going to be watching the Super Bowl tonight-- but not for any of the reasons your football-loving friends are. Movie geeks get sucked into the Super Bowl every year because of the trailers, as Hollywood studios take the opportunity to market their biggest upcoming films to the biggest TV audience they can have all year. Tonight we're expecting new looks at Star Trek Into Darkness, Man of Steel, World War Z and more, which will be more than enough to keep us watching the game-- but what do we do when the game is actually on?
For those of us who don't know the difference between Jim Harbaugh and his brother John, it's hard to find a reason to care about the outcome of tonight's matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers. But that's where movies and TV can come in. Instead of pitting football teams from Baltimore and San Francisco against each other, why not make it movies and TV shows set in those cities? Pick the best of each side, stack them up against each other, and whichever one wins out for you tells you which team to root for. You're not cheering for the 49ers tonight; you're cheering for Vertigo.
To figure that out as scientifically (and silly) as possible, we borrowed the bracket format from an entirely different sport, and present to you the Cinema Blend Super Bowl Team Chooser 3000. Or something. We're still working on the name. We picked the 8 best movies and TV shows from San Francisco and Baltimore, pitted them against each other in bracket format, and now we're handing it off to you to finish. Choose between The Wire vs. The Raven, Vertigo vs. Full House, and follow the brackets all the way to your final pairing. Unlike in actual March Madness, you don't have to wait until the games are played to pick a winner-- just go with your own taste and make your picks.
Click the bracket below to see the full-size, printable version. Get your bracket, make your picks, figure out which Baltimore or San Francisco movie reigns supreme-- and then spend the next few hours researching your new favorite team so you don't catch yourself screaming "Go McNulty!" instead of "Go Ravens!" tonight. Good luck and may the best team win!
