SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains extremely minor spoilers for Passengers. If you wish to know absolutely nothing about the movie before going in to see it for yourself, we might recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles -- but most of you should be just fine).
The first trailers for Morten Tyldum's Passengers arrived online back in September, but to date none of them really explain what the movie is about. Sure, you get the gist -- Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt trapped together on a spaceship -- but the ads have left out key details that don't tell you everything about the film. This might irk viewers who are trying to get a read on whether or not they should see it -- but it's a strategy that the blockbuster's stars are actually really happy about.
After seeing Passengers for myself earlier this month, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt and the film's Los Angeles press day, and one of our topics of discussion was about the movie's strange and somewhat misleading trailers. I asked them about their awareness of the marketing and how they felt about the way the sci-fi feature is being sold, and they explained why they are actually big fans of the approach. Said Lawrence,
I think it's really cool. I think the biggest part of the movie nobody has talked about, and it's a complete secret. I had somebody say to me, 'You know, your movie, that trailer... it looks good, but you gave away the twist in the trailer!' And I was like, 'No. No we did not.'
Following up, Chris Pratt mentioned that he is not only a fan of key details being kept out of trailers, but he took it a step further by saying that he doesn't even want people knowing that the previews are missing anything (which admittedly does make me feel just a touch guilty running this story). Pratt explained.
I'm so reticent to reveal, to do anything to manipulate or expose the truth of this story or the mystery behind this story to the audience that I don't even want to... I don't even want them to know there is a twist! You know what I mean? I've said this from the beginning: Passengers. Jennifer Lawrence. Chris Pratt. Space. Trust me, go see it.'
As I mentioned to Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in the interview, there definitely is something to appreciate in a movie keeping big plot details out trailers -- especially when there are so many around that essentially play as shortened versions of the film itself. As a result, there exists a kind of love-hate relationship between marketing and movie-goers, as we all want glimpses at big upcoming blockbusters, but never want to see too much. It's a line that Passengers plays with well.
You can watch Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence talk about their gratitude for the vague Passengers trailers (and express some butt and side-boob appreciation) in the video below!
Passengers will be arriving in theaters this Wednesday, December 21st, and be sure to stay tuned here on Cinema Blend with more from our interviews with the film's stars and director!
