If you follow the movie world closely, then you probably know that there are certain hotspots around the year for the biggest trailer releases. The entire month of December is big, looking ahead to the next year; and August usually houses some treats looking ahead to the fall. Nothing, however, compares to Super Bowl Sunday, which Hollywood regularly uses as a major marketing opportunity. For fans, the only "problem" is that we don't typically get a ton of warning for every major preview... but that just leaves us in anticipation.
The upcoming 11 months are filled with some absolutely massive movies, and the Super Bowl this weekend will definitely highlight many of them. But which titles are we most hoping to see? Read on for our list, and hit the comments below with your own predictions!
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Secrecy surrounding Star Wars movies has always been far beyond what it is for normal Hollywood blockbusters, but Solo: A Star Wars Story takes it to another level. Sure, the film had some production issues -- replacing Phil Lord and Chris Miller with Ron Howard right in the middle of the shoot -- but we are now about three-and-a-half months away from seeing the full thing, and have not seen a single frame. The Super Bowl could potentially change that.
It's always been weird that Solo: A Star Wars Story is coming out just five months after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but enough time has certainly passed now for the public consciousness to look towards the new. It's getting to a point where people are starting to wonder if they need to be concerned about the film -- considering the idea that Disney is hiding a train wreck -- but Disney could use the big game to prove those pessimists wrong.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
The first trailer for J.A. Bayona's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom dropped back in early December... but it didn't exactly inspire a ton of love. While there were some cool new and classic dinosaurs featured, and some explosive volcano visual effects, fans weren't immediately enamored with the story that seems to be in play. There is still plenty of time for the film to start changing minds, not scheduled to arrive until late June, but a solid Super Bowl spot could begin the alteration of public perception in a big way.
Simply put, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is guaranteed to be a hit, as its immediate predecessor currently stands as the fourth most successful international blockbuster of all time. If Universal wants fans coming to theaters with excitement instead of trepidation, though, now is the time to really wow us. There are surely some spectacular moments with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard that the movie hasn't shown us yet -- and showcasing them during the big game could be a big win.
Cloverfield 3
December 2017 did a nice job of previewing all of the biggest new releases coming out in the first half of 2018 -- but as noted, there were a few missing. One title that certainly deserves inclusion in this list, and should find its way to the Super Bowl, is the hyper mysterious an untitled Cloverfield 3. The movie has been pushed back multiple times, and there has been some major discussion about its distribution method in recent weeks, but now is the time to let audiences get a look at it.
Directed by Julius Onah, the sci-fi story will take audiences on a trip to space where the results of a particle accelerator experiment results in some horrific consequences. The project has an impressive cast including Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O'Dowd, Ziyi Zhang, and David Oyelowo, and hopefully Paramount lets us see all of their pretty faces during the big game.
The Incredibles 2
In recent weeks, it's certainly seemed like Disney has been ramping up to something with The Incredibles 2. Late November gave us a crazy quick teaser, and last week saw the release of some huge character details. We don't know for certain that it's all been leading to a big debut theatrical trailer during the Super Bowl, but we definitely hope so.
This is another trailer that may just be held until the week of Black Panther's release -- thanks to the superhero and Disney connection -- but perhaps that's why The Incredibles 2 should draw eyes during the Super Bowl instead. There will certainly be a lot of young kids watching football, so it could ultimately be a smart play for Pixar. We already know that the sequel will center on Holly Hunter's Helen Parr fighting for Supers to be legalized again, but now we'd like to see some actual footage of that.
Deadpool 2
As excited as we all are for Deadpool 2, the film remains a total enigma. Sure, we know it will be introducing some major characters like Cable (Josh Brolin) and Domino (Zazie Beetz), but not a single detail has been revealed about the plot. It's been wondered exactly how long the movie can be kept under wraps before its May release date, and one might notice that the Super Bowl would make for a pretty good launch pad for informing the audiences about the project.
Thus far, marketing for Deadpool 2 has almost entirely centered on the antics of star Ryan Reynolds, but this week could be the time to unleash some actual footage from the comic book movie (perhaps at the very least tell us who the villain is, or let the new characters speak?). It's possible that Fox will hold on to this one until release week for Black Panther, but here is hoping they pull the trigger a bit early.
Skyscraper
It just wouldn't be the Super Bowl without some action from Dwayne Johnson, right? Sure, the actor has Rampage set to come out in April, but for the big game we're setting our sites a little beyond that. It has been reported that this year's major football game will include our first look at director Rawson Marshall Thurber's Skyscraper, and it sounds like it should be a fun treat.
In the movie, Dwayne Johnson plays an FBI Hostage rescue team leader who finds himself framed for arson when the tallest building in China is set on fire. He must not only try and figure out who is really responsible, but also save his family, which is in the burning building. It should make for some exciting stuff in between touchdowns and big plays.
Mission: Impossible -- Fallout
Like The Incredibles 2, Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible -- Fallout is another 2018 film that feels like it's been ramping up its marketing game of late. It was only a few days ago that we were still referring to the movie as Mission: Impossible 6, but now we have both an official title and even a couple of interesting first looks. The first trailer is very clearly right around the corner, so doesn't it make sense to have a Super Bowl debut?
Admittedly the next adventure of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team isn't supposed to come out until much later than most of the films mentioned in this feature -- specifically on July 27 -- but the big game can very much get things rolling for Mission: Impossible -- Fallout. We perhaps don't need a full trailer, but at the very least it would be cool if we got some kind of epic teaser.
Annihilation
Following his directorial debut, Ex Machina, writer/director Alex Garland absolutely has our attention -- and soon he will hopefully be grabbing the same attention of mass audiences. Later this month he will be bringing us the star-studded thriller Annihilation, and it's a film that looks entirely ready to send chills down everybody's spine. We don't have much longer to wait for it, as it will be coming out February 23rd, but that basically makes the Super Bowl a perfect place to start the final marketing push.
There is a hell of a lot going for this movie, given not only its awesome ensemble (Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez and Benedict Wong), but also the fact that horror is very much "in" right now. Annihilation could wind up being a nice early-in-the-year hit, and the Super Bowl is as great as any other place to really start and try to get the word out about it.
The Avengers: Infinity War
You didn't think we were going to forget about this one, did you? Marvel Studios already gave us a two-and-a-half minute taste of what Joe and Anthony Russo have cooking for The Avengers: Infinity War just a few weeks ago... but this is the Super Bowl we're talking about! This is a movie that deserves epic stages for its marketing, and there is consistently no bigger stage around than the finale of the NFL playoffs.
We've already seen the exciting first trailer for Ant-Man & The Wasp released tied to the big game, but Marvel company has double dipped on the Super Bowl before, and could do so again. As evidenced by the footage shown at D23 Expo and San Diego Comic-Con 2017 last summer, there is still plenty of jaw-dropping material from The Avengers: Infinity War that hasn't been shown to the public yet, and there are few bigger debut opportunities to showcase that kind of stuff than the one coming this Sunday.
