Everyone loves a good movie trailer, even for movies that do not exist. No one is better at creating fake movie trailers than the people at Saturday Night Live, which has produced some of the most hilarious cinematic parodies ever and cleverly sent-up some cultural trend or current event by imagining it as a movie. Let's take a look at some of SNL's greatest hits in that category.
The Beygency
In a bit from SNL Season 39, host Andrew Garfield plays a man who experiences the consequences from only liking "most" music by Beyoncé Knowles. The titular "Beygency" is a mysterious organization similar to the agents of fate from the 2011 film, The Adjustment Bureau, who begin to erase our protagonist from society for not pledging his allegiance to "Queen B."
The Group Hopper
Sometimes, it seems like all movies based on dystopian YA novels (such as The Hunger Games movies or the Divergent series) are the same, and this trailer from SNL Season 40 proves it. The Group Hopper (a play on The Maze Runner that references the trope of chosen factions) stars Pete Davidson as the destined savior of a group of teens trapped in a maze by a flamboyant fascist leader in a post-apocalyptic society.
The Apocalypse
If director Garry Marshall had ever set one of his ensemble rom-coms (i.e. Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve) during the end of the world, it would have turned out like The Apocalypse. Essentially an excuse for the Season 37 SNL cast to demonstrate some of their best celebrity impersonations – such as Kristen Wiig as Drew Barrymore and Bill Hader as Alan Alda – the bit teases a movie that looks as (if not more) entertaining than Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, or Mother's Day.
Grouch
At a time when gritty villain origin stories were all the rage – most notable 2019's Joker – SNL imagined if Todd Phillips' approach to reimagining the Batman villain was applied to a Sesame Street character. Host David Harbour stars as a garbage man on the edge named Oscar in the fake trailer for Grouch, which also makes Big Bird an exotic dancer, The Count an addict, and Elmo a dealer.
Brutal Marriage Movie
While cut for time, Brutal Marriage Movie is absolutely an SNL fake trailer worth mentioning for its hilariously accurate send-up of films like Netflix's Marriage Story or one of the best Ryan Gosling movies, Blue Valentine. Host Rami Malek and Heidi Gardner play a couple who, despite their countless issues, are against breaking up and just want to "fight a little more" before falling back in love.
Don' You Go Rounin' Roun To Re Ro
Any non-English person who has ever watched a Guy Ritchie movie or other British crime drama has likely struggled to understand the dialogue through the actors' thick accents. The need to put on subtitles during these sorts of films is acknowledged in SNL's trailer for a fake film called Don' You Go Rounin' Roun to Re Ro, which stars a real-life Brit, host Russell Brand, poking fun at his own people alongside Bill Hader and Fred Armisen indulging in Cockney-sounding gibberish.
Give Us All Our Daughters Back
Many of the best action movies of the early 21st Century involve a hardened protagonist trying to retrieve their child from kidnappers or seek revenge for the young one's murder, such as Taken or Kill Bill. SNL's trailer for a thriller called Give Us All Or Daughters Back imagines the ultimate film based on that concept by casting the likes of Liam Neeson (Taran Killam), Uma Thurman (host Christina Applegate), and more stars of the genre as one Expendables-esque group.
Djesus Uncrossed
If the story of Jesus' resurrection was reinterpreted as a revenge-themed Quentin Tarantino movie, we imagine there would be just as many people lining up to buy tickets as there would be protesters. SNL's fake trailer for Djesus Uncrossed would, indeed, spark controversy for its depiction of the Son of Man (played by host and frequent Tarantino collaborator Christoph Waltz) as a weapons-toting, unforgiving anti-hero, even though a faux review blurb likens it to a "less violent Passion of the Christ."
The Midnight Coterie Of Sinister Intruders
A horror film in the style of a Wes Anderson movie sounds intriguing, but we cannot deny it would probably turn out a lot like SNL's faux trailer for The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders. The G-rated home invasion thriller narrated by Alec Baldwin stars Owen Wilson (host Edward Norton) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Noel Wells) as a couple who react a little too calmly to the well-dressed murderous gang surrounding their delicately decorated, '70s-era home.
Bambi
SNL came up with the perfect idea for Disney's live-action remake of Bambi in 2015 with a faux trailer starring host and Five-Timer’s Club member Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular deer. He enlists his fellow woodland animal friends (including Vin Diesel as Thumper) to exact revenge on the hunting community in a reimagining in the style of the Fast and Furious movies.
Lesbian Period Drama
In response to films like Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Ammonite, SNL crafted their own trailer for a lesbian period drama which they aptly call, Lesbian Period Drama. Host Carey Mulligan and Heidi Gardner play two "straight actresses who dared not to wear makeup" when playing women sharing a secret romance in a coastal 19th century village.
The Fault In Our Stars 2: The Ebola In Our Everything
The Fault in Our Stars – a YA novel adaptation about two terminally ill teens who fall in love – came out around a time when Ebola spreading in the United States was a major concern. So, SNL decided to put the two together and came out with their faux trailer for a sequel called The Ebola in Our Everything, in which Taran Killem plays a teen with cancer who falls in love with a young woman (Sarah Silverman) with the viral disease.
Black Widow: Age Of Me
Years before Scarlett Johansson finally earned her own solo Marvel movie in 2021, SNL imagined their own version of a Black Widow movie in the way Hollywood might have at the time. Instead of an epic, action-packed comic book adaptation, Black Widow: Age of Me is a rom-com in which Scarlett Johansson reprises Natasha Romanoff as a fashion magazine employee struggling to balance her career with her unlikely romance with the evil android Ultron.
Firelight
Imagine if Twilight author Stephanie Meyer, instead of Dracula scribe Bram Stoker, took inspiration from Frankenstein creator Mary Shelley. It might have turned out something like SNL's faux trailer for Firelight, in which Taylor Swift plays a teen who falls in love with a creature (played by Bill Hader) made of disparate body parts stitched together.
White Christmas
Not to be confused with the 1954 holiday romance movie with Bing Crosby, White Christmas imagines a movie with all the workings of a holiday film made primarily for Black audiences but with a cast of mostly caucasian actors. Host Paul Rudd appears as multiple characters in the SNL bit, including one that blatantly rips off Tyler Perry's Madea.
Titey
Some of Disney's best animated movies take inspiration from (but do not accurately depict) real moments in history, namely Pocahontas. A "Saturday TV Funhouse" bit from 1998 imagines how they would approach a kid-friendly, fantastic reinterpretation of the Titanic's tragic sinking with the faux trailer forTitey, which stars Jason Alexader as the voice of the ship and Whoopi Goldberg as the Iceberg.
Pilates
Some people like to joke that taking a Pilates class feels a lot like torture. SNL uses that as the basis for a faux horror movie trailer from Season 49 that goes further by poking fun at the culture surrounding the fitness technique, featuring host and former cast member Kristen Wiig as an enthusiastic instructor and model and actor Kaia Gerber as herself.
The Squad
It is barely a joke anymore to say that Taylor Swift has achieved world domination, but a fake SNL trailer for a movie called The Squad exaggerates her influence to apocalyptic levels. The thriller, helmed by Children of Men director Alfonso Cuarón, imagines a dystopian future in which most of the world's popular has become indoctrinated into the pop star's famous "squad."
A Stab At Love
SNL's 2023 Halloween show featured a faux trailer for an original Hallmark Channel romance that is perfect for the fall... and for those who also enjoy horror movies. A Stab at Love stars Chloe Fineman as a woman who returns to her hometown and falls in love with her high school crush (played by host Nate Bargatze), who turns out to be a masked killer.
Me
In a parody of Spike Jonze's Oscar-winning sci-fi romance, Her, Jonah Hill plays a man who falls in love with his virtual assistant, which is not only modeled off of his personality but sounds like him, too. The bit even ends with Hill's Superbad co-star, Michael Cera, appearing as a surrogate that the OS enlisted so they could get intimate.
Mario Kart
While SNL's Mario Kart sketch is really a faux TV show trailer, it is too brilliant not to include. Host Pedro Pascal pokes fun at his role in HBO's The Last of Us by embodying another famous video game character as if Nintendo's long-running franchise of racing games was adapted into a gritty, post-apocalyptic prestige drama.
Space Mistakes
In Space Mistakes, host Chance the Rapper plays an astronaut who prepares to embark on an important mission beyond the stars. However, as the title suggests and like what happens in so many other movies about space (i.e. Apollo 13 and The Martian), everything that could go wrong does.
Downton Abbey
SNL would poke fun at the low-stakes drama of the hit British series, Downton Abbey, with their own mocking trailer for its cinematic spin-off from 2019. However, by the end, it is revealed to be an ad for Joker because "at least stuff happens" in that movie.
American Girl Doll Movie Trailer
Hollywood has produced a few movies based on the popular American Girl Doll line, but none that indulged in self-parody as brazenly as Greta Gerwig's 2023 blockbuster, Barbie. SNL puts that idea to the test with a faux trailer that brings together famous dolls like the Depression-era Kit Kittredge and slavery-era Addy Walker for a movie that might prove too historically accurate for younger audiences.
Daveheart
Gerard Butler poked fun at his Scottish heritage a couple of times during his SNL Season 35 episode. One such example is a trailer for a sequel to the Best Picture Oscar winner, Braveheart, in which the 300 actor stars as William Wallace's cowardly younger brother, David.
Father Of The Bride Part 8
In SNL Season 48, longtime friends and collaborators Steve Martin and Martin Short teamed up to co-host, in which they also reprised their roles from the Father of the Bride movies. Succession cast member Kieran Culkin also shows up in a cameo as Matty Banks in the bit that imagines Annie (played by Heidi Gardner here) is getting married for the eighth time.
Beastly
Andy Samberg appeared as an awkward, creepy dork named Declan in two teen movie parodies from SNL Season 36. The funnier of the two pokes fun at 2011's modern Beauty and the Beast retelling, Beastly, in which a wealthy, self-centered protagonist is cursed by a witch to look like Declan (credited as Gene Hackman).
The Fruiting
Like many of the best horror movie trailers, SNL's teaser for The Fruiting initially appears to be a wholesome produce ad before it shows its cards as a haunted house thriller. However, soon after that, it begins to show its true cards as an absolutely ridiculous farce in which a family is terrorized by sentient fruit.
Unstoppable
One of the best movies about trains, director Tony Scott's Unstoppable, stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as an engineer and a conductor trying to stop a runaway train holding explosive chemicals from reaching the city. Shortly after it came out, SNL aired a faux trailer that made great use of Jay Pharoah's Washington impression and sent-up the action film's cliched annoyed veteran/cocky rookie pairing, among other funny detials.
Gandhi And The Bandit
Sometimes the key to a good SNL movie parody is recreating the plot of a film but with a person whose involvement would be highly unlikely. One notable example from the early 1980s is a parody of Smokey and the Bandit, which trades Burt Reynolds' daredevil for Mohandus Ghandi (Tim Kazurinsky).
Be My Quaran-tine
During the Covid-19 pandemic, SNL cast members opted to produce sketches from the safety of their own homes, which resulted in many bits about the monotony of being under lockdown. For instance, Alex Moffat starred in a trailer for a rom-com called Be My Quaran-tine, in which a workaholic secluded to his apartment finally finds his soulmate: himself.
The Day Beyoncé Turned Black
When Beyoncé began more openly acknowledging her cultural heritage in her music, such as in the song and video for "Formation," it caused some backlash among her caucasian fans. SNL would poke fun at this odd response to the matter with a trailer for a disaster movie called The Day Beyoncé Turned Black, in which white people are sent into an uproar over their sudden realization of the pop star's racial identity.
As you can see, the SNL cast excels at fake movie trailers, and likely always will.
