Lets face it, as expensive as Super Bowl ads are, the Super Bowl has always been the place to air new previews for some of the biggest blockbusters of the year. 2014 has a huge line up of great films being released and most are sequels. And if you are anything like me, I don’t watch or care about football. I only watch to catch the latest new films that are coming out in 2014. The trend as of late is to extend or repeat success in franchises that may or may not have another film or two in their plots. For better or worse, the sequels are not going away. The estimated going rate for a 30 second spot this year is $4 million. So don’t expect any low-budget films to be picking up a spot, expect big blockbuster films with more than a little room in their marketing budgets.
Right now much of the talk is speculation and guess work as not all of the studios are revealing just what they paid for during the Super Bowl. However, there are a few we are certain of and here is a list of those films:
Transformers: Age Of Extinction
Michael Bay has been called many things over the years. There is a lot of hate out there for his films, including the other Transformers in the franchise who many felt were just too off base with the original that everyone seemed to love. That being said, Michael Bay still draws huge crowds and this film will likely be no different. It also has a few things going for it including no Shia Labeouf and add Mark Wahlberg. Labeouf has been under a massive PR nightmare after it came to light that he stole material for a film project he did, and tried to pass it off as his own. Wahlberg has a huge fan base and may actually bring some life back to the franchise. Personally I am not a fan of Wahlberg, I cannot stand him in anything he does. That being said, I think that the change in this case is good. Its time to move away from the Whitwicky family story.
“The Amazing Spider Man 2”
Not sure just how much new footage they can show during what will likely be no more than a 60 second spot. The film has already seen several teasers since Comic Con 2013 and almost all of the surprises have been revealed. But the Super Bowl will put far more eyes on it then any other event. Either way, if you have not seen the trailer already released, check it out below.
“The Expendables 3”
I have only one word for this…….Why? One was bad enough. Two is beating a dead horse. A third film? If you are a fan of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Mel Gibson, and even Harrison Ford, You might care to watch this but I for one will be skipping it. Here is the latest teaser for the film. Expect the first real footage from the new film to air during the game.
“Need For Speed”
Yes that is a name of a video game and yes this is a film based on said game. The Fast and the Furious franchise has been a huge hit and it seems Disney might be trying to take a crack at it. It seems like a lot more of the same, and I am not all that impressed with the already released Trailer but you be the judge. Are car chase/race films really that popular that just anyone can throw it out there and have it be successful? I fear like Battleship, it will try to tie itself to the game series too much and lead to awkward or goofy story lines that just are not realistic. Battleship was a disaster and I have a feeling this one will end up in the same boat. However, if you are a huge Breaking Bad fan, you will be happy to find Aaron Paul as your lead character.
“Captain America 2”
The Avengers franchise and all of its spinoffs are one of the rare few that can manage such huge success over such an expansive universe. The Marvel films have always done well with Super Bowl ads, and it appears that Disney and Marvel want to repeat that success with a trailer during the super bowl. The trailer expected during the game will contain new footage and some fan service but checkout the trailer that was already released for the upcoming film.
‘Noah’
Just confirmed today was Paramounts purchase of a spot for the new film ‘Noah’ featuring Russell Crowe, Emma Watson and Anthony Hopkins. Only 1 trailer to date has been revealed but this appears to be a film that might be worth seeing.
Now we have listed out the movies we know will show something, but what about the others who are likely to air footage but won’t comment? Here are a few others we expect might have purchased a $4 or $8 million spot.
“RoboCop”
In yet another attempt to revive a long dead franchise, Sony goes to remake RoboCop with a modern and more futuristic approach to the classic SciFi film. Much like the original a cop is turned into a robot/human cop who obeys the commands of a greedy corporation, until one day, they can no longer control him. Most of the teasers released to date reveal little about the films villains but checkout what we have seen so far and expect that Sony might have put some money down to reveal more to a big audience.
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past‘
Honestly of the list so far, this is the film I am most excited about. Although the last few films of the franchise have not been received well, and were not as good as the original, this one has a lot of history in the comics and brings together 2 generations of X-Men. First Class was my favorite film of all 4 X-Men films. The spin offs are okay, the most recent The Wolverine was a vast improvement over the previous one. When the first teaser was released I was itching to watch it over and over again. 20th Century has not confirmed they will be airing a trailer, but given the Super Bowl is airing on ‘Fox’, why not use the fact that they can pay nothing to their advantage and advertise their big blockbuster film.
‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘
I wasn’t all too thrilled when I first heard they were remaking this franchise but I was rather impressed with the first film and the second appears to be keeping that expectation up. Again its another Fox property which they would be able to use their own air time to promote. X-Men is poised to become a major blockbuster regardless of a Super Bowl ad, So it may make sense for them to air one for this instead. But in my opinion, why not both?
At this point, we don’t know who else will be airing trailers during the game, but there are some good films missing from the list above including The Maze Runner, Divergent, Hunger Games 3, Hobbit Part 3, Interstellar, Jupiter Ascending, Gozilla and Edge Of Tomorrow. But fear not, we have teasers for some of these films as well. Be sure to click the links and watch them. Overall we are not all that impressed with the lineup, but heres to hoping they pull a few surprises at us during the game.
Tell us which films you are most excited to see trailers for and which ones were missed that you think should air.
