Keeping an Ear to the Trailer Industry in the Time of the Pandemic

While not necessarily the most concerning or impactful aspects of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the strident (and prudent) physical distancing measures implemented worldwide have nonetheless also impacted the film and television industry in a profound way.

Films such as Pixar’s latest, Onward, have been granted startlingly short windows from theatre to screen, having made the jump to Disney Plus in about a month. Elsewhere, films like Artemis Fowl (originally due May 29th) are skipping theatres completely, instead bolstering this year’s Disney Plus release schedule; higher-visibility franchises such as Mulan and Black Widow are being pushed to later in the year.

Also of interest is the decision to make other films for current or impending theatrical release available to consumers in the form of relatively expensive digital rentals. This is true both for higher-budget releases such as Birds of Prey or Trolls World Tour as it is for more independently-minded releases like Never Rarely Sometimes Always.

Regardless, this unprecedented moment has both accelerated current trends in the emergent streaming model as well as forced the hand of studios to begin to experiment with alternative models of windowing and distribution with the goal of stemming their losses as much as possible. The question is, of course, what remains once the world returns to relative normalcy. Part of the answer hinges on the extent to which the world does in fact return to the way things were—which does not seem likely.

Of particular interest to this blog would be how promotional trailer campaigns change or are amended to accommodate this forced shuffle in the production pipeline of the film studios. The implications for trailer houses could be profound.

In this regard many questions and lines of inquiry are worth pursuing. For example, will studios release brand new trailers for pushed releases such as Mulan, or will they largely rerelease older materials to remind audiences of prior promotions? Will any aspect of trailer form change under these extenuating circumstances, especially taking into consideration a new focus on smaller screens, knowing audiences by definition do not have access to the theatrical trailer experience? Moreover, what will the shift to creating trailers for more streaming media—and other media suited to the home, such as video games—mean for the ever-changing generic conventions of the trailer, or perhaps for trends in terms of aural or visual tropes? Lastly, and not exhaustively, what impacts does physical distancing have on the trailer production pipeline, and how might this newfound focus on working from home have an impact on both creative decision-making and the creative process behind trailers?

These are some of the questions that we will be putting an ear to, moving ahead with the blog. Whatever the case, it is sure to be interesting to observe the profound impact and shift this pandemic will occasion in the trailer industry.

— Curtis Perry