top ten trailer

the trailer for High Fidelity is in there somewhere.

The original teaser for Alien and the teaser for the american Godzilla both come to mind.

Some others that I remember liking:
-American Beauty
-LOTR:The Fellowship of the Ring

I know I will think of more later.

1. Infra-Man
2. This is Spinal Tap (cheese wheel trailer)
3. Spider-Man (Twin Towers teaser)
4. The Shining (teaser--just showed the hallway filling up with blood. No hint as to what the movie's about, but gets your attention)
5. Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
6. Delicatessan
7. Black Belt Jones
8. House of Frankenstein
9. Boogie Nights
10. this porno that takes place in a cabin, and some guy in a pink gorilla suit keeps coming in and ravishing the women, and the announcer guy keeps using all this silly alliteration to describe it's "powerful pink penis!"

In terms of raising my excitement level, the first teaser for Episode I probably will never be beat.

The teaser for Total Recall was great. A spinning arnold head in space!

House By The Cemetary.
Exorcist strobe light trailer. Watching it in a dark theater will give you seizures.
The Hulk teaser.

Trailer for Carpenter's Prince of Darkness is probably my favorite horror one.

Hard to Kill is my fave action movie trailer.

Army of Darkness is my fave comedy one (it's better than the movie)

Oh, and Planet of the Apes.
"It's a madhouse! It's a madhouse! It's a madhouse!"

This thread belongs in the Top Ten List forum.

I've never seen the movie, but the trailer/teaser for Magic scared the fuck out of me as a child.

The Godzilla teasers come immediately to mind.

The Phantom Menace and Pearl Harbor top my list.

Any trailer with the music from Crimson Tide.

I can't really remember that many, but The Shining does stick out because I was only young when it was being shown on the television and it did look very scary. Other than that I can only think of The Phantom Menace capturing my imagination.

Batman Forever

Coupled with the amazing teaser poster (the Batsymbol in the question mark), I was so very psyched for this movie.

It looked to be the most action-packed Batman film yet, with a great cast. And Tim Burton's score on the trailer didn't hurt either.

Too bad the final product turned out to be what it was.

I agree, Forever's trailer had me psyched, especially with the brilliant use of the 'finale' theme from Elfman. But my, what a letdown.

Others:

TPM both teaser and trailer.
AOTC 'Breathing' teaser.
Star Trek: First Contact trailer (with the STII music)
Kill Bill
Leatherface: TCM III
The Fly
LOTR Teaser 1 and Final Trailer
TTT Final Trailer
Alien
There was also an awesome one for Alien 3, which ended with the 'Bishop's Countdown' music from Aliens, which was great.
Superman final trailer
Big Trouble in Little China

Blade II...best use of that Crystal Method song ever..before it got all played out.

I remember Titanic's trailer giving me chills the first time I saw the ship perpendicular to the ocean..

The Godzilla trailers were great..With the head coming out of the ocean, then the foot stepping on the T-Rex skeleton..what a damn shame the movie sucked..

Black Mask(i actually thought this would be a kickass movie thanks to that trailer)
The One(i got fooled again)
Phantom Menace(2nd Full trailer)
Spider-Man(1st Full trailer)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Unbreakable(it left me hanging and wanting more)
Any Given Sunday(fan-freaking-tastic)
Batman & Robin(the ultimate con)
The Matrix(jaw dropping finale)
Mask Of Zorro(i didn't ever care to see it until the moment i laid eyes on that great trailer)
Batman(my all time favorite trailer)

I can't believe a thread like this wasn't created sooner! Great idea!

Alright, anybody remember the theatrical teaser for A.I.? One word. Fantastic. The TV spots were equally amazing, and looked to make serious ripples in film history. The foreboding tone those trailers reinforced with the menacing presence of Teddy, a flooded Manhattan, and other shots that seemed wholly un-Spielberg... alas, this was total mismarketing, but it invoked in a lot of our minds that this film could have been something spectacular and emotionally turbulent, instead of just a futuristic retelling of Pinocchio. Odd, isn't it, how for a while the film was called a "love it or hate it" picture, yet now discussion about it's artistic integrity has basically been put to rest. Who knew?

The Men in Black teaser was fucking terrific! Who could forget that one? With the space ship crashing through the giant model earth, dust kicking thirty feet into the air as T.L. Jones and Will Smith just stood there, aiming those big ass guns... they say their smart ass quips and then the music from Demolition Man starts playing and... "Protecting the Earth from the Scum of the Universe!" God, just remembering it makes my nuts hurt even more after the joystomping they received last fourth of July with the tank of shit known as MIB2. Such potential ruined... and shit, the superbowl teaser for that made me believe that it could actually be great! Damn.

I really dug the teaser for The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Terrific cinematography, totally hypnotic. Too bad I hear the film wasn't too good...

Still shocked that more people didn't check Adaptation out after the brilliant trailer was released. Great useage of "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. Nice closing shot of Donald doing his "push push in the bush" dance. More or less, I was impressed by how well everything cut to that truncated version of that song...

The trailer for MAX was also really good for the most part, though the whole "politics + art = power" equation seemed a little hammy. I really like the idea, but honestly, why the hell would he write that out?

Guess I need to think a little further back than 1997... okay, the Independence Day trailer seemed absolutely incredible to me at the time, though I was probably in 6th grade at the time... Magnolia's teaser delivered a great premise that unfortunately I don't feel came through as powerfully in the movie itself, though I know a lot of people are still unabashedly in love with this film....

I'll leave it at this for now, though I know so much shit will pop into my head after sending this.

...just thought of some more

Definitely agree about Unbreakable. Intriguing like nothing else I can remember. I got the same vibes from that trailer as I did from A.I.'s TV spots. Then again, all of M. Night's films have had remarkable trailers (sans his first film, starring Rosie O'Donnell as a softball playing nun or something. Don't believe me, then go on imdb and see for yourself.)

I don't necessarily think these are good trailers, persay, but the early TV spots for A Beautiful Mind were brilliant from a marketing point of view because they sold the film as being about a "decoder" who gets caught up in a giant conspiracy. Smart, not only in that the film sounds a lot more intriguing and exciting, but also because most people walked into the theater not knowing who John Nash was or that he was schizophrenic for that matter as well. I'm fairly certain that had the marketing been completely straight forward, the film could not have been as huge of a success as it became.

On a separate note, scrolling down some of the top-grossing films of 97 from box office mojo, and remembered how piss-poor Austin Powers looked based on the TV ads, and how surprising it was when the film actually turned out to be rather damn funny.

The trailer for 12 Monkeys has stuck with me more than any film's from 1995, though not as much as the theme from that movie has... what a terrific fucking film, by the way. Gilliam is simply one of a kind.

You have to admit, seeing the teaser for Mission: Impossible 2 was a pretty friggin cool experience, exploding sunglasses or not.

Being John Malkovich had a sweet trailer, but any trailer that has the upbeat number from Brazil playing will make me think it could be good, even if that film is Matchstick Men (pretty sure it will suck, especially based on Cage's performance, which even from this stage looks like it could shine a light to his embarrassing Captain Correlli's Mandolin overacting).

I think that's about it for now...

Not an official trailer, but the HBO preview for Minority Report is excellent..cut nicely with the song Anderton listens to while he's solving a Pre-Crime playing in the background..

The Kill Bill trailer rocks also... with the music, and all the bad dudes surrounding Uma, and flinching as soon as she brings up her sword.. Very cool...

I liked the Austin Powers 2 teaser that spoofed Star Wars ("If you see one movie this year, see "Star Wars." If you see two . . .)

The first one that comes to mind is Strange Days. I love trailers that don't just show bits of the movie. That one did a fantastic job of giving you just enough information about the plot and doing it in a way that's attention-grabbing and stylish.
Rushmore and Trainspotting had good, exciting trailers too.
I remember the original radio spots for Monkey Shines and The Blob... they scared the crap out of me when I first heard them.

Another one I don't think's been mentioned is the South Park teaser that starts off talking about great computer technology and ends with Cartman's German Dance. I still laugh when I see that one.

One that I still like to watch sometimes on the DVD is the teaser from STRANGE DAYS... Ralph Fiennes is doing his pusher routine for the s.q.u.i.d. equipment and you have no idea what he is talking about. The background is white, and you see nothing from the actual movie. He's just talking "about the stuff you can't have". It's pretty cool.

Otherwise, the teaser from THE BIG LEWBOWSKI. I remember it being just insane clip from the Dude's dream sequences and bowling adventures. It made the movie look crazy (which it sortta was).

Then there's...
A.I. (Teaser)
P.T. Anderson's movies always have great trailers.
John Carpenter movies always have terrible trailers, but the movies end up being great (Example: Ghosts of Mars)

The new TCM trailer is great
Halloween
Godzilla '98
ID4
The latest Hulk trailer
Charlies Angels 2
Matrix Reloaded
Jason X
Batman Forever
The Godzilla teaser which featured the lizard smashing a Tyrannosaur skeletton

but the best was the one for
Terminator 2

1. The Big Hit (no contest)
2. American Beauty (never been so suprised by a trailer)
3. Episode 1
4. Small Soldiers vs. Godzilla
5. The Lost World
6. ID4 (White House)
7. Godzilla (fishing boat)
8. Starship Troopers
9. Matrix Reloaded
10. Toy Story Teaser
11. Shining (bloody elevator)
12. Pulp Fiction

I love Rushmore, but I never thought to look for the trailer until now.

anyway: favorites.

1- Rushmore
2- The Royal Tenenbaums
3- Ocean's Eleven (remake)

There would be more, but I didn't see very many movies in theaters pre-2001.

But I was born in 1989, so it's understandable.

For me, trailers are almost always about the music. Its sort of like the films themselves. An amazing score just sends it into the next stratospehere for me. Some faves:

"Black Hawk Down" with Moby's "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" was very nice.

"Ali" really had me jazzed for the movie, and while I still love it, the trailer had an energy the film never really matched as a whole.

I'm thirding "Batman Forever". Elfman's "Finale" is just an amazing piece of music that would enhance any trailer. But "Forever" nailed it. I like the movie, but the trailer is worlds better.

"Heat", like the final film, used Moby's "God Moving Over the Face of the Water" and was perfection. They also had some amazing voiceover work detailing the careers of Pacino/Deniro and playing up their confrontation.

I like the original "Superman: The Movie" teaser. It has a really heroic piece of music and a beautiful film footage of flying through the clouds with the names of the cast. That's it, and it works really well.

"L.A. Confidential" tugs at the heartstrings too.

After watching the trailer for Army of Darkness, it boggles the mind how this movie flopped when it opened. That trailer rocked, and had I seen that thing in front of a movie, I would have been there opening day (the fact that I was only 8 or 9 when it came out be damned!)

Also, the X2 full trailer kicked much ass.

Dark City had another great trailer, and it makes me wonder why there wasn't more interest when it came out, especially when less than a year later The Matrix kicked up a storm. (not a knock on the Matrix, I guess it all has to do with timing.)

I saw the trailer before The Rockateer, it may have been in the dollar theater, and as a kid I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

"The Rocketeer" is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I love the mvie, and it has a damn nice little trailer with it too. Possibly James Horner's best score ever, and old-fashioned advanture with an Indiana Jones-esque feel. Timothy Dalton has also, sadly, rarely been used this well onscreen.

In no order:

-Seven Samurai
-TPM teaser
-FotR final trailer
-Magnolia
-Adaptation
-Comdedian
-Minority Report teaser
-A Clockwork Orange

Love this trailer:

<a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html" target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/comedian.html</a>

The documentary itself is not nearly as enjoyable.

I beg to <a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/looneytunesbackinaction.html" target="_blank">differ</a>. HA! HA! Just kidding!

American Beauty's trailer was great, but the rest of the marketting for it (TV commercials, mostly) was SO off it made me sick. It was all about Jane and made it look like a teen movie.

The first Mission:Impossible trailer was so great- didn't give away anything and was really intriguing.

T2 had a damn good trailer, and Black Hawk Down's first trailer with Knockin' on Heaven's Door playing was great. Stew, you're completely right about trailers being about the music. For some reason slow motion and a damn good song make a trailer just fun to watch.

The European "Dark Crystal" Trailer. No narration, just the score.

ESCAPE FROM LA had one kick ass trailer, and finally it is online:

<a href="http://www.snakeplissken.net/php_escape_la/video.php" target="_blank">http://www.snakeplissken.net/php_escape_la/video.php</a>
(for best results: go to site, Right click on link, save as, play on a DIVX player)