by: Jay Carlson – Editor-in-chief

Marketing is so important. I know, we all wish it were about the “art,” the actual film, not the marketing. But there’s certainly an art to marketing. Bad marketing can trick us into eagerly anticipating stinkers, which is the point, to get our ass in the seats. At its worst it can ruin a good movie by failing to relay what makes it so good, setting up unreal expectations of what the film is or marketing it as a completely different film. The trick is nailing the spirit of the film without giving too much away. I think a perfect example of good marketing is the recent 10 Cloverfield Lane. Just enough to make us want to see the film without ruining the film by giving us everything in the preview.

I wasn’t really sold on the first green band trailer for Richard Linklater’s upcoming Everybody Wants Some!!. I allowed for the fact that it might be a tough film to market (because I wanted it to be good). After all, Linklater has mentioned numerous times that the film is a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, a film I love. Thankfully I was right, as this new Red Band trailer is everything I was hoping for when I first read about the project. It looks great and the reviews coming out of SXSW seem to confirm that he’s succeeded in making a film to stand up alongside Dazed and Confused. Take a look at the trailer below and let me know if you agree.