The official trailer for Questlove’s new documentary Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) opens with a voice off-camera asking “Do you believe in the concept of Black genius?” Over the next 8 seconds, we hear that opening buildup from Sly & The Family Stone’s 1968 song “Sing a Simple Song” as we see clips of Sly Stone performing for adoring crowds, and shots of music legends interviewed for the film (André 3000, Chaka Khan, D’Angelo).

Directed by Parasite’s Bong Joon Ho and starring an initially unrecognizable Robert Patterson, the conceit for Mickey 17 is a kind of irreverence—we find out that Mickey Barnes must die, for a living.

The fifth film in the John Wick franchise explores the story of Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), a ballerina-turned-assassin seeking revenge. Musically, the trailer cleverly juxtaposes scenes of violence on screen with the light-hearted sounds of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s 1971 soft rock hit “Tiny Dancer.” Now, if you don’t know the song, check out its 2017 music video, featuring scenes of everyday life in Los Angeles (and say a prayer for the people of L.A.).

As the fourteenth major instalment of the franchise, Ubisoft is no stranger to the Assassin’s Creed series—as sturdy a franchise in video gaming as they come. For this go around, the studio has opted for the setting of 16th-century Japan, towards the end of Sengoku period.

22 years since Danny Boyle’s horror film 28 Days Later came out. And 17 years since that film’s sequel 28 Weeks Later. But who’s counting? Fans of the franchise might be, and they’re likely excited for the new trilogy of films in this franchise. The trailer for the first new film, 28 Years Later, is striking. The Guardian praises the trailer, saying it makes the film appear “just about the most exciting film of 2025.” Let’s find out why.

Another year has passed, and with it, well over four dozen trailers written up at Trailaurality as part of our weekly review. Film trailers continue to be a fascinating showcase for audiovisual editing techniques that, partly as a result of the genre’s short form and advertorial purpose, strive for memorability and notability. This can be achieved in a variety of ways: some offer remarkable instrumentation; some involve a particularly striking edit. In addition to library and original music, trailers are often the domain of some truly unique cover songs and rearrangements. This latter trend is in particular a hallmark of more recent trailers, with a choral arrangement of Radiohead’s “Creep” for The Social Network (2010) often referred to as a watershed moment. Here are a few trailers released in 2024 that we think are particularly worth a second listen, as this small format continues to advance the craft of editing in measurable ways.

Next July, it’s official—the Snyderverse iteration of the DC Extended Universe, and Henry Cavill’s Superman, is no more. In its stead arrives a decidedly more colourful and classic world that director James Gunn has envisioned, pulling from 1978’s original film starring Christopher Reeve—right down to the red trunks and hair curl. And beyond the visuals, the editors have opted to pair this with a brilliant comeback for John Williams’ iconic Superman theme of nearly a half century ago.

It’s December, and while our minds go to the frozen North Pole and the magical beings who live there, let’s check out a trailer for a great new Canadian comedy series called North of North. Anna Lambe stars as Siaja, a modern Inuk woman who has split from her self-absorbed husband and is on a roller coaster journey of self-discovery. The trailer opens with Siaja introducing herself. From 0:01-0:10, Siaja’s voiceover introduces us to the stunning landscapes of Nunavut, accompanied by clicking percussion and shaker sounds, with visual cuts synched to accents on big drums. The music breaks at 0:10 to the sound of a wolf howl.

The latest project from acclaimed American director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) reunites him with Michael B. Jordan as together, they take on the horror genre.

Musically, I was surprised a few times in the recent Captain America: Brave New World Official Trailer. Dipping into electronic music and even free jazz, this action film trailer is characteristically tense, minimalist, and it sports a healthy blend of barren and bombastic sound textures.

While maybe an obvious choice, the instrumental bridge from Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” is used both imaginatively and economically in the trailer for The Bad Guys 2. It leverages the so-obvious-it’s-quite-good-actually intertextual association, while also introducing a slate of variations on the simple and catchy melodic motif of the tune so as to maintain momentum and audience interest throughout.

All I want for Christmas is a remake of a 1920s German gothic vampire film? The official trailer for Nosferatu opens with the sound of a music box in time with a ticking clock, as we slowly zoom out from a shot of a wide-eyed Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp) falling backward in slow motion. As Ellen lands on her back at 0:06 there’s a deep impact sound that also evokes thunder. At 0:08 the melody is picked up by an expressive instrument reminiscent of a theremin.

The trailer for the plainly-titled Moana 2 dropped this past summer, focusing more on dialogue and exposition than any particular musical conceit or foregrounded editing decisions—as a result, it’s a trailer that feels safe, if not entirely memorable. Still, the music here fulfils its task and gives a clear indication of what people can expect from the soundtrack, so there’s something to be said for an edit and music supervision choices that wear a kind of honesty to them.

The remix of Peter Schilling’s 1989 new wave song “Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)” in last week’s official trailer for the Lucasfilm/Disney+ series Skeleton Crew automatically connects it to the sci-fi action comedy genre, evoking the classic rock aesthetic of films like Borderlands or Thor: Love and Thunder.

Best known for films such as the Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Here finds Robert Zemeckis reuniting with Gump colleagues such as Tom Hanks, Robert Wright, cinematographer Don Burgess, and composer Alan Silvestri for the first time since that mid-90s classic.

The trailer for Season 2 of Apple TV’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi series Silo opens with a breathy synth tone over the title card. Then from 0:03-0:05 there is a sped up ticking clock sound accompanying an animated spiraling staircase, in reference to the only means of passage in the silo. Then there is a low impact sound as we arrive at a close up on main character Juliette Nichol’s face (Rebecca Ferguson) at 0:06.

In the film music world, it’s fair to say there isn’t a greater living legend than John Williams; his scores have graced movie theatres across almost seven decades (from 1958’s Daddy-O to 2024’s Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny). It only takes a couple of notes for Williams to weave magic from thin air—evidenced by the famous semitone motif for Jaws that plays about eleven seconds into the trailer.

With Netflix as the dominant streaming platform globally, and Squid Game one of its most popular series ever, anticipation is mounting for the December 26th launch of Season 2. We blogged about Squid Game’s Season 2 I Welcome Players trailer back in August, and since then Netflix has been releasing trailers for the new season left, right, and centre. Today I’ll dive into the “Season 2 | You’re Invited” trailer released September 30th.

After a broad, symphonic opening with light strings for the first fifteen seconds and some expository monologue, the first strums to Timothée Chalamet’s cover of “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” (written by Dylan in the summer of 1962 and released in 1963) begin to emerge. As the off-screen narrator suggests Dylan (Chalamet) is “a glimpse of the future”, we see a view of him playing in the room, and we hear the iconic voice.

Are you under 15 years of age in North America? If so, chances are you’ve heard of the wildly successful Dog Man graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey. For those of you who haven’t you can soon experience the story on the silver screen, in claymation. The new Dog Man trailer opens with a five second microteaser featuring the vocal hook from Daft Punk’s 2001 song “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”