Two decades into their box office victory lap, how can superhero films remain interesting? Well, if Deadpool and Wolverine, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor: Love and Thunder are any clue, maybe superhero films shouldn’t take themselves seriously.

This week we’re looking at an unusual film on multiple fronts: Horizon is set to be released in two parts in the span of a couple of months this summer, with two additional parts yet to come and its director Kevin Costner said to be backing the film with his own money. For those who know, however, Costner is no upstart to the genre; 1990’s Dances with Wolves earned seven Academy Awards and is often referred to as a landmark film in the history of Westerns. Later, 2003’s Open Range was also a critical and commercial success; it all bodes well for the Western Horizon.

A viral trailer came out June 13th for The Instigators, which reunites Matt Damon and Casey Affleck for a new action comedy. The storyline of this film gives us the Boston accents and therapy sessions of Good Will Hunting plus the high-stakes heists of Ocean’s Eleven and the car chase carnage of The Bourne Identity. It’s Matt Damon’s Greatest Hits! I know we all enjoy a good hit song synched to a good trailer, and this trailer by aspiring AppleTV+ gives us not one but two classic pop hits remixed together.

Having been nearly a decade since the original film, one of Pixar’s most anticipated sequels, Inside Out 2, is set to arrive this summer. The trailer begins with a check-in (or reintroduction) to the original set of emotions from the first movie. Against a generic, Motown-inspired rhythmic groove with syncopated guitar and bass, we see a scene in which our protagonist, Riley, tears up the ice during a hockey game. While perfunctory (so far), the music stops at key moments, following a pattern set by many a comedic trailer as Riley’s new set of teenage emotions are introduced, with appropriate breaks in the music for punchlines.

Today we'll listen to the trailer for a supernatural horror film called The Watchers, directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night Shyamalan. This trailer features a song that fits seamlessly, while the film’s monsters are effectively woven into the trailer through the eerie sounds that they make since we never see them. The song is Sinéad O'Connor’s “Never Get Old” from 1987–a legendary Irish singer to support a film set in Ireland.

Supposedly the third and final film in the franchise, A Quiet Place: Day One, as alluded to in the title, serves as a prequel to the original 2018 film. Here we get to ob- serve the initial invasion of the series’ deadly alien creatures which have ultrasonic hearing.

Director John M. Chu is bringing Wicked from Broadway to the big screen with an all-star cast. The official trailer dropped last week, so let’s check it out! Musically, this trailer pivots well between styles of music including Broadway musical numbers and Harry Potter-esque fantasy underscoring.

A tentpole Amazon Prime series, The Boys recently had its Season Four trailer drop last week, already racking up nearly nine million views on YouTube as of this writing.

Amy Winehouse, an iconic songwriter and performer, achieved international fame, struggled through a broken marriage and substance abuse, and died tragically at age 27. The official trailer for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s new biopic Back to Black opens with Winehouse (played by Marisa Abela) picking up an acoustic guitar to write a song, while in the background a bell tolls and strings swell on the same pitch.

As a remake of the 1994 original, this update of a cult classic recounts how musician Eric Draven exacts supernatural revenge on the anniversary of his and his fiancée’s murder. Rooted in action and fantasy, the original was known for Brandon Lee’s performance as Draven; this mantle is taken up by Bill Skarsgård (It, John Wick: Chapter 4), with FKA Twigs assuming the role of his fiancée, Shelly Webster.

Several soon-to-be-released films poke irreverent fun at the action film genre, including Boy Kills World (out April 26th) and Deadpool & Wolverine (out July 26th). Another example, which we explore in this week’s blog, is David Leitch’s new film The Fall Guy. This film’s Official Trailer #2 re-works Journey’s 1980 hit “Any Way You Want It.” The use of an arena rock hit song from 40+ years ago immediately jolts us out of the expected action film trailer tropes of suspenseful synthesizers and deep dramatic drums (but don’t worry: this trailer uses them as well!). It involves a comedic take on a stuntman (played by Ryan Gosling) who—while in love with the director of an action film (Emily Blunt)—goes on a chase after a movie’s missing star (named Tom Ryder).

Resisting the rumour that the sequel might well be more akin to a jukebox musical than a drama that incorporates musical numbers per se, the first full trailer for the se- quel to 2019’s Joker exhibits some restraint in this regard. Instead, it opts for a mea- sured orchestration for a single song. “What the World Needs Now is Love”, a 1965 classic composed by Burt Bacharach with lyrics by Hal David. It was first made popular in a performance by Jackie DeShannon and now finds a revival here.

On its way to theatres in a few weeks is Challengers, a sports-romance film about a love triangle surrounding tennis star-turned-coach Tashi (Zendaya). The film’s second official trailer is cut to a remix of Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado’s song “Maneater” from her 2006 album Loose.

Notably a new idea in a sea of sequels, reboots, and franchise entries that tend to emanate from Hollywood, IF is an imaginative entry directed by John Krasinski (The Office; A Quiet Place) focused on the conceit of reuniting lost imaginary friends with the children who conceived of them.

The recent teaser trailer for Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has been garnering a lot of YouTube attention. It’s a simple trailer with three scenes and some slow-moving music. But wow does it ever pack in a lot of visual and musical nostalgia from Beetlejuice - that creepy 1988 fantasy-comedy classic. In case you haven’t seen Beetlejuice, the film’s title character (Michael Keaton) is a ghoulish “bio-exorcist” who emerges from a model village in the attic of a couple named Barbara and Adam.

Twisters looks—and sounds—as squarely focused on its subject matter as the original 1996 blockbuster hit, albeit this time of course incorporating the impact of climate change. Throughout the trailer, sound design comes to the fore, with what one might typically consider music taking a back seat to the proceedings.

As the unabashed fourth entry in a franchise that’s as popular as it is, well, despised, this trailer wastes no time at all indulging the audioviewer with instantly recognizable ear candy. From the first second, that quintessential guitar riff from Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” whisks us back to the world of Gru and his minions.

The First Omen (directed by Arkasha Stevenson) is a return to the origins of the Omen film series that brought us the classic horror film character Damien, who is supposed to represent the Antichrist. The First Omen is set in Rome, and is a prequel to the 1976 film The Omen. The symbolism of the Antichrist and the act of returning to the origins of a decades-old film franchise both point to the concept of “going backwards.” But this trailer takes the concept of “backwards” literally and has a field day with it.

One of the quirkiest superheroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Deadpool. His character loves to parody the superhero film genre, and the music for the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine trailer plays along, giving us hyperactive EDM grooves which seem to purposefully overuse several trailer music clichés including the BRAAAM sound, ticking clocks, and “trailer triplets.”

A new idea in a movie industry landscape rife with sequels and franchise instalments is almost always worth celebrating, and this is certainly true for Damsel, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and starring Millie Bobby Brown. A central idea of the film appears to be to play on our expectations of the story and aesthetic of well-worn fairy tale tropes; the way the trailer’s musical arrangement hews to this idea displays a similar commitment to originality through subverting our aural expectations.