Trailer Tuesday: James Bond, Wonder Woman 1984, Ghostbusters: Afterlife
What a week. Seven – seven! – new trailers ready for us to devour. Time for a Trailer Tuesday extravaganza! By the way, my personal favourite isn't even in the title: «Togo».
There are weeks with almost no trailers worth mentioning. Or just really bad ones. There's none of those this week. We've got the jackpot. I've got seven specimens ready for you.
Every trailer better than the last.
Togo
It's 1925. In Nome, a small town in western Alaska, diphtheria breaks out: a highly contagious infectious disease that spreads rapidly and can kill children within days. An antidote has been discovered. It's waiting in Anchorage – over 1,600 kilometres away.
There are no roads between Anchorage and Nome. A devastating winter storm makes the use of airplanes impossible. A squadron of sled dogs is the last resort. From Nome to Anchorage and back again – in only five days. Togo, the now 12-year-old sled dog of musher Leonard Seppala (Willem Dafoe), faces the longest and most difficult of the 20 stages.
The relay, which went down in history as the Serum Run to Nome, is common knowledge among American children. Disney made a movie out of the tale, bringing it to their new streaming platform. Expect epic images. Moving music as well. Togo, the sled dog, isn't computer animated – thank God. And don't expect anything less than perfection from Oscar winner Willem Dafoe. I'm really excited for this movie.
Start date: 20. December 2019, Disney+
Mulan
I was more critical towards the first teaser of the live-action Mulan remake: I was against the idea of leaving out songs from the 1998 animated classic: even more controversial was the decision to ignore iconic characters such as Mushu the Dragon and Lin Shang, the general's son.
Come on: «Mulan» without «I'll Make A Man Out Of You»? Nah.
However: if Disney's previous live-action film adaptations can be accused of anything – no matter how well they're crafted – then it's a lack of imagination. «The Lion King», for example, was a 1:1 copy of the Oscar-winning cartoon when it came to cinematography. The question is, where does the added value lie? Live-Action Mulan on the other hand tries to distinguish itself from the cartoon. According to director Niki Caro, it should be based more on the old Chinese folk poem than on Disney's version. She has described the film as an «incredible, muscular piece of girly martial arts extravaganza».
It takes courage to do that. Would it be fair to blame the movie for exactly what I and so many other fans missed in other live action remakes? Hardly. Which is why I want to give the movie a fair shot. There's always time to criticise.
Release date in Swiss cinemas: 27. March 2020
James Bond: No Time to Die
Two seconds. One note – played twice in a row. James Bond fever is gripping me. The Aston Martin – Bond's favourite vehicle since «Skyfall» – has two Gatling Guns hidden in its headlights. Help.
Daniel Craig will probably slip into the role of the double-0 agent for the last time. Let's hope that it'll be a worthy ending for a Bond actor who couldn't have been more controversial at the start, before transitioning into a beloved iconic status.
Release date in Swiss cinemas: 2. April 2020
Wonder Woman 1984
Ah, Retro: take a 1980s song, put it under a generic trailer and voilà – Level of Awesomeness over 9000. Marvel carved this path with «Thor: Ragnarok» and Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin (okay, a 1970s song). DC follows up with «Wonder Woman 1984» and Blue Monday by New Order. And you know what? I'm a total fan of it. Or am I just hypnotised by hype? Take your pick.
Release date in Swiss cinemas: 5. June 2020
Free Guy
Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waiti. Sounds familiar. Haven't they collaborated somewhere before? If so, it must have been a hell of a movie. Two totally talented actors in the same movie – nothing can go wrong.
Which is why I'm really excited for «Free Guy». Reynolds plays a banker who finds out that he is a non-player character (NPC) in an open world video game. So he decides to become the hero of his own story. The trailer looks fun.
Release date in Swiss cinemas: 3. July 2020
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
The teaser trailer doesn't show much. Except for one thing: the new Ghostbusters are kids. The whole thing radiates a «Goonies» vibe or a more child-friendly «It: Part 1».
To be honest: I like that. Reminds me of Steven Spielberg movies from the 1980s. My childhood. And the fact that Jason Reitman, the man responsible for «Thank You for Smoking», «Juno» and «Up in the Air», wrote the script and directed it himself, reassures me. Sort of.
Release date in Swiss cinemas: 8. July 2020
The Boys Season 2
I didn't know «The Boys» when the first season was aired on Amazon Prime Video last July. It's essentially about superheroes are corrupted by the spotlight, violence and alcohol as well as rock stars involved in orgy scandals or drug-addicted actors. But when superheroes go too far, «The Boys» move out.
The first, grandiose season ended with a cliffhanger. According to the teaser, things will continue in 2020 – presumably in July as well. Is the quick arrival of the second season a good or a bad sign? Phuh. I'd rather the makers took a little more time to produce a second, just as awesome season as the first. But what the teaser does show us looks really cool.
Start date: Sometime in 2020, Amazon Prime
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I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»