The steady turn from summer blockbuster trailers to holiday release window fare continues with Warner Bros’ drop for the first trailer for Dune: Part Two this past week. With 2021’s first foray earning well over twice its budget, it’s certain to be a winner in the studio’s roster this year; moreover, unlike its predecessor, Part Two will enjoy an exclusivity window in theatres before presumably making its way to Warner’s streaming offering, to be rebranded as MAX.

As much as summer blockbusters are now around the corner—Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opens this week—film trailers have already begun to focus on the all-important holiday season, surely in an effort to capitalize on the similarly sizeable summer theatre-going public. A key case in point would be Disney’s latest animated effort, a film that pays homage to the company’s heritage on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. In keeping with this, even the trailer for the film exhibits some stylistic borrowings from trailers of old—and to great effect.

Since its re-introduction to the hearts, minds, and ears of viewers in 1996, the Mission: Impossible theme has become a cultural touchstone for the public, and more than likely this generation’s most famous tune in the unusual 5/4 meter. Thus it helps ensure an air of suspense to any scene it graces. It would only make sense, then, that the teaser for Dead Reckoning (the seventh entry in the franchise, for those counting) would opt to build on this popular theme, while still offering something new. As such, the very possible mission here is to tread an admittedly thin line between playing on nostalgia and creating a legitimately new and different entry to the series.

As we inch into the summer blockbuster season, summer-bound trailers are starting to coincide with a first look at this holiday’s releases. Chief among these is undoubtedly The Marvels, the third and final release of 2023 in the fifth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which as a franchise still shows little sign of waning public interest.

While perhaps difficult to believe, it has now been six years since we covered the original trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a game which would go on to win the coveted Game of the Year award and has accumulated over 29 million unit sales. Part of the reason for its success is undoubtedly its cinematic presentation, which is fairly standard for so-called “triple-A” titles on competing consoles, but still relatively rare for Nintendo IPs. (Case-in-point: The success of the television adaptation for famed PlayStation series The Last of Us, often relying on one-for-one recreations of its scenes.)

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a prequel in the Bridgerton universe that explores the queen’s relationship with King George at its beginning. A fast-paced, energetic score opens the trailer as we see Charlotte apprehensive and asserting boundaries around her arranged marriage with King George. The instrumentation (as we’ll hear later in the trailer) is congruent with the late 18th century setting, with a strong strings presence accompanied by epic percussion. A major key theme keeps things sprightly, while interest is retained through the unusual 5/4 rhythm (whereas most music keeps to a steadier three or four beats per measure). Notice also at 0:25 the tonal modulation just when the title card comes in touting the new series’ pedigree (… “who brought you Bridgerton)”).

The studio A24 has been on a tear lately, sweeping the Oscars and winning best director and best picture in the same year—having previously won best picture in 2017 for Moonlight. If the trailer for Beau Is Afraid in any indication, that streak of quality for art film fans everywhere appears poised to continue. Directed by Ari Aster and starring Joaquin Phoenix, the titular character faces the harrowing task of facing his greatest fears after the sudden death of his mother.

Since 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, Disney has been on a fairly consistent stint involving live action remakes of its most celebrated animated releases; in 2023, it’s now time for Peter Pan to receive such treatment.

Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the Amazon Prime series Swarm follows Dre (Dominique Fishback) as she becomes obsessed with a fictional pop star and is led to a dark place through her obsessive behaviour.

Based on a bestselling New York Times book by Eve Rodsky, Fair Play is a documentary produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media company that looks deeply at the topic of inequity among genders in domestic work.

As is tradition, the recently passed Super Bowl (the 57th, for those keeping score) brought a bevy of fresh trailers anticipating the summer blockbuster season. Among the most interesting of these was Warner Bros’ latest effort in the DC cinematic universe, The Flash. Despite having enjoyed a small-screen run in the Arrowverse that covers nine seasons and is still counting, this would be Barry Allen’s first foray in a stand-alone feature film.

Directed by Neil Jordan and starring Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List; Star Wars: Episode I), Marlowe is a 1930s-style noir thriller set in Los Angeles. The soundtrack is original, composed by various artists (not listed on the credit card), and the trailer leverages this to great effect. After the obligatory micro-teaser we hear a track by Jon Batiste, “The Light Shines Brightest in the Dark”, with an overall sound that clearly hearkens to earlier jazz, effectively setting the tone of the film as a period piece.

Written and directed by Nida Manzoor, Polite Society is a British action comedy following a stunt woman in training who decides she must act to stop her sister’s wedding, as her sister drops out of art school to get engaged.

Starring Ramón Rodríguez and based on the bestselling book series of the same name, Will Trent is a new addition to ABC’s winter lineup. Featured in its trailer is a cover by Superhuman of the enduring 1970 hit All Right Now, originally by Free.

A more unique entry in the field of musical biopics, Chavalier tells the story of composer Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. While some productions such as Bridgerton employ colour-conscious casting for representation, here the story is more akin to a story such as Concrete Cowboy. Namely, just as Concrete Cowboy dispelled myths wrought by Hollywood about the racial identity of cowboys, Chevalier seeks to correct the perception of classical music composers as an elitist white tradition that begins with Bach and ends with Beethoven. It grapples with the fact that there were—and are—many composers in the Western classical tradition of varied backgrounds, such as with Boulogne’s Creole heritage.

As one commenter said on the YouTube video above, “Christopher Nolan really is the brand itself”. As the trailer for Oppenheimer has racked up 37 million views over the past month for this video alone, for a trailer focusing on the inventor of the atom bomb, there’s a kernel of truth to this observation.

A few trailers have been released for the second attempt at a Super Mario film, in close succession; the latest gives us a closer look at the animated Mushroom Kingdom that the Illumination studio has dreamt up. Film composer Brian Tyler (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Crazy Rich Asians) has been tasked with taking the myriad musical themes associated with the Mario franchise—some thirty-five years’ worth, or more—to coalesce into a fluid score.

As we pause to undertake our annual review of the state of the industry in trailer music, we wanted to acknowledge a few of the most notable releases of the past year. As in years past, such releases tend to move the trailer as an art form forward in some way—whether in its treatment towards a given audiovisual trope, the creative push away from generic conventions, or tasteful use of bespoke elements such as musical arrangement or editing to lend a trailer an enhanced sense of persuasive ability. Here below are four such trailers that go well beyond any given trope or cliché, pointing even towards possible new trends in trailer music as we head into 2023.

As surely as the holiday season comes and goes, a new slate of trailers for the year’s Marvel Cinematic Universe instalments appear in theatres. Among these is the third (and, it seems, final) instalment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, which has always had music (and classic rock in particular) heavily figure in its aesthetic—right down to its title scheme. In the case of this trailer, the choice of music serves for this aesthetic continuity and cohesion. However, it also promotes the thematic arcs and possibilities of character development that Volume 3 promises to explore, especially in the areas of self-love, acceptance, and solidarity.

While the world has gotten Whitney Houston films in the past (such as 2018’s Whitney), I Wanna Dance With Somebody takes a more dramatized approach, which is unsurprising considering it comes from the people behind 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Though said film contained some historical inaccuracies, it holds the box office record for the biopic and drama genres, at $910 million. It’s unsurprising, then, for them to attempt to replicate that success.