Step aside Tom Cruise: make way for the claymation hens! This fall we’ll behold a long-awaited sequel to the 2000 film Chicken Run, which was the first film created by Aardman Animations, known for their Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep franchises. The plot in Chicken Run focused on a group of hens escaping from a chicken farm. But now, in a bizarre reversal – for which we’ll have to watch the sequel to understand why – the upcoming Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget features this same group of hens seeking to break into a maximum security, laser-fortified and robot-guarded chicken farm.

As we approach October, the all-important holiday release window has appeared on the horizon. The Holdovers might be one of the first to take over that all-important time on the theatrical calendar, aiming for an initial release in mid-November.

Disney+ has for the past 4 years served up a steady and stunning diet of epic adventure tv miniseries. We’ve blogged about a few of their Marvel series trailers in the past (including Ms. Marvel and Moon Knight). Their most recent offering is the second season of Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston.

Everyone knows Willy Wonka, but just how did he come to be the world’s foremost fictional, eccentric genius of cocoa confections? Some eighteen years after Tim Burton’s take on the best-selling Roald Dahl tale, Timothée Chalamet stars in this bid at a prequel, promising that we may yet find out.

Award-winning director Sam Wrench – known for his music documentary and live performance films about pop artists such as Billie Eilish, BTS, The Weeknd and Mary J. Blige – is bringing Taylor Swift’s wildly popular Eras Tour to the silver screen this fall.

We’re on the cusp of the fall film and television season, and among the most anticipated entries on Netflix’s slate is Benicio Del Toro and Alicia Silverstone’s reunion—with Justin Timberlake thrown in—in Grant Singer’s directorial debut, Reptile.

Leonard Bernstein was an outstanding 20th century American composer and conductor, who led the New York Philharmonic for decades and co-wrote “West Side Story.” We’ll glimpse his personal life in the new biopic film Maestro, but the new teaser trailer keeps its cards close to its chest. Starring, written and directed by Bradley Cooper (building on the success of his 2018 musical film A Star is Born, which co-starred Lady Gaga), Maestro is co-produced by cinema heavyweights Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

From time to time we like to cover trailer for video games, and the gameplay trailer Mortal Kombat 1 serves as an inspiration this week, showcasing how a judicious mix of sound effects, on-point original music, and aural throwbacks can come together for a heady mix of nostalgia and novelty.

If you’ve seen Gladiator, you know Ridley Scott excels at cinematically capturing an epic historical setting. For his next film he is portraying the French Revolution through the eyes of Napoleon (played by Joaquin Phoenix). Emperor Napoleon was a feverish nation-builder and psychologically insecure man who loved fighting the Brits, so fittingly part of this trailer is cut to a cover of a classic Radiohead banger, “The National Anthem,” from their 2000 album Kid A.

Featuring original music from the composers of La La Land, Waitress, and Hairspray (Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman), the third season of Only Murders in the Building’s sports a trailer that appears purpose-built to tease a so-called “musical episode”. (It’s part of a broader focus on Broadway as a theme for the season, or so it appears).

Take the 5 1⁄2 minute 2022 smash hit “This is What I Mean” from Stormzy, one of the UK’s biggest hip-hop / grime artists, and remix it with some cinematic percussion and you have the soundtrack for the pulsating 2 1⁄2 minute trailer for the new secret agent action thriller Heart of Stone. In the opening moments the title character Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot) prepares for a mission with her agency known as “The Charter,” which would involve her protecting “The Heart”—her preparations are accompanied by gospel harmonies and a steady bass drum. We build to 0:23 when Stormzy’s vocals enter with the opening lines of his first verse “It’s a bigger operation. What’s with all the speculation?”

Today we explore the teaser trailer for a new Disney/Pixar animated feature Elio. In a classic trailer rug-pull, it opens with a serious man’s voiceover reminiscent of science and nature documentaries. We see planets, satellites, and then zoom in to Major Olga Solis (voiced by America Ferrera) working the overnight shift at a space research centre. The high register sparse piano here is run through delay effects, as though the piano notes are bouncing off distant stars. This music gives a feeling of momentum, suspense, and imminent action. The music builds, as strings, percussion, and choir are added and the anticipation is warranted because the space station’s computer monitors are being overrun by glitchy yet seemingly playful messages from alien lifeforms instructing Solis to ‘Bring us your Leader.’ The music fades out but suddenly at 0.26, as Soli is reading the message aloud, she is interrupted by an incoming video call from her son Elio.

With so much speculation nearly two years after the release of Squid Game’s first season in September 2021, Netflix has finally offered some details on the series’ 2024 follow-up. The trailer—technically, labelled a cast announcement, rather than a teaser trailer proper—nevertheless does offer an audiovisual preview with at least some footage of the season to come.

The trailer for the new Hunger Games film uses tried and tested action music devices. Begin with minimalist piano in the high register, add tension using synth textures and industrial-sounding risers, sprinkle in choir and brass, synchronize the cinematic percussion to the violence on screen, et voilà! But, beneath the surface, this trailer features several subtle devices that link the listener’s ears to the preceding films in this series. Let’s take a listen.

With higher-profile summer moviegoing fare such as Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City or Guardians of the Galaxy 3 having been released, our attention in terms of trailers looks forward to August—typically a relatively quiet month for theatrical releases. Nevertheless, there’s room for all forms of the proverbial summer blockbuster, not least of which being Meg 2. Following the profitable (if not a critical darling) The Meg (2018), its unabashed sequel promises to take itself with an equal lack of seriousness.

The ever-expanding Star Wars universe reveals a new chapter this August with the first season of Ahsoka on Disney+.

Not to be outdone by the steady beat of animated classics brought into live action (with the recent release of The Little Mermaid coming to mind), Disney’s summer fare takes a tonal left turn with a remake of Haunted Mansion. Originally a 2003 Eddie Murphy film and based on the Disney amusement park ride of the same name, it’s little surprise that the trailer positions the film as a kind of ride, never taking itself too seriously. With an all-star cast of Rosario Dawson, Case W. Dillon, LaKeith Stanfield (residents) and Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Dan Levy, and Tiffany Hadish (ghosts) to lead the way.

Renowned for meticulous set design, symmetrical shots, pastel colours and dry humour, Wes Anderson loves to weave a story that captures a very specific time and place (think of his memorable mountainside resort in The Grand Budapest Hotel). From the opening moments of the Asteroid City official trailer, we are transported to a small desert town in mid-1950s America.

Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and Will Ferrell, the Barbie movie has received an aptly creative trailer campaign with a teaser that parodies 2001: A Space Odyssey, shot-for-shot. For the main trailer, Barbie opts for a somewhat rare approach in trailer music: rather than take pre-existing music or even leverage a score by a composer, let alone use library music, the Barbie trailer debuts a new song by pop star Dua Lipa.

As a reboot from 2016’s live action-oriented Out of the Shadows—a box office winner, if not a critical darling (like the Transformers series), Paramount is clearly shifting gears with Ninja Mayhem in response to current trends in animation. Specifically, the film adopts an art style arguably popularized by Into the Spiderverse, with its low-frame rate, faux-claymation aesthetic. Coupled with a snippet of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”, it’s clear from the outset that this iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is meant to lean on aural and visual charisma, drawing in younger and even its more 80s-vintage fanbase in alike.