In an epic cross-cultural collaboration, director Kenji Kamiyama has answered the question “What if The Lord of the Rings were anime?” For the first 17 seconds of this trailer, the orchestral brass play Howard Shore’s resounding Riders of Rohan theme as we see six live action shots of Gandalf and company galloping in Rohan, from The Two Towers.

After three years, Squid Game returns to Netflix with the original deadly game show’s winner, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae)—as known at Player 456—returning to the game with the intent of finding its mastermind and ending it altogether.

The world has changed immensely since 1937, so the production team creating the new live action Snow White walk an unenviable tightrope in honouring a classic tale while making the storyline relevant and palatable to modern audiences. It comes on the heels of the “live action” Lion King (called Mufasa - due out in December), at a time when Disney seems intent on mining its catalogue in light of recent misfires in the realm of original animated movies (e.g. Elio and Wish).

For this soft reboot of the Alien franchise, while the first thirty seconds or so of the trailer go without music on the soundtrack, opting for a focus on sound effects which emphasizes the emptiness of space, by 0:32 we hear strains of the vocal from “You Are My Lucky Star”, from 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, leading to a haunting cover version of the track.

Director Morgan Neville, who brought us the film “20 Feet From Stardom” has undertaken to tell the story of the life and work of Pharrell Williams, a phenomenal pop music producer and vocalist who has created countless hit records. Their new film–Piece by Piece–is an animated LEGO movie, and from what we can tell from the trailer, it will be hilarious.

Returning for a second season, The Rings of Power is a prequel series focused on how exactly Sauron came to antagonize and attempt to conquer Middle Earth well be- fore the original trilogy of books by J. R. Tolkien (and of course, the Peter Jackson-di- rected trilogy of the early 2000s).

In 2000 director Ridley Scott gave us Gladiator, and this November—after almost 25 years—he returns with Gladiator II. The trailer opens with a five-second microteaser featuring a sample of the word “bloodstains'' rapped by Jay-Z (more on this below), repeated 3 times, along with a series of trailer triplets, and quick cuts between 7 scenes from the film, introducing several lead characters.

No, that’s not Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan—instead, George Clooney and Brad Pitt find themselves in an unwanted partnership as both fixers are hired to cover up the same high-profile crime.

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.