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.