Defamer
Audiences who opted to spend their holiday moviegoing dollars on a diet of giant fucking robots and LaBeoufian light comedy were left scratching their heads at a mysterious trailer that ran before the featured attraction, captured above by a cellphone-wielding audience member who managed to avoid MPAA anti-piracy sniper fire. Details were sparse—no title is given (IMDb lists its "fake working title" as Cloverfield), but the trailer tells us it's a J.J. Abrams production set to open January 18.
The story, as far as we can make out, is about a well-liked guy named Rob, whose going-away party is interrupted by a series of (bad taste alert) fiery explosions that tear through the Manhattan skyline. But it's only once a comically undersized Statue of Liberty head knocks over a telephone pole at the 01:34 mark that we grasp the limited scope of this Independence Day-on-a-camcorder-budget production. It's a sequence Michael Bay could have made incalculably more spectacular by placing a camera inside the decapitated statue's tumbling head, then detonating the painstakingly reproduced set piece with an explosion massive enough to leave nothing but a burned-out crater where the West Village used to be.
UPDATE: The movie's official website, 1-18-08.com, offers even fewer answers than the trailer does. Could this be the start of a new trend of studios snapping up release-date URLs for their desperate-to-go-viral marketing campaigns?
UPDATE 2: Trailer Spy still has the clip up, which we've embedded above.
- Mysterious "Transformers" Trailer Leaked [WorstPreviews.com]
- [www.1-18-08.com]
Comments
Actually, isn't the Statue of Liberty much smaller than anyone thinks?
I think you're thinking of the Lincoln Memorial, which seems like it should be ginormous but is only 12 feet high. The SoL has an elevator that you can take up to the head.
Untitled-Abrams-film trailer had our whole theatre whispering "What is that?", "Have you even heard of that?". Excellent marketing / buzz-building / trailer placement. It's also code-named / tenta-titled "The Parasite", I hear.
And, my mini-Transformers-review:
"The best Michael Bay film ever"=
"The best time a rabid badger bit my balls"=
"My most favorite unwilling organ donation".
I think I saw Michael Vartan in that trailer, and I'll follow him anywhere. Sign me up for Inscrutable JJ Abrams Project!
@brokennails:
Yeah, it's kind of like Tom Cruise that way.
Okay, according to [www.endex.com] the head is about 17 feet high and 10 feet wide. Not that big. Yep, I guess it is like Tom Cruise that way.
@Sleepyhead: According to dorky sister site Wonkette, the Statue of Liberty just has a rickety fire trap spiral stair to the top.
@Colonel Mustard: If it doesn't have Keri Russell or Jennifer Garner, I'm staying home.
My favorite dummy title for this Abrams goodness is "Slusho", which is the Slurpee they drink on Planet "Alias" but I guess that title was already registered by the MPAA for a Lindsay Lohan documentary
[www.downtownnews.com]
[www.blogdowntown.com]
Way back in Feb., when we read some parts of the script, we thought it might be Star Trek: Beginning, but realized Abrams had actually written fake material for auditions. He's a scamp that one.
My god man, how many times are we going to fork out $15 to go see Manhattan blowed up, fugged up, swallowed up & chewed up? None of this even comes close to comparing to the fear we felt when it was real.....
I'd pay extra to see them blow up Hoboken!
Rumor has it that this is something from the Godzilla oeuvre. A gushing description of the trailer and a few good theories can be found here:
[www.firstshowing.net]
@Banolwen: You're going to skip the SATC movie, then?
@Colonel Mustard:
Michael Vartan you say? Well, shoot. I don't care what this movie is about. JJ Abrams: you have my $13 bucks.
You watch the movie, then seven years later they tell you what really happened. (Hint: The time-space continuum was altered by magnets in Greg Grunberg's hat.)
I think we're forgetting something important here: As good as the trailer might be, no movie released in January has ever been any good. Yet J.J. wears the January release date as a badge of honor! The mischievous pixie!
@ericdsnider: You are correct sir!
January release date + no "name" actors= Dumped in the middle of winter.
Jesus this looks awesome, even though i can't see shit. It makes me almost want to pay to see Transformers.
Almost.
It's official, viral marketing is no longer cool.
it could be a remake of Liquid Sky ala Abrams
@yellojkt: I submit to the gentle corrections of Wonkette. I really thought the hat was like a big hollow viewing station, but that was probably a cartoon and not real life. It seemed plenty big when Remo Williams was up there fighting those assassins on the scaffolding.
@Juancho. It needs to do the decent thing and commit discreet suicide and no one will ever talk about it ever again!
@Colonel Mustard: Yup, checked my spelling and you definitely do have me there. Perhaps, I can't help but be interested in seeing NYC "blowed up" when 4 single women are the culprits
@ericdsnider: That's actually not true, some of the best movies are released in January. They tend to be more closely aligned with Art-house and more adult oriented topics (In the Bedroom, Blackhawk Down, etc.) This is when they will get the most critical visibility and can be good for awards season (provided they show on at least 1 screen prior to the ball dropping in NYC)
@Banolwen: 1 screen in LA county I mean
@Banolwen: That's why they're technically December releases. They go wide in January.
Movies released from 1/8 through Valentine's Day and 8/15 through mid-September are generally the films that have had a bullet put in them and are being dumped.
I've seen the opening credits for "Working Girl" about a hundred times, so I'm an expert on the subject: Lady Liberty's mug is only ten feet wide.
Am I the only one who just assumed it was a remake of "Escape from New York?" I figured the head landing gave it away.
@Juancho: That's incorrect, January is when kids are back in school and more adult good releases come out. Just going by films that have been nominated and/or won Oscars, here's a sample of the last few years
Million Dollar Baby - 28 January 2005
The Pianist - 3 January 2003
The Hours - 24 January 2003
Chicago - 24 January 2003
Beautiful Mind - 4 January 2002
Gosford Park - 4 January 2002
Blackhawk Down - 18 January 2002
In the Bedroom - 11 January 2002
Chocolat - 5 January 2001
Magnolia - 7 January 2000
The Hurricane - 14 January 2000
Girl, Interrupted - 14 January 2000
Good Will Hunting - 9 January 1998
Granted, the last two years have been a bit less Oscar oriented (Hostel, etc.) January is a good film month as the studios go for adult and art-house faire. It's intended for films that have legs on them, so word of mouth can carry them through Feb. March until Summer is the dead months.
Apparently it's "spacious enough to accommodate forty visitors at a time." 10 feet my ass.
[www.corrosion-doctors.org]
@Juancho: And not trying to put this spicy bowl of Fusilli into the same category as movies previous listed, just showing that Jan. is a good month for films. We'll see about this one!
@von_Sooner: I'd pay money to see that! Are these real people or those mutant dwarves in circus clown cars?
Goddammit JJ JUST TELL ME WHAT THE FUCKING SMOKE MONSTER IS.
By the time it's released - the mystery will all but be evaporated...
A herky-jerky film made by video cameras!! Sign me up, because I sure didn't get enough of that from the Blair Witch Project!!!
Also known as the movie I walked out of, and asked for my money back. And got it. :P
Wait...I did not read all the posts in this blog, but I do not see any mention of the image in between the girls hair at the 1.18.08 website...am I the only one that sees it?!! It looks like some sort of dragon monster with a long mandible. Check it out cause its right there in between their heads!!
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