The Problem
Overexposure! This is most prominent in adapted stories and comic book movies, and in-the-know readers or fans of whatever source material aren't as singularly affected as they used to be. Go back a few years when things like Blade, Punisher, and even Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Bryan Singer's X-Men were introducing us to mainstream characters and you'll notice a stark difference in the way these films were presented to us. I'll stick with Spider-Man as an example -
Below you'll see the 2002 trailer for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, starring Tobey Macguire
In this trailer, you're presented with introductions to the hero, the villain, and some basic info that anyone old enough to watch TV might know - Peter Parker > radioactive spider > Spider-Man. Norman Osborn > Green Goblin > Pumpkin Bombs > Crazy. Mary-Jane > Spider-Man > Upside Down kiss.
That's very basic, and we are introduced to villains and shown brief backstory in trailers today, but now we'll look at the newest Spider-Man trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming
Man. Exciting trailer, right? And it is, it's very exciting, also very informative! We've been previously introduce to Peter in Civil War, but we're not given a lot other than he's smart, strong, and live with his unreasonably attractive Aunt May.
In this trailer, we're given his friend and confidant (suspiciously not Ganke from Ultimate Spider-Man but somehow looks just like hime), we're presented with his street-level heroics, the fact that he wants to be an Avenger but Tony Stark doesn't want him involved, Peter getting involved anyway, The Vulture, Tony reprimanding him after having to save him from The Vulture, Tony taking away the Spider-Man suit, Peter using his old homemade suit in a battle against the Vulture (I can keep doing this)
There's a lot of information in that trailer. And while this is merely speculation, the average viewer can piece together a coherent story from that 2+ minute trailer.
This is seen in other movie trailers such as: Green Lantern, Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Martin, The Space Between Us, Passengers, Hacksaw Ridge, Bad Moms, etc.
The Solution
Do more with less! This sounds easier said than done, but I need only reference the 2002 Spider-Man trailer.
With character-drive stories - Introduce the character, utilize a decent voiceover, give brief exposition regarding motivation, and foreshadow the struggle the character will endure
With ensemble stories like The Avengers - Interaction between members of the team, some banter, brief shots of them working together or pursing a lightly-touched-on goal, and then implied struggle/brief intro to their big-bad.
There's certainly more to it than that. My main request, and I think this applies to other people, is a trailer that makes me want to see the movie. Not a trailer that shows me the highlights and plot milestones i.e. Transformers: The Last Knight.
If you think agree/disagree - let me know! Let's talk about it.
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