Ranking the Super Bowl 50 Movie Trailers
Most people thank (or blame) Ridley Scott’s 1984 Macintosh ad for inventing the spectacle of the Super Bowl commercial, but the Independence Day spot that 20th Century Fox unleashed during the big game in 1996 was an equally significant milestone. Ever since 100 million Americans gawked at their televisions in awe as a massive alien spaceship blew up the White House, the football championship has become the ultimate launching pad for the next wave of spring and summer blockbusters. These days, it almost feels like there’s an entire Comic-Con worth of hype weaved into the breaks between flagged plays and punt returns.
This year was no exception, as the broadcast was accompanied by an avalanche of new footage from the biggest movies coming out in the next six months. From superheroes to poodles and everything in between, we rank the 10 biggest movie commercials that touched down during the Super Bowl.
10. Gods of Egypt
On the one hand, the latest commercial for this shiny Egyptian epic loses points because the film comes out in a couple of weeks, and most of the footage here is already played out. On the other hand, it loses even more points because the movie its selling looks absolutely atrocious. Positioning Gods of Egypt as the perfect movie for anyone who thought that the Clash of the Titans remake needed more cut-rate CGI, this spot plays like a supercut of Gerard Butler growling at green screens. “I’m coming for you,” he barks to Games of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, but we’ll be happy to watch the highlights tomorrow, or more likely, many months from now during a cross-country flight.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
Haven’t the Beastie Boys suffered enough? Mercilessly scored to “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” this ad for the sequel to 2014’s TMNT reboot promises a film that will not only snuff out the franchise’s last whiff of personality but become the Transformers knock-off that producer Michael Bay so obviously wants it to be. After all, what says Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles more than a giant alien airship hovering over Manhattan? At least this clip offers a glimpse of the classic hockey-playing antihero Casey Jones teeing up for a slap shot — it might be the only thing that longtime fans recognize about this noisy summer blockbuster.