This week provides me with a new and unprecedented test case for Trailer Theory (link is to the video of my talk from YAPC::EU).
Watchmen is based on a comic... sorry, graphic novel, so typically that means I already know the story (Hulk, Spiderman, et al), has been ruined by Micheal Bay, and generally adds to the feeling that Hollywood is strip-mining my childhood.
But excitingly, all indicators for Watchmen point in reverse.
I have NO IDEA whatsoever what it is about, who any of the characters are, what the plot or setting is, or even really what any of it looks like.
I've managed to completely avoid all the trailers, and mostly avoid all the other marketing (I think I remember there being a guy that's blue, but I've kept everything else out of my long term memory).
And now I'm seeing (headlines) for reviews saying that it doesn't suck, which on it's own is pretty good for a genre that is normally destroyed.
So with all the stars aligned, this should be an EXCELLENT experience for someone like me that is in the demographic for this sort of thing, but has managed to avoid knowing anything about it.
My only problem now will be reducing my expectations...
The last interesting point with Watchmen is that, like the new Star Wars movies, it has an ENORMOUS trailer. I know this because I was sitting in a cinema with my fingers in my ears and my eyes closed thinking "When will this END!!??!?" which is something I haven't noticed since Star Wards 2, which went for something like 5 minutes.
So my prediction for Watchmen is that I'll really like it, as will people that haven't been exposed to the trailers, but that in general people will largely not be too impressed (because they will have seen most of the movie already).
