Get Hyped!!! Here Are the 8 Most Exciting Trailers from Superbowl 2021
Feb 8, 2021 • Mikhail Lecaros
The Super Bowl has come and gone, gracing the seemingly immortal Tom Brady with his 7th championship ring (out of a superhuman ten attempts), and, of course, gracing viewers with some of the best ads they’ll see all year. This year, the pickings for movie and TV trailers was understandably slim, given the lack of theatrical releases due to the global pandemic, but we were still able to put together a list of 8 that we can’t wait to see!
Old
After the disappointment of 2019’s Glass, M. Night Shyamalan is back with Old, which looks set to lean heavily into sort of body horror that would make David Cronenberg (The Fly, Scanners) proud. Telling the tale of rapid-aging afflicting the visitors to a secluded beach, the film looks creepy as all hell. Scariest of all, in this pandemic age, is the trailer’s declaration that the film will only be screened in theaters this coming summer. Damn, Shyamalan, now we know you’re trying to scare us.
Coming 2 America
King Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy, Trading Places, Dreamgirls) returns to America in search of a son he never knew he had in this follow up to the 1988 classic. Nearly all of the original stars return, including Arsenio Hall (Harlem Nights), Shari Headley (The Preacher’s Wife), and James Earl Jones (Star Wars, The Lion King), along with a host of newcomers to the series, including Leslie Jones (Ghostbusters), Tracey Morgan (The Longest Yard, Little Man), and Jermain Fowler (Sorry To Bother You), and Wesley Snipes (Blade, Passenger 57). Set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video, we don’t know how this sequel will handle some of the original’s politically incorrect themes, but at least this is one return to a beloved universe that we can all enjoy from the safety of our homes.
Clarice
The last time Jodie Foster’s iconic role of Clarice Starling was recast (with Julianne Moore, no less!), in 2000’s Hannibal, it didn’t go so well. Now, 2 decades later, the powers that be are trying again, with an entire show dedicated around the intrepid FBI Agent. This time around, Rebecca Breeds (of TV’s Pretty Little Liars) steps into the role as the woman so memorably menaced by Hannibal Lecter. Will this be an unexpected home run, similar to how Madds Mikkelsen’s (Casino Royale, Rogue One) surprised everyone with his turn as Lecter? Or will it go down in the books as yet another failed tv adaptation?
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
With WandaVision having kept viewers enthralled over the last five weeks, Disney saw fit to unleash this latest look into the ongoing small-screen adventures of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Seemingly picking up where Avengers: Endgame left off, the upcoming series sees Sam “Falcon” Wilson (Anthony Mackie, Black Mirror, Altered Carbon) and Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes (Sebastian Stan, The Martian) dealing with international terrorists, led Captain America: Civil War villain Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl, Inglourious Basterds). Buddy cop-style bickering abounds, and the appearance of former Captain America love interest Sharon Carter (niece of Peggy!) implies that somebody’s going to have to tell the poor woman where Steve Rogers went. The implications are mind-boggling.
Edgar Scissorhands
Ok, we cheat on this one nearly every year, because -honestly- there just aren’t always eight trailers to fill the list. Thankfully, this Cadillac ad was designed as an adorable sequel to Edward Scissorhands, complete with Winona Ryder (Beetlejuice, Stranger Things) as a returning Kim Boggs, and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, Interstellar) as her son, Edgar. Hyping the auto manufacturer’s latest hands-free driving feature, we’re just gonna slot this heartwarming ad in here as a trailer and hope nobody notices.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Disney leans hard into the audience they alienated with their Mulan remake with this Asian-inspired tale of humans and dragons. Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) stars as Raya, a young warrior who takes it upon herself to locate the last dragon (voiced by Crazy Rich Asians’ Awkwafina). Together, the two will team up to take on the ancient evil of the Druun, a race of monsters seeking to destroy the world. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t want to see Awkwafina as a sassy Disney animated dragon (with all due respect to Eddie Murhpy).
Fast 9
Amazingly, this is the first time we’ve heard of a blockbuster spending on an ad for two Super Bowls in a row, but that’s just the kind of world we live in now. Originally slated for a May 2020 release, the 9th entry in everybody’s favorite street-racers-turned-superheroes series is now set (once again) to arrive in Theaters this coming May. Will it feature a blatant disregard for the laws of physics? Will previously-deceased characters show up with the flimsiest of excuses? Will the word “family” be uttered ad nauseam? Are we seriously supposed to believe that John freakin Cena is Vin Diesel’s character’s long-lost brother? Hell to the yes! Is it May yet?
Nobody
If we had to make a list of unlikely action heroes, Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk (Little Women, The Incredibles 2) would probably be on it. Because seriously, who would have thought?! In any case, this film of a regular family man with a hidden past as a man of special skills looks like it could do for Odenkirk what Taken did for Liam Neeson. In any case, it’s Breaking Bad’s Saul Goodman (The Incredibles 2) as John Wick! Shut up and take our money!
Which of these Superbowl 2021 trailers are you most hyped about?
