With the big name superhero movies of the year getting closer and closer to their release dates, there have been a fair few new trailers of late as the hype starts to build. Justice League and Spider-Man: Homecoming have both had their first full trailer, following on from previous teaser trailers, and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is now up to its third installment.
The three most comparable high grossing films in 2016 were Captain America: Civil War, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Deadpool, and their most popular trailers have racked up 74 million, 68 million and 41 million views respectively on YouTube alone, so we’re going to compare this to the latest clutch from this year. 2017 will also have Wonder-Woman in the mix, along with Logan, which came out back in February, so it’s going to be interesting to see which superhero flick takes the crown this year.
Justice League trailer:
It’s hard not to have mixed opinions about the prospect of Justice League just from the look of the trailer alone, but when you throw in the mixed-bag that was Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice you’re left with the uncertain knowledge that this is going to be a dash of dumb and a pinch of cool all rolled up into one over-baked cream pie.
However, the fact that it’s already totted up nearly 24 million views from its most popular trailer on YouTube would seem to indicate that this could easily take the crown in 2017. When you factor in the release date (17th November 2017 in the UK), which is still another seven months away at the time of writing, you’ve got to expect the views to get close to those of Captain America: Civil War.
Admittedly, Flash doesn’t have a great costume, but Ezra Miller looks like he’s going to work out well outside of the terrible suit he’s been given and his performance in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was fairly promising. On the other hand, Zach Snyder appears to have confined Superman to the naughty step (probably for being such a sulky git in the last film), as there’s no part for the Zod slayer in the trailer, despite the fact that Dawn Of Justice gave the game away about his forthcoming reincarnation.
The style gets a bit 300-ie at times, which feels a bit old hat for Snyder, but then there are a lot of cool moments in the trailer, so the yin and yang fight continues. As long as there’s no more my mum vs. your mum shenanigans then Justice League should be the superhero film to beat, especially with moves like Wonder Woman’s leg sweep.
Spider-Man: Homecoming trailer 2:
We had high expectations for Spider-Man: Homecoming, but after the arrival of two trailers recently, we’re much less impressed. The most popular trailer video on YouTube has had 18 million views so far, but with the UK release just a few months away in early July there’s not as much room for it to go up, so it suggests this might not get the same reception that Spidey’s opening flick, Captain America: Civil War, managed to pick up.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 trailer 3
With three epic trailers out now for Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 it’s shaping up to be a great sequel to the surprise hit of 2015. The bad news for Marvel is that the most popular trailer video on YouTube has had only 16 million views and the UK release date of the 27th April 2017 is just around the corner. It’s clearly not getting as much hype as the other two films. However, this could end up going the same way as Guardians Of The Galaxy, which picked up a lot of good reviews and word of mouth to fire up its stint on the big screen.
Verdict
The numbers and release date seems to point to a Justice League box office win in this year’s battle for the top superhero film. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 could sneak up out of nowhere, but it’s looking unlikely that Spider-Man: Homecoming will get anywhere near the big DC release, so it could well be out of contention already. That said, it’s worth bearing in mind that Wonder Woman has racked up a whopping 27 million views for its most popular trailer, so it looks like 2017 is going to be DCs first victory over the might of Marvel on the big screen.
