How’s this for marketing savvy: on the Monday following I Am Legend‘s somewhat surprising $76 million haul (few thought the dour action flick would best the openings of the Lord of the Rings movies), Sony decides to debut the teaser trailer for Will Smith’s next (potential) blockbuster, Hancock. I wonder if they would’ve suppressed it for a few months had I Am Legend failed to crack $40 million.
Fortunately for Sony, that didn’t come close to happening; ergo, the studio could cheerfully unveil the mayhem-laden preview (via our pals at JoBlo.com) for their big July 2, 2008 release without inviting any negative speculation. That said, even had I Am Legend stunk it up at the box office, I think most folks would still be pleased with this early look, which, despite some unfinished f/x, effectively gets across the irreverent tone of the screenplay. And while Hancock is far from the first film to tweak the conventions of the superhero movie, I love the idea of a feckless drunk who, when called into action, causes way more damage than is absolutely necessary.
The real cause for hope is director Peter Berg, who seems to be gaining confidence with each film. It looks like he’ll be expanding on his vehicular havoc shtick from The Kingdom, which is fine by me. It also appears that Jason Bateman will be chipping in with some glib comic relief. Again, fine by me.
But check the teaser out for yourself. Maybe you’ll fucking hate it and decide I am forever full of shit.
(Picture courtesy of http://www.jfxonline.com/)
UPDATE from Russ: Just to make it look like Sony got a piece of CHUD for Christmas, we’ll point out that the trailer is available over at Apple (it’s long been pulled from JoBlo for nebulous reasons) in full HD. See it here.