From Zero to Avengers: How the movie trailer business is becoming an industry on its own

In over 120 seconds, the trailer of Avengers: Endgame has set the stage for perhaps, the most-anticipated film of 2019 which will be releasing in India on April 26 next year.

How badly people are waiting for this film? Going by Marvel Entertainment's tweet the promo garnered 289 million views in just the first 24 hours making it the most viewed trailer in history.

A similar frenzy, however of a lesser magnitude, was seen when the trailer of Asia’s most expensive film 2.0 was launched. Its teaser was all over the internet with 32 million views in 24 hours. Beating this number was the trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s new offering Zero with 54 million views in a day.

Trailers play a crucial role especially in the present times when the shelf life of movies has diminished. A promo is a key marketing tool for a film hence a lot of attention is paid to it.

And why not? After all "it is the first audio-visual communication that the audience is exposed to. It is perhaps the most important litmus test for the cinematic content you are putting out to know if it’s working with the viewer", said Siddharth Anand Kumar, VP Films and TV Saregama Yoodlee Films.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Sethumadhavan Napan, COO/Producer at DAR Motion Pictures said, “Trailer and teasers have over the years gone on to become a very integral part of movie promotions. A film’s marketing campaign is considered incomplete without trailer/teaser and that is because it helps in the two ways.”

“For trade (distributors and exhibitors) it offers a sneak preview of what the film is all about, so hedging a bet regarding the release is made possible and decisions can be taken. For the audience it serves as a tool to build up (or lose) interest in the film, depending on how effective (or ineffective) the trailer is,” explained Napan.

According to Napan, “A good trailer has been known to save a not so well made film on many an occasion. At the same time, a badly made trailer can do a lot of harm even to a good film. Hence a trailer plays a very powerful role in the film's promotions & often it helps in generating the necessary pre-release buzz for the film.”

When DAR Motion Pictures was given the job to cut a trailer for Madhuri Dixit’s Bucket List the brief was to show what Madhuri Dixit’s character in the movie was.

“But with the trailer we decided to reveal a lot more and tell people that the film is for a family audience,” said Napan.

For their another project, Monsoon Shootout, which had a multi-angle story they went ahead with an interactive trailer - a concept not yet common in India.

The film featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui is touted as the first film in India to get an interactive trailer. The audiences were given a choice to decide what will happen next in the trailer.

Some experts also believe that trailers are an important determinant of how well a film will be received during its opening weekend business.

“Trailers can make or break a film, and I think it’s critical in getting the audiences to decide whether they want to watch the film. Post the trailer all communication assets just add to the noise around the film, but the trailer remains the most imp asset,” said Kumar.

“And while the box office fate of the film depends entirely on the content, the trailer goes a long way in getting audiences to decide instantly whether they will bring themselves to watch the film in the theatre on that crucial Friday and opening weekend,” he added.

Adding to this, Napan said, “A good trailer will always be talked about & result in positive WOM (word of mouth), converting to footfalls in theatres. On the other hand a bad trailer can result in negative WOM & prevent or restrict many people from watching the film.”

But film trade analyst Joginder Tuteja believes that movie trailers make a difference for the small movies it doesn’t make any difference for big movies.

“I’ll give you an example, Thugs of Hindostan received all-time biggest opening of Rs 50 crore but then the trailer saw mixed reactions. People complained about the VFX (visual effects). But it still took the biggest opening that means the promo wasn’t a deal-breaker. Same was with Race 3. In terms of a superstar (Salman Khan) it was one of the worst received promo of the year. But it still took an opening of around Rs 30 crore,” said Tuteja.

"On the other hand, when it comes to small movies a bad promo could be a deal-breaker. Stree, Badhai Ho had fantastic promos and saw all around good reception. Then you saw how it was received it turned out to be a very good opener. But for a bad film, even a promo can’t save you. For example Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se - it did not have a star cast that people wanted to watch and when the promo is also bad then it is a lost case,” described Tuteja.

Trailers have evolved over the years first from getting done by the in-house editor to now producers hiring specialists for the same. Moreover, nowadays theatrical release and television are not the only platforms where these trailers get space, digital is now becoming big.  

“Trailers or visual promos have been around for quite some time but in the recent past... there’s a lot more interest being taken by audiences, by traders (exhibitors and distributors) and ultimately the producers... and in terms of investment a lot is being spent these days,” said Napan.

Earlier producers would shell out somewhere between three to five lakh for a trailer which has now gone up to as high as Rs 25 lakh. Also, nowadays promoters are releasing more than one promos of a film unlike in the 90s.

According to Napan, “Movie trailers can also be zero budget if the in-house editor is handling the process. However, majority of the films hire promo editors. Then there is a specialist cost incurred. In terms of numbers, it can be as low as Rs 50k to 1 lakh.”

He added that there are largely one or two standard theatrical trailers and then there is a separate set of promos which are used for the web then something separate for television.

In addition, what happens is that as there are different mediums (theatre, digital, television) so the set of promos need to be broken down into different time slots.

"So a standard theatrical trailer will be somewhere between 120 seconds or lower, web there are no restrictions where you can go to two and half minutes or above. On TV it is expensive there you need to play smart. Good promo editors will have a 10-second version.”

There was a time when theatre owners would pay to play trailers but now producers buy prime time slots for as much as Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

The craft of cutting a good trailer is a specialised one, and we place paramount importance in the way trailers are conceived and made for our films, said Kumar of Yoodlee Films.

In fact, cutting trailers has become a lucrative business in India. Hiring promo editors for this work has become a norm since 2000. Also, different mediums and many trailers have made the work of promo editors more important.

But the job is not an easy one. And the primary challenge is how much to reveal.

“If we go by the general strategy of one trailer and one teaser there are a lot of challenges. First is how much to reveal and how much not to reveal. There is a constant complaint from people that a film trailer showed the whole film so that’s a challenge. Second is good promo editor needs to be very skillful in terms of coming up with a lot of highs which could be in the form dialogues, visuals in the form of montage to attract the viewers," said Napan.

“Another factor is songs – sometimes what happens is that the teaser and the trailer is released and then the songs are released in some cases songs are released first then trailer happens. Now if the songs are already released then you have the option to use it in the trailer but if the song has not released then the director would not want to reveal it in the trailer. So that becomes another challenge. The main challenge is the time factor how much to fit in in so less time,” he added.

But it is not just Bollywood paying a lot of attention to movie trailers. Its regional counterparts too are realising the merits of good promos.

“Regional cinema pays a lot of attention to trailers. On top of the line you have films like Baahubali, 2.0 from the South that have created an impact nationally but from the regional front there is big content coming not just from South but also from Marathi, Bengali and all of them are paying a lot of attention to trailers. Some of them are proactively ensuring that when the trailer is released there are Hindi subtitles added to them,” said Napan.