The fact that we’re less than two months away from a new Star Wars movie, one that I never expected to ever get, is still kind of blowing my mind. There’s a part of me that still feels surreal about the entire thing, almost like I’m expecting it to not actually be real. The launch of the new toys, of which I bought plenty, has helped to cement the idea of “it’s really happening” in my mind, but nothing does the trick quite like a trailer.
The last trailer we had was back in April, that’s a pretty substantial amount of time between trailers and general marketing for the film in general. Obviously people were getting antsy for it, and when I made the simple comment that the trailer was in fact “finished” a few weeks ago it caused a firestorm. What caused me the most concern, however, was when my sources started confirming the Monday Night Football rumor that was floating around (which was, of course, confirmed). I was concerned because I would be on VACATION.
Yes, the week I finally decide to take a vacation in which I’d actually go somewhere and take a break from the site entirely…is when one of the biggest news pieces of the last few months would land. Awesome. Fortunately, my team was more than ready and able to handle it, but initially, I was stressed about it.
As it worked out, we were in the hotel room (done for the day and tired from traveling) at 6:50…just a scant 10 minutes before the trailer was set to appear. As such, my girlfriend had to suffer through some football in order for me to check out the trailer. I was floored. When the trailer started playing I found myself moving closer and closer to the TV without even realizing it. It wasn’t until the thing was over that I noticed I was standing up (I WAS sitting down) and incredibly close to the TV stand in the hotel.
To say the trailer was impressive is somewhat of an understatement. We got to see a bunch of new footage, and some new dialog to go along with it (something I felt has been missing the most from the marketing). It didn’t answer many questions at all, only raised a bunch of others. While knowing some of the spoilers I’ve heard gives me a little context, it’s still crazy to think about how much we DON’T know about The Force Awakens.
On one hand, it’s frustrating and I get why some fans are doing serious hand-wringing at the marketing that’s been at play so far. The other hand, however, has me very impressed. The fact that Lucasfilm/Disney has managed to keep so much of the film a mystery and clamp down on leaks (overall). In a film that’s over two hours long, the fact we’ve only seen roughly 4-5 minutes of footage from it, is almost unheard of this day and age. Sure, there are still plenty of spoilers to be found out there, many of them are becoming increasingly accurate, but the general ability to keep things tighter is remarkable.
I’m getting off point. The trailer, in and of itself, was a thing of beauty and even on subsequent viewings continues to hit me in all the right spots. Most impressive, is that they aren’t relying on nostalgia to sell it either, but rather putting the new characters up front and center. It’s what they have to do, in order to prove the sustainability of all the Star Wars movies they have planned. They can’t rely solely on the old crew to carry them through. Because of all this, I had to take some time to recover from the trailer viewing. The image of which, in the comic above, is not that dissimilar from my real life appearance either.
More importantly, my vacation was awesome.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Focal Point Facebook Page and check out some of the newStar Wars themed prints I have up on Red Bubble.
-Jordan
