Over a century ago, the first trailer was shown in a movie theater—though it was actually a promotional film for a Broadway musical (The Pleasure Seekers at the Winter Garden Theater). The guy behind it, Nils Granlund, was the advertising manager at the Marcus Loew theater chain, which would become Loews Theatres chain (which eventually merged with AMC). Granduncle went on to provide the same kind of promotion for upcoming motion pictures, and the rest is history.
Well, history still in the making. Movie trailers (the name comes from the fact that coming attractions used to play after the feature, not before) have gone from text-heavy to narration-heavy to montage-heavy as times have changed. More importantly, trailers by themselves have become big, big business. According to USA Today, studios drop around $1 million a pop for a 2.5-minute trailer.
Why spend so much? Because we're voraciously watching them. App company Trailer Pop told USA Today that over 1 billion movie trailers were viewed on YouTube alone in the first three quarters of 2013. And that's not even counting the other industries where trailers are also big business, including books, concerts, TV shows, and most especially, video games.
Movie trailers are a special art form all their own, of course, sometimes giving away too much, sometimes not enough. Sometimes they're even better than the final movie—or at least not as disappointing. In the U.S., they're also still subject to ratings by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); if you see a green MPAA rating card graphic before a trailer, that means it's approved as "appropriate for all audiences." A red graphic before the trailer (called the red band) means it is probably full of things you don't want kids to see. Both are readily available to view online.
But where should you go to view trailers? Are there apps to handle the viewing? Of course. Here's a look at 10 of the best sites and programs you can use to get your regular fix of coming attractions.
