I’ve always loved coming attractions, or trailers as they’re more often called these days, and the right trailer for either a big feature or a video game can really create a lot of excitement.
In today’s day and age, the date when a trailer’s going to premiere gets announced in advance, and fans can’t wait to see it in the theaters and on YouTube. You may recall that when the trailer for Episode One debuted, fans would pay full price to see the coming attraction, then went home. Not to mention that video games have great trailers that practically rival any major motion picture.
So the site Blastr recently compiled the hottest trailers of the year by YouTube views, and the two biggest trailers of the year weren’t for a movie, but for a video game. The biggest game of the year actually, Call of Duty Black Ops 2. Four, count ‘em, four Call of Duty trailers made the top ten, and Call of Duty also made #1 and #2 on the list. First was the surprise live action trailer, which got 35,350,941 views on YouTube, and second was the reveal trailer, which got 29,755,342 views.
Now what was the most watched movie trailer? The Dark Knight Rises, the third official trailer, which got 31 million views. Second most viewed trailer on YouTube behind Batman was Bond, James Bond, with the official trailer for Skyfall, which got 17,823,130 views. Third most viewed is the sleeper of the year that may already be the biggest comedy of all time, Ted, which got 15,526,742 views.
The next five in the top ten? The second theatrical trailer for The Hunger Games, which got 12,530,673 views, followed by the trailer for NBC’s Revolution (9,962,585 views), the multiplayer reveal trailer for Call of Duty (8,835,143 views), the official teaser trailer for Skyfall (8,799,801 views), and rounding out the top ten is the launch trailer for Call of Duty (8,299,244 views).
So the fact that genre films are among the top viewed trailers of the year isn’t surprising, and even with the gaming industry in a slump, it also shouldn’t be a surprise that game trailers are scoring higher than movies.
There was a point where gaming was bigger than Hollywood blockbusters, and next year should also be a big one for the game business, especially with the release date of Grand Theft Auto V just around the corner on March 26, 2013.
