Hey Marvel, release the trailer for Eternals! In fact, here’s a great idea: release it this Friday when the movie was scheduled to hit theaters back when it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019! If you’re feeling really crazy, play it before Friday’s new episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+! It’s hard to imagine anybody would be particularly maddened by sitting through the first trailer for a massive upcoming Marvel Studios film on the originally planned release date of the film! This gives fans a much-needed reason to get fired up and also allows social media and media outlets plenty of content to work with when talking about, theorizing, or covering the upcoming movie!
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Realistically, it seems like a slim chance Marvel would release a trailer for Eternals on Friday. The movie isn’t scheduled for release until November 5, 2021 and, at this point, no one knows if that is going to change. Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had to shift its release dates, all of the movie news directly from the studio has been silent unless it related to more changes in release dates. Sure, Black Widow got some new posters and still images to remind everybody it is a movie which is still on the way in May (hopefully) but Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals have both wrapped production. Yet, there has been no public first look at either of the titles.
It is actually hard to imagine an Eternals trailer releasing on Friday, November 6 for a few reasons. The release date remains uncertain as many theaters have once again closed their doors amidst a global pandemic. Plus, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings hits theaters several months prior to Eternals, so it would seem more likely Simu Liu’s film would be promoted first. Furthermore, WandaVision is the first title which will deliver new content for all the starving Marvel fans, so all eyes in the marketing regime are likely on the Disney+ series.
Marvel seems to be holding off on promotional content until release dates are back to being set in stone rather than feeling like they are written in sand.
Still, there is just enough hope for me to cling to the slim possibility of Eternals releasing something on its original date. For starters, a trailer for the movie exists. The first look was shown at Brazil’s CCXP in late 2019. Almost certainly, when it looked like movies in 2020 were going as planned, Marvel Studios had a more polished version of this trailer (or maybe something entirely new) getting ready to drop with Black Widow‘s planned theatrical run in May of 2020.
The question is, would it serve them well to release the trailer one year ahead of Eternals hitting theaters, with the chance of it being more than a year? There can only be one first look at the film, after all. It would definitely please the hardcore fans and likely get some attention from casual moviegoers but could it help launch and maintain a buzz for 12 months or will it result in a lack of momentum when it is time for the marketing train to truly leave the station? Seems unlikely a Marvel Studios film with such an impressive cast could do anything other than build interest with new looks. The most exciting thing we’ve had is a simple update to font in the Eternals logo and that sent Marvel Twitter into a tizzy, so a trailer certainly wouldn’t hurt.
Spider-Man 3 promised a first look before 2020 ends and that will be one year ahead of its release, so why not you, Eternals?
Who knows. Maybe on Friday morning we wake up to a trailer for Eternals, watch it 10 times, and then flip on The Mandalorian‘s second new episode of 2020. Or… maybe that’s just wishful thinking.