J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield, Star Trek, and the Teaser

There are generally two types of teaser trailer in Hollywood. One that raises curiosity about an unknown project, and one that reminds audiences of an already expected film.

J.J. Abrams has been dubbed a publicity genius lately, thanks to his “Cloverfield” and its unusual marketing campaign. It all began when a strange commercial/trailer appeared for an unnamed and totally unknown movie. The design of the trailer was perfect. It caught the audience off guard, heightened interest, and single-handedly put the unnamed project among the top of the most anticipated movie lists for 2008.

Jump ahead six months. “Cloverfield” finally makes its way to cinemas, and a new J.J. Abrams teaser is introduced. The movie: “Star Trek XI.” The difference: complete. First of all, while the Cloverfield teaser was designed to introduce an unknown, Star Trek is of the other variety of teaser. It simply reminds all the Star Trek fans that it is coming out. Note to Abrams: the Star Trek fans needed no reminding. They probably get on the Internet every day looking for new information about your film.

The problem is that the film falls into the genre/series category, and it has a lot of competition this year. With Batman, Indiana Jones, Bond, etc. there are a lot of anticipated movies like Star Trek this year. What does the new trailer do to interest the fringe-fan or the non-fan? Not much. In fact, it could be an ad for just about anything, and only the revelation that the workers are working on the Enterprise at the end makes it Star Trek.

Maybe this is just a little nod to the diehard Trekkies and a more interesting, Abrams worthy trailer will come soon. One that causes the kind of stir that makes everyone want to go see this film, not just the people that were already going to see it anyway.