schwartz langston: Super Bowl Movie Ads: Winners And Losers

From 'The Avengers' to '21 Jump Street' and 'John Carter,' we rate the hits and misses of Sunday night's movie trailer premieres.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in '21 Jump Street'
Photo: Columbia Pictures

Whether you watched the entire game until the final nerve-racking moments or you found out the score through a friend's Facebook update, you probably know by now that the New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI. But if you weren't paying attention to the commercials, you don't know that the real winner of last night's game was a different kind of giant.

A green, radioactive giant.

That's right, "Marvel's The Avengers" and many other highly anticipated movies rolled out new footage and trailers during the Super Bowl commercial breaks. But not all of them were as successful as the Hulk, his team and their offensive drive. Let's talk about the big winners and losers of Sunday night's movie ads.

Winner: "The Avengers"
The Avengers have assembled. This was the trailer of the night, and the extended online version was only cooler. For one of this summer's biggest films, it was seriously lacking in badass lead-up material until last night. The spot finally gave some validation that this may be the movie we have been waiting for.

Loser: "Battleship"
When the first teaser thrown at the audience reads "From Hasbro, the company that brought you 'Transformers,' " it already looks like trouble. As much as we want to root for Taylor Kitsch, we've had enough of the Transformers-inspired mechanical mayhem. Also, boom goes Rihanna.

Winner: "21 Jump Street"
Advanced screenings of the Jonah Hill-written comedy have left people raving, and the Super Bowl commercial delivered some solid laughs. "You look super young. Were you held forward?" Perfect comeback, Channing.

Loser: "John Carter" TV Spot
Why would Disney spend millions of dollars to air an ad during the Super Bowl for their effects-heavy movie but decide to zoom out of the scenes to spell the title out with them? It defies logic.

Winner: "John Carter" Extended Online Spot
It has the same stupid letter thing, but it also, you know, shows us actual scenes from the movie at full size. This was the ad that would have gotten us excited for the fantasy epic.

Loser: "Act of Valor"
The concept of watching actual Navy SEALS in a film would seem more appealing if the movie itself didn't look so generic.

Winner: "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance"
The movie has already been widely dismissed as a disaster, but we will never say no to a tight 30 seconds of Nic Cage with his head on fire.

Loser: "The Dictator"
When the joke begins to feel old after just 30 seconds, it's not a good.

Winner: "The Hunger Games"
The hotly anticipated YA adaptation had the benefit of having a great first trailer to add to already high expectations. They can count their Super Bowl ad as their second victory.

Loser: "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax"
IMAX Tree-D.

Special Jury Prize: "G.I. Joe: Retaliation"
Basic physics states that after Stephen Sommers' first "G.I. Joe" movie, no sequel could save the series. Thankfully, physics doesn't account for Dwayne Johnson and ninja cliff fights, because, despite all expectations, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" looks fantastic.

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