In advance of the Super Bowl, studios released two of the biggest and most anticipated trailers, those for The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Jurassic World Rebirth. But game day still held plenty of new trailers, but before the game even started, two of Hollywood’s biggest stars anchored pre-game hype videos meant to rouse the spirit. Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, who have allegedly been engaged in a cold war since the 90s, appeared in separate videos, never shall their paths meet! Super Bowl LIX truly was the hater bowl.
Tom Cruise’s video was essentially an introduction for the competitors, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Pretty standard stuff but given a little extra juice by Tom Cruise’s…extra-ness. You can see that video here.
There’s that Patrick Bateman intensity we all know and vaguely fear!
Brad Pitt, meanwhile, starred in a five-and-a-half-minute video about “the huddle” and how football brings us together and how Americans have always banded together and it’s only when we “huddle up” that our ingenuity truly shines. Absolutely WILD time for this message.
The video was filmed in Los Angeles’ Bradbury Building, an Art Deco landmark and approximately 1,900 miles from New Orleans. LOL at that man not even daring to get even a time zone closer to New Orleans after what happened with Make It Right.
Both actors have movies to shill, though, and they both had ad spots for their films. Cruise is coming this May with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which might be his last M:I film. Given that this is rumored to be one of the most expensive films ever made and the Paramount/Skydance merger is in trouble, there is a LOT of pressure on this film to deliver BIG, but this has never been a franchise that delivers billion-dollar hits. The highest-grossing film in the series is Fallout, which made $791 million in 2018. I think Final Reckoning looks cool, but I’m not convinced it’s a billion-dollar movie in the summer of 2025. They’re looking for Top Gun results, though, anything less than that is perhaps not a loss, but it’s not a win, either.
Cruise took to Instagram to show off filming that bi-plane stunt. I do enjoy these movies, but I also feel like we’re just enabling one man’s death wish here.
Pitt, meanwhile, has racecar movie F1 with, coincidentally, Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, coming in June. I have enjoyed every Kosinski film I have seen, the man knows how to construct a solid action sequence, and he always makes sure his characters are engaging, but I am just not clicking with F1 so far. Maybe it’s because I don’t really care about Formula 1 racing. F1 fans sound off, is this trailer doing anything for you?
Finally, Marvel dropped a new full trailer for Thunderbolts*, which still looks like the best Marvel movie due this year. This trailer includes a great needle drop (Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”), and it teases Lewis Pullman in villainous Void mode. This is not the sweet “Bob” of the previous trailers, this shows his other, darker side. In the comics, Bob, or as he’s formally known, Robert Reynolds, is super powerful, but also very f-cked up. I’m not sure how far the movie will take it—he starts out a meth addict, I’ll be surprised if Marvel keeps that detail for the MCU—but Bob is basically a dual superhuman entity (Sentry/Void), and this trailer shows the other side of the coin without fully giving away what Pullman looks like suited and booted. Smart to hold back and leave something for later.
Plus, the cast is just so fun. They have insane chemistry in these trailers, which is a huge reason Thunderbolts* looks so good (I bet this will be a fun press tour to follow). It really reminds me of OG Avengers days, when the cast’s combined charisma powered The Avengers to the biggest opening weekend of all time (up to that point). I’m not saying Thunderbolts* will repeat that kind of business—a very tall order in this economy—but this is the kind of energy Marvel needs to get back on track. Thunderbolts* just plain looks FUN, the cast seems FUN. Everyone has spent the last four years debating how Marvel can get back on track, but honestly, they just need to be fun again. Thunderbolts* looks like a step in the right direction.
