Maybe it’s my love for arriving to theaters early, maybe it’s my aggressively ADD-destroyed attention span, or maybe it’s my genuine affection for mopey slowed-down cover songs, but I love a good movie trailer. At their worst, they’re blatant marketing tools aimed right at your wallet, yeah. But at their best, trailers are snapshots of a film, the spirit of a movie distilled into a two-and-a-half-minute package.
And the trailer market is as crowded and confusing as ever. Marketing departments have gotten so dang good at this, you really only know if a movie is in trouble if the trailer can’t even make it look enticing. (Never forget,Suicide Squadcame with one of the most exciting trailers of the decade.) This year was no different; 2019 was jam-packed with trailers that reached hype levels untouched by their own finished products. But below, you’ll find the ten that separated from the pack, either through stirring imagery, shocking reveals, or, uh, effects so nightmarish the world came together for just one day to collectively dunk on its furry head. I think you know the one.
Here are the ten best trailers of 2019, ranked:
And for more of Collider’s Best of 2019 content,click here.
10) ‘Joker’ (Teaser Trailer)
I ended up being pretty lukewarm onJokeroverall, but there’s no denying that the first glimpse of Todd Phillips' gritty origin story gave us a look at a comic book movie like we’d never seen before. Leaning heavily into its Scorsese influences, the first teaser trailer smartly putJoaquin Phoenix’s unsettling performance as Arthur Fleck front and center. I love,lovethe first image we see of Arthur, his skull-tight scowl melting into an everything-is-totally-fine happy face. You know right up front that you’re getting a lead performance that’s subtle in its scariness. By this point, the dancing scene on the steps has been meme’d into oblivion—and the finished product loses major points for thebafflingdecision to set it to Gary freaking Glitter—but here, set over a haunting take onJimmy Durante’s “Smile”, it felt like the type of unsettling abandon that fans wanted from the character sinceThe Dark Knight.
9) ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (Official Trailer #1)
I have basically zero nostalgia forTop Gun, the movie I’m aware of mostly through ironic quotes and that one aggressively oiled-up volleyball scene. So color me surprised when the high-octane first trailer for its sequel,Top Gun: Maverick, had me ready to be this movie’s wingman anytime. The footage does a great job of setting up how much has changed in the 33 years since the first film, both off-screen and off;Tom Cruiseis no longer just a fresh-faced movie star in the making, he’sthatTom Cruise who will straight-up learn to fly a jet for real. This pays off with some truly breathtaking aerial footage that sells the movie on its own, putting us inside the cockpit with barely enough warning time to strap in.
8) ‘Her Smell’ (Official Trailer)
I’m not sure any other teaser captured the overall “vibe” of its movie better than the official trailer for Her Smell. This thing is chaos from the jump, the better to reflect the turbulent mind of raging rocker Becky Something, a.k.a.Elisabeth Mossputting on one of the best performances of the year. I love how out of control this trailer feels, starting and stopping to the sound of feedback and screams, while still selling Alex Ross Perry’s punk epic as the journey of one woman. It tells you the exact type of turbulent ride you’re in for and doesn’t really give a fuck whether you’re along for the ride.
7) ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum’ (Official Trailer #1)
Every entry in the action-packedJohn Wickfranchise has miraculously managed to top what came before it, so it’s only appropriate that this two-and-a-half-minute trailer forJohn Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellummanages to keep one-upping itself. It starts off withKeanu Reeves’wonderfully bearded super-assassin running through the neon-lit mayhem we’ve come to expect, a ticking clock reminding us of the high-stakes cliffhanger that concluded John Wick: Chapter 2. But then it’s like, wait, are those ninjas on motorcycles? Are those ninjas on motorcyclesbrandishing swords? I’m sorry, is Johnriding a horse?Did John Wick just murder a man on horseback? Just beautiful, batshit escalation, everything that is good, pure, and endlessly badass about these movies.
6) ‘Knives Out’ (Official Trailer #1)
Also known as the “eat shit” heard ‘round the world. The first trailer forRian Johnson’s blast-and-a-half whodunitKnives Outpulls off two impressive feats at once. First, it deftly introduces us to this ensemble cast, no small task considering pretty much every face is a A-lister playing a multi-layered role. (Chris Evans’ wickedly besweatered Ransom obviously stole the show, but I’ve always been partial toToni Colletteturning vocal fry to 11 as Joni.) But also—and this is only something you can appreciate once you’ve seen the movie, no spoilers—the trailer manages to completely sell you on the movie while obscuring the real mystery the entire time. In this age of marketing, that’s downright miraculous.
5) ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ (Teaser Trailer)
Luckily, you could put pretty much anything over the sound of Los Bravos' “Bring a Little Lovin'” and it’ll look like the coolest thing you’ve ever seen in your life. (Sports bloopers, 4th grade home videos, marriage proposal fails. Anything!) But add inMargot Robbie’s flower-child dancing,Brad Pitt’s throwdown withMike Moh’s uncannyBruce Lee, andLeonardo DiCaprio’s delightful little “Hullabaloo” jig and you’ve got the coolest breeze to ever blow through southern California.Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodis Quentin Tarantino at his most nostalgic, and every second of this under-two-minute teaser is oozing with affection for a time and place long past.
4) ‘The Last Black Man In San Francisco’ (Official Trailer)
There’s really no other way to describe this trailer other than “enchanting”. To be fair, cutting a trailer forThe Last Black Man in San Franciscois like putting together a puzzle using only perfect pieces. You can’t go wrong with any frame from this movie; directorJoe Talbotand cinematographerAdam Newport-Berrawork in tandem to take your breath away for the entirety of this trailer, while that thrilling score from Emile Mosseri moves you along at a rapid clip. Like the movie itself, the trailer is able to capture a specific place in ways you wouldn’t notice walking with your head down, a place of ship horns and rain clouds and hidden beauty. Just absolutely heart-stirring, beginning to end.
3) ‘The Lighthouse’ (Official Trailer #2)
The first trailer forThe Lighthouseassured audiences thatRobert Eggerswas working with that same obsessive attention-to-detail that made his debut,The Witch, such a powerhouse piece of horror. But the second trailer forThe Lighthouseassured audiences that shit was about to getreal freaking weirdin waysThe Witchonly brushed up against. UsingWillem DafoeandRobert Pattinson’s demented “who’s on first?” routine as a backdrop, this trailer gets lost in its own raging sea-storm, flashing black-and-white images at you that would drive a Lovecraft character mad. It’s also a fantastic showcase for just how aggressively these two performers throw their respective balls to the wall. Dafoe’s massive, sudden “HAAARRRRK” in this trailer is a more jarring jump scare than many feature-length films could dream of.
2) ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Teaser Trailer)
Thethird and final official trailerfor Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is objectively the more epic preview, filled with lightsaber fights, outer space dog fights, and the suggestion that C-3PO is going to straight-up die. But, for me, there’s just no beating the shock factor of that first teaser released at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. It not only revealed the full title for the first time—we could finally stop calling itStar Wars 9like a bunch of rubes—but knocked you on your ass with one final reveal. “No one’s ever really gone,“Mark Hamillsays in voice-over, and it’s kind of nice because he could be talking about dearly-departed Luke Skywalker or even the lateCarrie Fisher, who’ll make her final appearance as Leia Organa in the film. But thenJohn Williams’ score getsdark, and from outta' nowhere the world heard the familiar sound ofIan McDiarmidas Sheev Palpatine, laughing at us all for thinkingJ.J. Abramswasn’t going to try some nonsense. As of this writing, we still don’t know exactly what Abrams has up his sleeve, but the very firstRise of Skywalkertrailer was proof we couldn’t guess if we tried.
1) ‘Cats’ (Official Trailer #1)
Look, what is the purpose of a trailer, after all, if not to gain attention for your film and get the people talking? The day the first official trailer forTom Hooper’s big-screen Cats adaptation first pounced on to the internet should be celebrated as a yearly holiday. It was anevent. A dunking contest. A communal bonding experience in which we came together and asked, as one, “why do the tails come out of their butts?” It was, quite possibly, my single favorite day of 2019. Sure, some of that is less on the trailer and more on the nightmarish imagery of the movie itself. But the sheer confidence of this trailer is astounding. The confidence that you’re familiar with a musical that defies description. The confidence that these effects are totally done and ready for public conception. The confidence that an audience will see Oscar-winner DameJudi Denchas a cat whose face is inexplicably floating above its head and not lose its collective minds. Before August 20, 2025, I could not have possibly cared less about aCatsmovie. Afterward, the thought of theCatsmovie has infected my every waking thought. That, folks, is an effective trailer.
