SCOOP: New SKY CAPTAIN trailer seen!

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, May 17, 2004
Source: Anonymous

As the saying goes, 'It pays to be at the right place at the right time.' Such was the case last Friday night in a movie theater located in the heart of Los Angeles...

An anonymous scooper sent in the following email this past weekend:

"I work for the Mann Village Theater in Westwood Los Angeles. Yesterday I saw the trailer placement sheet, and it had what I expected on it; CATWOMAN, OCEAN'S TWELVE, CONSTANTINE, etc. One that wasn't on the sheet that ended up playing with the film this evening was a new trailer for SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. Since I was working most of the day, I didn't get to see the trailer in full. The title work has been changed to reflect more of a sci-fi action movie instead of the Retro look they were going for in the last trailer. I'll try to get a description for Cinescape by tomorrow evening. Sometimes at the Mann Village they test trailers before releasing them a couple weeks later, so expect to see it soon."

[Anonymous in Westwood.]

Now normally this scoop would be run as unconfirmed...except that, as fate would have it, this News Editor was there at the Mann's Village movie theater on the evening of May 7 to catch the opening night showing of TROY. Sure enough, placed in-between the trailers for CATWOMAN and SPIDER-MAN 2, was a brand new trailer for SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. Our scooper is telling us the truth.

The movie's new trailer starts more subdued than the first, building menace and tension as citizens of New York take note of a sinister force approaching their city. Heads turn to the sky, arms are raised and fingers point to the heavens as flying robots are spotted and then descend upon the city. News reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) is covering the event live. The score for STARGATE that was used for the first SKY CAPTAIN trailer is now gone and new music stands in its place.

After the attack we're treated to a progression of images, some that we've seen before in the first trailer and some that we haven't. Among the new snippets of the film shown was an attack by a squadron of amphibious aircraft with Sky Captain (Jude Law) and Perkins in the cockpit of one of the planes. We're treated to a quick scene showing three or four dozen of these planes dive from a blue sky straight into the open ocean, then engage enemy craft at the bottom of the sea. There's also a scene showing what could be described as the aerial equilvalent of ocean aircraft carriers. These massive platforms are shown flying in the skies, each emblazoned with the red, blue and white of British flag colors. The ships seem to the base of operations for Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie's character) and her squad; their planes launch from these sky platforms.

If Paramount was indeed testing a new SKY CAPTAIN trailer at the Village last weekend, would studio executives be in the audience to gauge the crowd's reaction? During the trailers for OCEAN'S TWELVE and SPIDER-MAN 2 the movie audience erupted in enthusistic applause; at the conclusion of the SKY CAPTAIN trailer the reaction was much less enthusiastic. While some of the crowd greeted the trailer with applause there also seemed to be a lot of "What was that?" comments being tossed about, perhaps due to the unique retro look of the film which makes it stand apart from other high profile genre adventures.

Curiously, the trailer still listed a summer release for SKY CAPTAIN even though the film has been pushed back to September 17. Perhaps it's another indication that this isn't a final cut for the film's second trailer.


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