Trailer Stash: Gran Torino, Harry Potter, Watchmen, more

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Friday the 13th
Release Date: Feb. 13, 2009 (yes, that’s a Friday)
Director: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Amanda Righetti



As a remake of a horror movie that wasn’t very good in the first place (especially one that already has 10 sequels), the new teaser trailer for Friday the 13th (directed by Marcus Nispel of the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre) makes the movie look as unnecessary as ever. That isn’t to say it won’t be fun. As is clear in this brief clip, the brutality will be limitless, the characters interchangeable, and yet we can expect a $30 million first weekend for what looks to be a grim, gimmicky thriller with self-conscious nods to the old series.

Wendy and Lucy
Release Date: Dec. 10 (limited)
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Michelle Williams, Will Patton, Will Oldham



Kelly Reichardt last made Old Joy in 2006, and the trailer for her latest looks very much in the same understated, introspective tradition as that movie. Michelle Williams plays a woman headed for Alaska who becomes stranded in the Pacific Northwest when her car breaks down. With no money and nowhere to go, she begins to become involved with the locals, and the results do not look hopeful. The trailer is steeped in hard silences and unspoken desperation, and in that vein, Williams’s performance looks like a knockout.  

17 Again
Release Date: April 17, 2009
Director: Burr Steers
Starring: Zac Efron, Matthew Perry, Michelle Trachtenberg



Zac Efron proved this past weekend that he can lead a franchise into theaters, but can he open a movie on his own? We’ll find out next year with 17 Again, the newest age-transformation comedy a la 13 Going on 30. This time around, Matthew Perry magically transforms into his 17-year-old self—played, absurdly, by Efron—and if the trailer provides any clue, the movie looks limp and derivative of its well-worn canon. As a star vehicle, though, it looks ideal for its young star as he tries to make the always rocky transition from straight-edge tween icon into more-adult movie star.