We run a lot of trailers on Collider.  I know because I scrolled through 365 days of them, and on average we run at least one a day.  Trailers are valuable.  The marketplace is incredibly crowded and people need guides.  There are films people can't wait to see, and trailers can satisfy the itch.  Trailers can also satisfy curiosity (important reminder: we still haven't seen a single thing from The Fantastic Four).  There are times where I'm worried that fans see a trailer as a goal rather than a means to an end, and mistake marketing for a movie.  Trailers are part of the journey, not the destination.I've collected what I feel are the ten best trailers of the year.  Some have the benefit of still being a mystery, but I've tried to keep my appraisal based on the effectiveness of the trailer rather than how well it lines up with the finished feature when it comes to quality or accuracy (i.e. if lines or moments in the trailer appear in the final cut).  Hit the jump for the Top 10 trailers of 2014.

10. White God

I am a "dog person", so I don't think an uprising of dogs would be the worst thing ever, especially if they rise up against people who mistreat them.  What surprises me about White God is that it doesn't look campy, and has real critical praise behind it.  This movie wasn't on my radar until I saw the trailer, and now I can't wait to see this foreign indie.

9. Avengers: Age of Ultron

If you want to prepare people for a completely different take for a highly-anticipated sequel, this is the way to do it.  Other trailers try to comfort audiences by providing more of what people liked from the original.  This trailer went out of its way to show that not only are the stakes bigger, but the tone is much darker.  There are no strings to hold it down.

8. Inside Out

This is what we needed to get us excited about a Pixar movie again.  While I'm usually averse to a trailer that's more like a clip, this one showed us a piece of a movie rather than cobbling together stuff that might ultimately be misleading.  The trailer for Inside Out was upfront about the character relationships and how this story will function, and now we have an ever better an idea of the fascinating concept.

7. Knight of Cups

Hey, it's a new Terrence Malick film, and it looks like a Terrence Malick film on drugs.  There are the Malick staples: whispered narration, beautiful images, quiet moments.  And then there are aspects we've never seen from him before like wide-angle close-ups, rapid editing, and bright neon colors.  After the misfire of To the Wonder, this trailer feels like a breath of fresh air from the singular director.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy

At the time, we thought Guardians of the Galaxy was Marvel's biggest risk because it wasn't a traditional superhero movie, and the first trailer still jumped in with both feet by showing what was essentially the same trailer they played at Comic-Con for die-hard fans.  The trailer efficiently introduced all five characters (even if it's not exactly how the film played out), and rocked out to Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling".  This teaser had to be a home run, and Marvel knocked it out of the park.

Continue Reading Top 10 Trailers of 2014

5. Nightcrawler

Like the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer, the trailer for Nightcrawler uses footage that isn't in the movie, but it doesn't matter because it nails the intense tone.  Other trailers tried to sell the action and the comedy, and while those are both elements in the movie, this trailer conveyed the picture's dominant feeling: dread.

4. Inherent Vice

Paul Thomas Anderson's previous two films, There Will Be Blood and The Master, were brooding, meditative pieces.  The trailer for Inherent Vice let fans know that that filmmaker wouldn't be doing that again for his latest work.  Inherent Vice ended up being a mishmash of emotions and vibes, and while this trailer leaned heavily on the movie's comedy, it had me at "Moko panakeku."

3. Gone Girl

David Fincher knows how to cut a teaser trailer.  I read the book after seeing this trailer, and the more I read, the more I came back to watch it.  There's barely any dialogue, but the trailer says so much with its stark imagery and clever use of Elvis Costello's "She".  It also didn't spoil any of the movie's big moments, and neither did any of the following trailers, which is highly commendable considering how pivotal they are to the plot.

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

There was no trailer this year that was as anticipated as this one.  Fans were aching just to get a glimpse of new Star Wars beyond set photos.  They wanted to know the tone.  They wanted to see new characters.  They wanted to return to this unforgettable world.  The trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens gave them everything they wanted, and when John Williams' theme kicked in, my heart soared.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

Star Wars: The Force Awakens may have been the biggest trailer of the year in terms of excitement and views, but ultimately I feel like Star Wars sells itself.  Every piece of marketing for The Force Awakens will be gravy because the studio could provide just a release date and people would show up in droves.

Mad Max, on the other hand, has to scrap and claw for an audience.  It will be the first new Mad Max movie in thirty years.  An entire generation is unfamiliar with the franchise.  The previous generation needs to be convinced to return to George Miller's post-apocalyptic wasteland.  This trailer exploded off the screen to show a mind-blowing level of insanity that turned an unknown quantity into one of the must-see movies of 2015.

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Image via Warner Bros.

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