Hey folks, Harry here... Want to see a trailer that does the exact opposite of that SPIRITED AWAY trailer that Disney just released? Well click below. I love SHAOLIN SOCCER dearly, it was one of my favorite films of last year. Now the movie isn't due out till Spring of 2003... yeah.... But they've already got their first American Market trailer and frankly... it is terrible. It makes it look bad, an incredibly hard thing to do.... it gives away some of the absolute biggest tricks and emotional moments of the film. They put Mr Ultra Cheese Voice in there giving it that... "Wanna watch velvetta?" flavor. Then... Then they put in "Everybody was Kung-Fu Fighting" song which we grew tired of like a decade ago. I know... it is easy to criticize, but could I do better? Is it possible to create a better trailer?
Personally, I think the most important thing to do with the trailer to Shaolin Soccer is to introduce Stephen Chow as the Hong Kong star that has out-grossed JACKIE CHAN, CHOW YUN FAT and JET LI combined and that this is his greatest film! (ok, that is highly debatable, but this is advertising, not fact finding... besides Sony has THE GOD OF COOKERY, let them deal with claiming the same fact on their ad later) The next most important thing to communicate to the audience is... WHAT IS SHAOLIN SOCCER? Miramax's own NRG polling says that Americans don't know what Shaolin is.... Well that's the campaign. Real cut, dry and simple. You Show a Shaolin Monk.... cut to giant golden letters - SHAOLIN. Cut to the soccer ball on the field in the movie, as Stephen Chow is taking it down the field.... cut to giant golden letters - SOCCER. Cut to shot of the guys meditating peacefully.... giant golden letters - SHAOLIN. Cut to shot of the opening soccer match from the film, of just regular soccer being played.... giant golden letters - SOCCER.... fade to black... meanwhile over all of this has been slow Asian Percussion sounds.... they begin to pound from all around the theaters sound system as the words - NOW.... PREPARE TO WITNESS A NEW AGE OF SOCCER...... the pounding gets louder and louder..... The screen lights up to show Stephen Chow kicking the lone soccer ball into the brick wall and that dot on it from nearly half a mile a way. SHAOLIN SOCCER.... A shot of Stephen Chow kicking the soccer ball into the street punks and kicking their ass.... SHAOLIN SOCCER.... A shot of the Bruce Lee Goalee having the line of soccer players kick at him as he defends perfectly.... SHAOLIN SOCCER.... and then silence.... the sound of cheering fans all around the theater.... That shot from before of Stephen Chow driving the ball down the field... He kicks... It transforms into the energy cat and is stopped by a single gloved hand. SHAOLIN SOCCER - Coming March 2003 at theaters Everywhere!
Personally... that's how I would've handled it, and somehow... I'm suffering under the delusion that the trailer would play about 100 times better than this turkey of a spot. Here folks, judge for yourself....
Hey Harry,
Miramax finally released the QuickTime trailer to KUNGFU SOCCER!! And yes… a martial art film wouldn’t be complete I guess if it didn’t have that damn overused “Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting” song in it.
Kampbell-Kid
