Some weeks are better than others for trailers. But the week of June 7 was wild, and the three major theatrical trailers released in that time span delivered thrilling previews for their respective movies. Some of the low-budget movie trailers of the week were less impressive, and that’s why they didn’t make the list.
Rounding out this week’s selection of the best movie and show trailers are two Netflix previews. The first Netflix trailer looks like it could be another sleeper hit, while an animated trailer is giving us a peek at a video game adaptation that we’ve wanted to see done right for the last two decades.
Alien: Romulus
You know what’s a bad idea? Taking a starship out for a joyride and attempting to loot derelict spaceships in the hope of finding a better life. That dream spectacularly backfires on the young men and women featured in the latest trailer for Alien: Romulus. Because the first thing they discover is that the facehuggers are always up for a hug. And they don’t let go until they’ve finished planting their seed.
Where the facehuggers go, the xenomorphs are sure to follow. This trailer really embraces the franchise’s famous tagline: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” But we can see the screams, and this crew is going down one by one.
Venom: The Last Dance
Sony claims that Venom: The Last Dance is going to be the final Venom movie. But you can tell that’s not true for a simple reason: None of Sony’s other Spider-Man-adjacent movies have made any money. Morbius and Madame Web are the laughingstock of superhero films, and Kraven the Hunter is bound to join them. Without Venom, Sony doesn’t have any live-action Marvel movies that are worth a second of your time.
As for the trailer, it’s borderline incomprehensible as Chiwetel Ejiofor seemingly appears in the MCU to retrieve a piece of Venom’s symbiote left from his cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home … even though Ejiofor already plays Mordo in the Marvel movies. But we didn’t come to this movie for anything that makes sense. All we want to see is Tom Hardy giving another gonzo performance as both Eddie Brock and Venom. Plus the Venom horse in the trailer is kind of cool.
MaXXXine
MaXXXine is bringing audiences back to the ’80s as Ti West concludes his X trilogy. Mia Goth reprises her role as Maxine Minx, the lone survivor of the rampage against adult film makers in X, and she’s got big dreams of making it in Hollywood. And yet, Maxine just can’t seem to escape the pull of the adult industry.
Maxine is also worried about making sure that no one can link her back to the massacre she escaped. However, Maxine has much bigger problems on her hands as she becomes a target of the serial killer known as the Night Stalker.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Wednesday standout Emma Myers is showing off some real star power in the new trailer for A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. This British mystery series is coming to Netflix later this year, with Myers in the leading role as Pippa “Pip” Fitz-Amobi. Pip is a true crime lover and amateur detective who wants to solve the murder of her classmate, Andie Bell, and prove that Andie’s late boyfriend, Sal Singh, was innocent of the charges made against him.
Pip starts her investigation by getting close to Sal’s younger brother, Ravi. But every clue Pip uncovers only puts her own life in danger. It turns out that more than one person had reasons to want Andie dead. And if Pip isn’t careful, she may meet a similar fate.
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
None of the Tomb Raider movies to date have captured the full essence of Lara Croft, one of the all-time great video game heroines. Perhaps Lara just needed a change of medium, because the brief look at Netflix’s Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft feels big and exciting in ways that the movies just couldn’t match.
It also helps that this animated series has just about the perfect casting for Lara herself: Haley Atwell, who most recently lit up the big screen with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Atwell would still make a great live-action Lara, but we’ll take what we can get.