They've been doing that a lot lately. Check out the two trailers for EASTERN PROMISES. One presents it as a straightforward crime drama about the Russian mob; the other makes it look like a SILENCE OF THE LAMBS-y thriller.

They did the same thing for STARDUST -- one trailer played up the romance and quirkiness, while the other tried to make it look like LORD OF THE RINGS.

Where did Trailer 2 come from? Considering that Crowe's character says "fucking" I don't imagine this is a TV cut.

But two trailers are hardly news. One film can easily have a multi-faceted story or have different appeal. When Jerry Maguire was being marketed, I couldn't tell what the hell that movie was about based on the ads and trailers. Sports? Dads and kids? Tom Cruise rom com?

The melodramatic strings are Mozart's Requiem.
As a french viewer, I'm more attracted to the second trailer! It sells the film more like a Scorsesian epic tale (as the presence of Nick Pileggi in the credits confirms it).
In France the "academy award winner" stuff above the actors-producers names isn't really valuable.

2nd trailer > 1st trailer.

The first trailer is the one tha I saw first and to be honest, I prefer it. I like the music from the second one, but not necessarily how it was cut.

The second one does look international-y, they always put "coming soon" because they dont know when its gonna be released. And the cursing is ok cuz it's not for an english market.

I like certain things about each one but the 2nd trailor makes it seem more like an epic crime drama. The first one makes it seem like all the movies that are getting pumped out every month.

The first one has style but the second one has class.

I prefer class myself.

The first trailer seems to be trying to connect a line between Washington's performance here and in "Training Day". Maybe to sell the product as, "You loved him in that; now see him do the same thing in this".

It's too bad, because the first trailer clearly undercuts the value of the film by shoving it into plain action category when the second trailer shows it to be an crime story reaching for "Godfather"-like ambitions.

I'd have to agree with the other sentiments saying that marketing firms have less faith in US moviegoers than they do in movie patrons elsewhere.

I like the second one better, mainly, because it shows more about the movie -- including vietnam connection that frank lucas is famous for -- than the first one. Requiem goes great with the movie, but I'd have liked some "soul" melody from THAT time. Jay Z is good, of course, but this movie ain't set in 90s.

The first trailer is the classic case of "show and tell" - they show you everything but tell you nothing. There is no thorough narrative set up. It goes to show how stupid some Americans are, or at least, how stupid movie studios think Americans are.

The second trailer is clearly superior to the first. It tries more to place you in the 1970s and goes to better lengths to explain the two main characters. It has a lot less flash and more substance, but that's how many people see America anyway.

This is a discussion going on on other boards. I immediately felt the international (second trailer) was better, smarter, more interesting. Plus the choice of music was more effective and more fitting (the Jay-Z tune from the first trailer does NOT belong in a movies about a story that takes place in the late 60s and 70s). Also just the few shots alone in Southeat Asia makes the movie look more epic in scope.

Another plus is absolute ZERO face time for T.I. Why would any reasonable person making the trailer pick one of that non-actor's talking scenes over clips of a true actor like Chiwetel Ejiofor who gets more facetime in the second trailer? Its not as if T.I. is going to bring in a lot of fans.

What else is interesting is that the 1st trailer credits Washington first, while the 2nd credits Crowe first.

Draw your own conclusions on that one ...

There's been discussion about that subject too. Either there was an agreement to make everyone happy by putting one first in one trailer and the other first in the second, or it could simply be that a white star like Russell is a bigger draw overseas than Washington. The only huge black international draw right now is Will Smith.

I prefer the 2nd one. It's interesting how they market things to different crowds these days. Great post!

Nate, you're right. Washington isn't as solid an opener internationally as he is in America and usually unless he has a name that's just as big (Crowe in Gangster, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen in Inside Man) his movies perform about 75/25 Domestic/International on average. So it makes sense to put Washington first for America where he is the bigger star, but Crowe is probably the more sellable name (especially for a prestige film) internationally.

The second trailer probably is international because they use the word "fucking" and show a man snorting coke.

Gotta disagree on Washington not being the main draw internationally. Washington was the only "name" in Deja Vu (his last film), and it made an impressive 116 million dollars internationally, almost double it's domestic take (it underperformed somewhat in America). Deja Vu pretty much confirmed Washington can sell a commercial film internationally by himself (the film would have been a bomb without the international gross. With international, it can be classed as a success). Denzel and Will Smith are pretty much the only African-American dramatic actors who can sell a film overseas on thier name alone.

Crowe's last two films have done fairly mediocre buisness internationally (46 million dollars for the prestigious Cinderella Man, 33 million dollars for A Good Year), so there's a current question mark over his bankability in America and in the rest of the world. Denzel might have to share credit for Inside Man with Owen and Foster, but Deja Vu is all Denzel (and Deja Vu made about 25 million more internationally than Inside Man). Right now, Denzel is the more bankable "name", in America and the rest of the world.In Hollywood, you are only as bankable as your last 2 movies, and right now, Denzel is a big overseas draw, with or without "name" co-stars.

I think Crowe getting first billiing on the international trailer is more an ego thing, than a bankability issue. Because Washington is the more popular actor with overseas audiences at the moment. I suspect it was seen as a comprimise to satisfy the egos of two big superstar actors. Washington gets first billiing domestic. Crowe gets international. Nobody feels inferior, because both get first billing somewhere. Reminds of the time Paul Newman and Steve Mcqueen fought over the staggered billing for The Towering Inferno.