Why Call it a Movie Trailer?

Did you ever wonder why we refer to movie trailers as "trailers"?

A trailer is supposed to "trail" things, right? Like the trailer trails behind the truck. (Try saying that five times fast!) So, isn't it kinda odd to say we watch movie trailers BEFORE the feature movie begins?

So... then, why do we call it a movie trailer?

Here's what we dug up. Apparently, back in 1966, an executive at Paramount told the L.A. Times this story about the "first trailer" which screened at a New York amusement park in 1912:

"One of the concessions hung up a white sheet and showed the serial 'The Adventures of Kathlyn.' At the end of the reel Kathlyn was thrown in the lion's den. After this 'trailed' a piece of film asking 'Does she escape the lion's pit? See next week's thrilling chapter!' Hence, the word 'trailer,' an advertisement for a coming picture."

Of course, that would work very well for a serial cliffhanger.

But as history moves on, trailers became useful to more than just for those types of movies. In essence, a trailer is just an advertisement. And movie theatres (as well as the studios) wanted people to actually watch the trailers.

That's when some brilliant entrepreneur must have realized that people tend to leave once the movie is over. "Hey, the movie's done. Time to go!"

However, put the movie trailer BEFORE the movie... now you have an audience.

Think about it. Would you sit AFTER the movie's done to watch a bunch of movie trailers? Nah, you got more important things to do. On the other hand, how often have you allowed yourself to sit through movie trailers (often for movies you don't really care to see) just because you're forced to wait to watch the newest Lord of the Rings movie? You may not like it, but you'll wait.

P.S. Sometimes movie trailers are called "previews", or "coming attractions". Both of those seem to make a lot of sense. But still the name "trailer" has stuck. Really, when was the last time you asked a friend, "Did you see the preview on the internet for the new [FILL IN THE BLANK] movie?!" Probably not. Probably you called it a movie trailer... like everybody else.

[Photo courtesy of chidorian]