Trailer Report: New ‘Hobbit’ Extended Preview Tops Slow Week

Take a breath trailer viewers. Following successive weeks in which Marvel released the first trailers for the upcoming blockbusters featuring Captain America and the X-Men, the pace of hot new coming attractions slowed. 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug extended sneak peek trailer was the most watched preview on YouTube last week, according to internet monitoring service Zefr. 

The trailer for part two of Peter Jackson‘s three-part adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic drew 5.0 million viewers, down from the 18.9 million the X-Men: Days of Future Past preview notched last week to take the top spot. 

Lots of action in the extended trailer and a little humor. For those who thought part one was slow (yes, right here), Desolation of Smaug looks to be faster paced. And the teasing shots of the dragon — just hints, but awesome hints full of power and menace — have us eagerly anticipating the final reveal. 

The Desolation of Smaug opens Dec. 13. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer No. 1 fell to the second spot, adding 2.9 million viewers to reach 21.8 million overall. We liked this trailer last week and we still like it.

Here’s a public service announcement: The two-issue comic book story this movie is based on is one of the greatest — perhaps the greatest — in the last 40 years. Do yourself a favor, read it. (And don’t worry about spoiling the movie. The plots are similar but not exactly the same.)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire trailer No. 3 held the third spot, while it’s previous trailers also charted, with trailer No. 2 in seventh place and trailer No. 1 in 10th. Is that too much Jennifer Lawrence? Can there ever be too much Jennifer Lawrence?

In total, the three trailers have been viewed more than 85 million times on YouTube. The movie opens wide Nov. 22, but it just had its premiere in London. Jennifer Lawrence hugged a child in a wheelchair. The Internet melted. 

THR‘s Todd McCarthy was pretty upbeat about the sequel in his review. This movie is going to be huge.

The a-dork-able Lego Movie trailer took the fourth spot, recording 1.8 million views (9.5 million lifetime). The CGI tale featuring animated versions of the company’s minifigs (and the voices of stars like Will Ferrell) opens Feb. 7.

RoboCop trailer No. 2 debuted in the fifth slot, notching 1.5 million views. That’s a big comedown from the first trailer, which scored 16.1 million views when it debuted in early September (leading the table three weeks in a row). 

Honestly, we were unimpressed with the first trailer. Like so many ’80s remakes, the moment is what made the movie such cultural camp. What worked then doesn’t necessarily work now (see also: Red Dawn). 

Rounding out the top 10 were Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer No. 1 in sixth, Thor: The Dark World trailer No. 1 in eighth and 300: Rise of an Empire trailer No. 1 in ninth. 

Dark World opened Nov. 8 in the U.S. and it opened huge, grossing $85.7 million in the U.S. and $327 million worldwide. All hail the God of Thunder (for now at least).