2011 will be a great year for explosions in film

Here’s a little bit of how-the-A.V. Club-sausage-is-made trivia: Earlier today in a production meeting, we were tossing around Inventory ideas, and someone brought up a long-discussed-never-executed one, “Great trailers for bad movies.” It was eventually scrapped for the 15th time for various reasons too mundane to go into, but it basically boils down to the fact that most big-budget movie trailers are kick-ass by design, regardless of the movie’s quality. This supercut of upcoming 2011 blockbusters illustrates this fact nicely: Taken as a 120-second chunk, 2011 looks like the exploding-est, ass-kicking-est year in film EVAH, but a quick look at the films it comprises reveals more than a few probable duds, and one for-certain dud in Sucker Punch. (It also neglects the final Harry Potter film, which will certainly contribute its fair share of big booms to this summer blockbuster season.) The moral of the story: explosions are interchangeable in the world of summer blockbuster trailers—and have been for years, as the final clip cheekily points out—so don’t be lured in by the pretty orange SFX fireballs. Still, Super 8 looks pretty badass…