Say what you will about the films of 2011, but you can’t deny that it was a great year for movie trailers. Even movies that were total turd clumps managed to cut together into awesome previews. So, let’s tip our hat to the unsung heroes of the film industry… craft services the editors and audio designers who grab our attention between Coca-Cola ads and disappointing blockbusters.

Battle: Los Angeles

The movie lacked the heart and emotion it desperately tried to put front row and center, but the trailer sold the crushing heartbreak of aliens ruining Hollywood. I mean, that’s where Price Is Right is filmed. Those monsters.

The film could have taken a few notes from its own trailer and dialed down the jingoism and ham-fisted character struggles to focus on the real issue at hand — perfectly good beaches getting all jacked up.

Hanna

Here’s another example of an ultimately sh*tty movie with an excellent trailer. In fact, I’m angry at this trailer. It was put together so well that I actually got excited to see Hanna. Then I saw Hanna and found it to be completely lame. While in theory it’s an awesome movie, in execution it’s completely mishandled. What this trailer does not indicate is that the film’s villains are pretty much cartoon versions of Eurotrash henchmen. All that’s missing are three of them trying to squeeze through a doorway at the same time.

27 sequels total. Nine second movies (up from eight in 2010), five third movies (down from seven), five fourth movies, five fifth movies, two seventh movies and one eighth movie. 9+5+5+5+2+1=27.

Wow, that’s a lot of movies to be based on other movies. The worst part is that since this beats the previous record holder 2003 by 3 movies, we can’t just blame Martin Lawrence for this.