Instead of spoofing trailers for this year’s big movie releases (like The Muppets did back in 2011), Disney’s upcoming sequel Muppets Most Wanted has taken to poking fun at online trailer reactions and Twitter exchanges with its recent collection of previews. That phase of the film’s promotional campaign started with a clever Golden Globes preview that mocked awards season marketing and continues today, with the extended version of the film’s 2014 Super Bowl trailer.
The latest Muppets preview – which is quite similar in structure to its Golden Globes predecessor – manages to avoid spoiling any major details or jokes from the movie, in a refreshing change of pace for trailers nowadays. Admittedly, getting major plot twists ruined ahead of time isn’t so much a concern for a Muppets flick, but having to watch the same joke play out ad infinitum is – lest you sit down to watch the movie in the theaters and no longer find a particular punch-line or gag all that funny anymore.
Here is the official synopsis and cast list for the film:
Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais, creator of “Derek” and the Golden Globe®- and Emmy®-winning series “The Office” and “Extras.” The film stars Golden Globe-, Emmy- and SAG Award®-winning actress and writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Mean Girls,” “Date Night”) as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Emmy Award winner Ty Burrell (TV’s “Modern Family”) as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.
Muppets Most Wanted was directed by Muppets helmer James Bobin, who also co-penned the script with Nicholas Stoller (co-writer on the previous Muppets installment). Hopefully, the pair will bring along plenty of heart to go with all that good old-fashioned Muppet zaniness on display here and in past trailers, since that was a big part of what made the film’s predecessor such a hit with not just the kiddies, but nostalgic adult moviegoers to boot.
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Muppets Most Wanted opens in U.S. theaters on March 21st, 2014.
