When Will a Movie Trailer Feature a Justin Bieber Song?
I’ve noticed that movie trailers have started featuring '70s and '80s rock music over the past decade. Here are some examples:
- Suicide Squad — Official Trailer 1 (2016) — “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen, 1975
- Justice League — Official Heroes Trailer (2017) — “Heroes,” David Bowie, 1977
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017) — “Immigrant Song,” Led Zeppelin, 1970
- Ready Player One (2017) — “Jump,” Van Halen, 1984
- Dune (2020) — “Eclipse,” Pink Floyd, 1973
The latest one that really surprised me is The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, a millennial story, using The Who’s “Love, Reign o'er Me”.
It feels like a generation of filmmakers with a distinct taste has entered the scene.
I wonder which movie will be the first to feature a Justin Bieber song in its trailer.1 With an average gap of roughly 42 years between these rock classics and the trailers that revived them, that film will probably arrive sometime in the 2050s.
The 2011 documentary Bully featured Justin Bieber’s “Born to Be Somebody” in its trailer, but that wasn’t a nostalgic needle drop, so it doesn’t count.↩