Star Wars, Spider-Man, Fifty Shades and more Super Bowl 51 trailers to look out for

Super Bowl 51, or Super Bowl LI if you’re a fan of using Roman numerals when they’re no longer cooler than the numbers they represent, takes place this Sunday (5 February), and that means movie trailers, lots of them. And also some American Football apparently.

As the big game nears, studios will start to debut the trailers that will appear during the enormous sporting spectacle’s countless, expensive ad breaks – and naturally they’ll be for the biggest films set for release later this year.

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Here’s what to expect, and what might appear when the New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons… if we’re very lucky.

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Will we see the first footage from ‘The Last Jedi’ this weekend? LucasFilm are hard to predict outside of its Star Wars Celebration fan events (the next is in April), but there is a theory that this may be the week.

LucasFilm revealed the title of ‘The Force Awakens’ two weeks before the first teaser trailer. The studio revealed the title of Rian Johnson’s ‘Episode 8’ two weeks prior to this weekend’s sporting spectacle. Is the same strategy being applied? We’ll find out soon.

If it is, don’t expect to see much from the trailer, which we suspect will be a teaser short on detail.

‘Alien: Covenant’ or ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’

Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’ follow-up is a more conventional ‘Alien’ prequel and it’s out in just a few short months. Given the wide appeal of the series, a new trailer makes perfect sense this weekend. Deadline however, believes 20th Century Fox will air the trailer for just two films, and one of those will be for ‘A Cure For Wellness’.

That leaves one slot available, which could be ‘Covenant’ or ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’. The latter, given it isn’t an R-Rated horror, is probably more suited to an event with an audience of this size.

‘Baywatch’

It’s cold, it’s wet, the world isn’t a particularly nice place at the moment. What better to cheer people up than The Rock in a corny, raunchy summer-set comedy about beautiful people in swimwear?

Expect a lot of slow motion.

‘Kong: Skull Island’

Jordan Vogt-Robert’s new take on the King Kong legend arrives in March and how fitting it would be for the Titanic ape to appear at one of the world’s biggest, loudest sporting events. Should one appear, expect a tease that focuses on internet-favourite Tom Hiddleston, the film’s humour and, of course, the big guy himself.

‘Fifty Shades Darker’

Speaking of raunchiness, smash hit mummy porn adaptation ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is getting a sequel in time for Valentine’s Day in a couple of weeks. The marketing machine is already steaming ahead and it’s next stop is the Super Bowl.

‘Transformers: The Last Knight’

There has been just the one trailer for Michael Bay’s fifth ‘Transformers’ film, so another in time for this weekend is a near-certainty. After all, each of the previous films turned up for the NFL finale as well.

‘The Dark Tower’

The long-awaited and highly-anticipated Stephen King adaptation is out in July, but Columbia Pictures hasn’t yet revealed any footage.

With six short months to go, now is the time to show a first glimpse at Idris Elba as the gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey as the man in black in King’s dark fantasy world.

‘The Fate of the Furious’

The Super Bowl is known for the ridiculous sport the whole shebang is centered on and its spectacular show biz bombast. What better words than ‘spectacular’ and ‘ridiculous’ to describe the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise as it returns for its eighth outing.

Vin Diesel and co are safe-bets to to be center stage this Sunday.

The Disney Cabal

Box office overlords Disney will of course be present with, according to the aforementioned Deadline feature, two trailers. There are a lot of possibilities, including ‘Star Wars’, but also surefire hit ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Pixar’s latest ‘Cars 3’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ and upcoming Marvel adventure ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2′.

Speaking of Marvel, Sony Pictures’ will most-likely have a new look at ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ ready for the big game, but it’s probably a bit too early for a first look at ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ – Marvel’s third film this year.