Super Bowl spots give sneak peek at summer's super heroes and monsters

A record 16 commercials from film studios were seen during the Super Bowl XLV on February 6, playing to a captive audience of 106 million. Some were just 30-second versions of the teaser trailers, but a few ads offered a first glimpse at the upcoming films, packed with compelling images.

Among the film ads that aired during the game, most of the movies are about super powers and cataclysmic events on earth, from alien invasions to mythic creatures.

Rango
A new amusing spot from the animated film featuring the voices of Johnny Depp and Abigail Breslin. The film about a chameleon who becomes a town sheriff costars Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton and Alfred Molina. This trailer promotes "Adventure, Romance, Comedy, Explosions, More Explosions, Other Stuff." The movie releases March 4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR4bkYYlrvs

Thor
Features Chris Hemsworth as Thor, a scene with Natalie Portman, and monsters and doom descending. The film also stars Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Idris Elba, Clark Gregg and Colm Feore. Drected by Kenneth Branagh, Thor hits theaters on May 6.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i1EzQyL324

Super 8
J. J. Abrams ( Star Trek) directed and Steven Spielberg produced this film about alien invasion. Until now, details have been kept top-secret. Footage shows scenes of the invasion and ensuing havoc and what's at stake as the destruction begins. Opens June 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1CzuaFQ87M

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Intense footage from this third installment directed by Michael Bay, featuring Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro and Hugo Weaving's voice as Megatron. Hits theaters July 1, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRv4Out7X8

Captain America: The First Avenger
Starring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, who volunteers for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation, and is transformed into a super-soldier to fight the Red Skull and a magical object known as the Tesseract. Also stars Tommy Lee Jones and opens July 22.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sff8gNloRRs

Cowboys & Aliens
Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde ( Tron: Legacy) and directed by Jon Favreau ( Iron Man), and will be released July 29. New footage offers a look at the menacing-looking spaceship that invades the Old West town.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdy4eRKrf_8

Also, Terra Nova, a fall television show produced by Steven Spielberg in the vein of Lost and Fringe, was advertised. The story follows a family in the future that journeys back to prehistoric Earth for an experiment to save the human race. Stars Stephen Lang ( Avatar).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvb3H7gKujw

Other films advertised during the broadcast included Drive Angry with Nicolas Cage, Fast Five, the fifth sequel in the Fast and Furious franchise with Vin Diesel, Priest with Paul Bettany, Limitless with Robert De Niro, and the animated story Rio.

RC