Why Isn't There More Singing in Movie Musical Trailers?

With the new Wicked movie only a couple of months away and no definitive video footage of characters singing, it begs the question: "Why?"

With Wicked being one of the biggest Broadway musicals in history, it might seem puzzling that the trailers for the highly anticipated film do not make it obvious that it is, indeed, a full song-and-dance musical. However, this decision is in line with a recent trend that has been occurring in Hollywood musicals for the past several years. Wonka, Mean Girls, and The Color Purple have all toned down the use of onscreen singing in their promotional videos for their respective films. Though many of the Wicked ads are soundtracked to Cynthia Erivo's Defying Gravity, we don't actually see her perform it onscreen.

A previous report in The Hollywood Reporter featured a quote from a studio executive who believes that “If you spell out the word musical, people have pre-formed opinions. Musical has a connotation that [characters] are going to sing every word, and audiences can be turned off." This idea seems to have been adopted from major studios sometime in the last few years.

Despite their lack of musical marketing, movie musicals are not slowing down, with Wicked, Spellbound, and Kiss of the Spider-Woman all being released in the next year or so.

To highlight this phenomenon, BroadwayWorld has compiled a sampling of trailers from the 2000s onward, some of which are clearly musicals (i.e. characters are seen singing)and others that are less obvious. 

Musical Trailers Featuring No Singing

Roald Dahl's fan-favorite character Willy Wonka is given a new origin story in this prequel starring Timothée Chalamet. The 2023 musical features new songs by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy (though the trailer does not make that clear)

Mean Girls returned to the screen earlier this year, based on the stage adaptation from Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin. Though the movie starred Reneé Rap, who played Regina George on Broadway, the marketing was not particularly geared toward musical theatre fans.

The original songs for Spellbound were written by Alan Menken, who composed the music for many Disney animated classics such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and more. He has reunited with lyricist Glenn Slater, who he worked with on Disney's Tangled, who has written the lyrics for the film.

Though the Wicked trailers have included clips from songs such as Popular, No One Mourns the Wicked, and Dancing Through Life, no character has been seen singing in any of the marketing, including the new trailer released today.

Musical Trailers With Singing

Dreamgirls, released in 2006, was based on the hit Broadway musical and the trailer for the film featured several clips demonstrating its powerful musical soundtrack.

Hairspray hit movie screens in 2007, and the stylish trailer for the film did not hide its musical roots, featuring lots of dancing and the celebratory finale You Can't Stop the Beat.

Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods came to the screen in 2014. In the trailer, Meryl Streep can be seen singing Stay With Me and the title song can also be heard.