Since the first one appeared in 1913, the mini-length advertisements for movies have been big business. They’re called trailers, but they always lead, being shown before the movie. Whazzupwiddat?
Originally they had a different spot on the bill. It used to be that the double feature was the bread and butter of the movie business. One ticket, two shows, back to back. Movies were short and sweet, and in order to draw in the crowds and cut costs, the two for one deal was very popular.
Things would start with the supporting film, and finish with the feature presentation. They still call it the feature presentation even when it’s the only presentation. The advertisements for other movies would be appended to the end of the last reel of the first film, earning them the name trailers. They literally trailed after the opening movie.
Another term from the era that is still with us is the “B movie“, which is what they called the first one. Movies were specifically made with B-movie intentions, with lower budgets and sub-star talent. In order to sell these movies of sometimes dubious quality, the studios required cinemas to buy them as a package with the A-movies. This was made illegal in 1948, which shook things up for the major movie studios and ended the “golden age” of Hollywood.
- Source: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-tra2.htm
- More reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_feature and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_trailer
