By John Eaves
June 04, 2015
The summer of 1982, to me, will always stand as one of the greatest seasons for movie releases. The
visual effects world was at its best, with incredible work coming from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),
Apogee and Boss Films. Conan the Barbarian was the first of the big pictures to hit the screen, followed
by The Road Warrior, John Carpenter's The Thing, Poltergeist, Tron, Blade Runner, E.T., Creepshow, The
Dark Crystal, Cat People, Pink Floyd The Wall, Firefox and a little sci-fi movie called Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The date was June the 4th, 1982, and The Wrath of Khan and Poltergeist both opened to sellout crowds,
with both well on their way to becoming summer smashes. Back in 1982, movie trailers were meant to
whet your appetite, but not show you too much. In many cases you actually would see footage from other
films mixed in, and trailers weren't the art forms that show everything from the film, like today's trailers do.
So, a lot was left to your imagination. The teaser for The Wrath of Khan was a fine example of this, of a trailer
done right, a teaser that teased, and it really got the fans excited about the film’s upcoming release.
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