There was a time, not so very long ago, when the people who made movie trailers were regarded roughly the way one might regard the fellow who writes the copy on cereal boxes — necessary, certainly, but not the sort of person one invites to the premiere.
That time, it would appear, has passed.
At the 26th annual Golden Trailer Awards, held Thursday evening at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, the trailer for "Project Hail Mary" — an Amazon MGM Studios release cut by Wild Card Creative Group and titled, with suitable understatement, "Chance" — took the best of show prize. The award recognized what Evelyn Brady, the organization's executive director, called "a master class in everything that can make a trailer effective."
(One assumes the trailer did not include the phrase "master class," which would have been rather too on the nose.)
The agency of the year honor went to AV Squad, which has now won that designation three years running — a streak that suggests either remarkable consistency or a field that has not yet figured out how to catch up. Between AV Squad and its print division, AV Print, the agency collected 14 awards across the evening's 119 categories.
"They bring every project a unique and bespoke touch," said Monica Brady, the show's executive producer, who is no relation to Evelyn Brady but who shares her enthusiasm for the form.
In the studio tally, Disney led with 29 wins, followed by Warner Bros. Discovery with 22 — a reminder that even in the specialized art of selling movies in two and a half minutes, scale still matters.
Other multiple winners included "One Battle After Another," "Weapons" and "Sinners," each of which took home three awards.
The evening's host was Morgan Jay. The evening's larger message was that in Hollywood, even the appetizers now have their own awards show.
Original story published in The Hollywood Reporter: "'Project Hail Mary' Wins Best of Show Prize at 2026 Golden Trailer Awards"