While the American Football face-off known as the Super Bowl has long been the home for a wealth of adverts and movie trailers, the high cost of buying up time during the game's transmission ($5.6 million for 30 seconds this year) has led to many studios moving their spots to the pre-game and post-game segments or releasing the trailers online before the weekend. But that doesn't stop some. Here, then is our roundup of the various movie ads along with a few celeb-heavy spots for products.
Trailers
Fast & Furious 9
Among the bigger movies pimped – albeit mostly before the weekend proper – was Fast & Furious 9, which in the US at least is known by the typically highfalutin' title F9: The Fast Saga. The Fast films have traditionally been hyped during the game, and Dom and co. are back...
No Time To Die
The latest Bond film couldn't sit out such a marketing opportunity, and while what was aired was short, it had a healthy dollop of new footage.
A Quiet Place Part II
Looking to scare up some eyeballs was a new spot for A Quiet Place Part II, which demonstrated a flashback structure that fully allows for writer/director John Krasinski to step back in front of the camera as Lee Abbott while also continuing the journey of Emily Blunt's Evelyn and the rest of the family.
Top Gun: Maverick
Focusing on the movie's obvious selling points right now – Tom Cruise and aerial action – the new spot also dials in on some of the drama we can expect from the long-awaited sequel.
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog might not seem like the most natural fit (though a huge audience for the Super Bowl means a lot of eyes for a family film), but Paramount went sports-heavy to tie-in the spot, which features Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints, Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers, Olympic champion Allyson Felix, and NASCAR driver Kyle Busch all talking up the speedy blue hedgehog.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge On The Run
The latest SpongeBob film also looked to score with family audiences and spoofed the high cost of game ads with a spot that aims to sum the film up within an allotted time.
Mulan
Disney's live-action remake regime continues with Mulan, which promises lots of sword flinging and bravery. With the movie arriving in a little more than a month, this was a bigger spot that some.
Black Widow
Reminding us all that the MCU didn't wrap up with Avengers: Endgame, the new Black Widow teaser has Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff talking up her other family, and showing them reuniting.
The Invisible Man
Leigh Whannell's update of the concept has Elisabeth Moss being stalked by her not-dead former spouse. The new spot reminds you of the stakes for this one.
Minions: The Rise Of Gru
Instead of teasing their trailer before the game and then debuting it online, Universal and Illumination chose to use a spot to promise a trailer for the latest Despicable Me spin-off that will hit on Wednesday.
Hunters
TV also got into the act, as Amazon's Nazi-tracking series released a Super Bowl variant. Watch Al Pacino send a group out looking for baddies who are infiltrating America in the new series produced by Jordan Peele.
Marvel's Disney+ Shows
More of a surprise was a first look at the initial three Marvel shows for the Disney+ service, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki. Thank goodness the service finally arrives in the UK next month, especially with Falcon due to launch in August.
Ads
And it's not just the trailers for movies that boast big names popping up. Some Super Bowl ads (pushed online before and after their incredibly expensive slots between game segments) also lean on celebrities to nab eyeballs. Take a gander at a few...
Tide/Wonder Woman 1984
First up, a true crossover between the two categories, as the detergent company, whose spokesbod Charlie Day had been cropping up in a variety of other ads, is seen in a quick tease for the new Wonder Woman movie.
Mountain Dew Zero
The neon-coloured soft drink went full Kubrick, casting Bryan Cranston in a take on Jack Nicolson's maddened writer Jack Torrance, who menaces Tracee Ellis Ross with the latest, sugar free variant. It's a nifty recreation of the Overlook hotel, and Cranston looks unnervingly like a younger Nicholson. Just don't blame us for the psychological scarring of seeing him dressed as the twins...
Jeep
Also directly referencing a movie, the company got Bill Murray – someone must have that mysterious contact number of his – to reprise one of his most famous roles. Between this and summer's Ghostbusters: Afterlife, there's a lot of Murray nostalgia about. The Groundhog Day-spoofing spot even ropes in beloved character actor Stephen Tobolowsky to reprise his role as Ned Ryerson. And yes, Super Bowl Sunday was indeed Groundhog Day. It's all connected!
Hyundai
Boston accents are the star (well, alongside Chris Evans, John Krasinski and Rachel Dratch) in this ad for the car company's Sonata with a flashy new smaht pahk – sorry, smart park – function. It's all your Knight Rider dreams come true, minus the chatter, the turbo boost and The Hoff.
Pringles
No celebrities, but Rick and Morty have their own following, which the Pringles team is only too happy to exploit. Cue a typically oddball ad highlighting the joys of stacking different flavours to create new combos.
Doritos
Sam Elliott's moustache is just one of the stars in this campaign for Doritos, which sees the gruff legend in a dance-off with Old Town Road's Lil Nas X.
Audi
Audi's ad, which features Maisie Williams, wants us all to think about eco-friendly cars and, apparently, Frozen, deploying that movie's most famous banger (which also works as a nod to Williams' old day job playing Arya Stark, who spent some of her time in the frosty climes of Winterfell).
Walmart
The mega store chain has been using iconic vehicles for a while in ads pushing its drive-and-collect service, but for the Super Bowl version, it really stepped things up. Wonder how much it costs to licence the USS Enterprise, Flash Gordon, Buzz Lightyear, the LEGO Movie gang and to have Alex Winter play both current and original flavour Bill S. Preston, Esq. for a Bill & Ted riff. The latter no doubt helping to remind us all that a third movie, Bill & Ted Face The Music, is due this summer. Excellent!
Olay
The cosmetics company heads to space with Busy Philipps, Lilly Singh and astronaut Nicole Stott (with Taraji P. Henson back at Mission Control) to discover if there's enough space in space for women. Spoiler alert: there is!
Hard Rock Hotel Miami
Half Time performer Jennifer Lopez headlines this ad, in which her famous "Bling Cup" is stolen and she has to run the thief down.
Squarespace
Winona Ryder channels Fargo (slightly) to push the website creation service and pimp the town in Minnesota which gave her name. And yes, you can visit the site.
Rocket Mortgage
A funny spot featuring Aquaman himself – Jason Momoa – posits that when he's at home, he's just a skinny, balding weirdo. Some dodgy effects compositing ruin the effect slightly, but a game Momoa makes it work.
Toyota
Avengers veteran Cobie Smulders rescues people from tough dramatic situations to demonstrate the passenger capability of the Highlander. Despite the rest of the cast being unknowns, the effects budget for this one was clearly quite hefty.
Coke Energy
Clearly looking to stand out, the new energy version of one of America's most popular drinks went for a truly huge name. Yes, Martin Scorsese is advertising Coke, in an ad which sees him demand to know why Jonah Hill has flaked on a party he's attending. Please pick one from the following jokey endings:
A) No, not that sort of coke.
B) Is THIS cinema?
C) Wow, he really went to a lot of places to fund The Irishman.