King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Theatrical Trailer (2017)

Theatrical trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, that was released on April Fools Day.

The young Arthur runs the back streets of Londinium with his crew, not knowing his royal lineage until he draws the sword Excalibur from the stone. Instantly confronted by the sword’s influence, Arthur is forced to decide where to become involved with his power. Throwing in with the Resistance and an enigmatic young woman named Guinevere, he must learn to master the sword, face down his demons and unite the people to defeat the tyrant Vortigern — who murdered his parents and stole his crown — and become king.

Guy Ritchie's "British-epic" saw quite the headache when it came to scheduling. Warner Bros initially had their sights on one of the most popular weekends, with the third weekend of July, 2016, being marked for the film's release. Seeing how much post-production must have been involved for this actioner, it makes sense that the studio quickly realized that there was no chance that the film would be ready. So, on December 21, 2015, Warner Bros acknowledged that they'd need another half year by taking February 17, 2017. Even with the extension, it still wasn't enough time. Plus the fact that February is not exactly known for the release of early tentpole films. March, however, now has a reputation for exactly that.

So King Arthur: Legend of the Sword seemed fairly set for a March 24th, 2016 release. The date made a lot of sense, considering the month and a genre that might be somewhat risky. But it wasn't meant to be. We now have to wait until May 12th for the release of the film. And, besides making us wait, the opportunity to see the film in IMAX format is now dead and gone.

Though Warner Bros is calling this preview for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword the "final trailer", we are thinking that there is plenty enough time for another trailer. With seven weeks to go, it is hard not to think that the studio is going to resist the temptation to release one more reminder that the film is coming to theaters. Sure, they'll be creative and call it something odd, like the "Legend Trailer", and we would have been left discussing how the "final" trailer wasn't final at all. So theatrical trailer it is.

And with this comes a ton more visuals and a ton more backstory. Audiences love a good backstory, so Guy Ritchie looks sure not to deprive them of that. While before we only saw Arthur's parents killed, we now get a taste of flashbacks showing Arthur growing up. It works, as it adds a bit of realism to what makes Arthur quite the warrior. But that's where the realism ends and the fantastical begins.

This King Arthur installment works overtime to push the fantasy. And with that comes the visuals. There are so many crazy visuals that we can't help wonder how they got away with making this film for around $100 million. It looks like it would have cost double that.