Why the Movie Trailer Voice Disappeared - Cheddar Explains 

He was replaced by the Inception BWOWWWWWW sound

Don LaFontaine was a very generous man. I emailed him one time and asked if he would read dialog that was going to be used on a video of my daughter. I offered to pay and not only did he do it for me but also said to just make a donation to a charity instead. R.I.P.

My favorite start of a trailer: This summer.....

The “in a world” and “one man” stuff was also becoming cliché and people were starting to notice, especially since it was all coming in the same voice for every single trailer

I like how cheddar is always explaining the disappearance of things I didn’t even realize were gone.

IN A WORLD... ...where one man... ...accidentally creates an industry... ...one day... ...one fateful event... ...CHANGES EVERYTHING!

RIP LaFontaine I still remember hearing his work in the 80/90's when I was growing up. Screen Junkies - Honest trailers - At least the legacy even if comedic in nature is still continued Also some of the most talented Voice artists are in Anime or Video Games, the cast of "critical roll" are widely known for their work, but one of the best voice cast IMO was "Soul Reaver".

I remember watching Phineas and Ferb with my granddaughter and he did the voice over for The Chronicles of Meap and he ended it with "In a world ... there I said it."

When she said, "... But in 2008..." Me: Yeah, of course, the recession-- "He died"

Let's bring back trailers, I mean teasers, that don't REVEAL THE WHOLE PLOT and 2/3 of the jokes/action scenes.

Trailers were called that because originally the “coming attractions” were run at the end of a show; but after a cartoon, newsreel and a double feature, people weren’t watching them. Although they were placed at the very beginning of a show eventually, the name stuck. Always wondered why the hell they were called ‘trailers’ in the first place.

Art Gilmore and Don LaFontaine, both legendary voiceover actors. Their legacies continue

The fact that after his death movie voice overs are scarcly used, and he had the monopoly over them, is a fitting tribute Don La Fontaine himself.

In a world where RU-vid didn't exist, I'd be more productive with my time.

*Social media is the new VO* That's why. The way films get promoted nowadays means the audience will know the director, the actors and the plot long before it premieres.

In 1994 we were pitching a TV series to ABC called Hypernauts. My business partner wanted to use LaFontaine to do the intro to the teaser we were producing. At that time we were a small FX house and we wanted to move into production. So we rented time in a small studio in Burbank and we secured Don's services. We'd been in the studio for maybe half an hour and at the exact scheduled time of the recording the King walks in with the lines we'd faxed him on a single page. He walks straight through to the booth and nods to the engineer. The engineer hits record, Don delivers his lines and nails it in one take. The engineer thumbs up the take and Don asks us if it was 'Ok', we affirm it was perfect and he walks out of the booth. My partner gives him his check, he say's 'Thanks' and he's gone. He was in the studio for maybe five minutes. No schmoozing, just vocal gold. We sold the show.

Honest Trailers still uses them!!

In a world, where Don LaFontaine rests in peace…

As an aspiring voice actor, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.

To me, one of the most effective trailers was the one for the 1979 movie Alien. No words, no voice over. It’s hauntingly mysterious and peaks the curiosity.

I honestly kind of miss the trailer voice overs. It's like they're presenting something they know you're going to love. Maybe Jon Bailey can take Jon's place in being the new trailer narrator. I think they need to come back, especially for horror movie trailers.

It's probably because the top 10s are all sequels, remakes, reboots, or something else that means most people already know what it's going to be Oh shit I was right

I miss that voice on trailers, takes me back to previews on my favourite vhs tapes or at the cinema.

My middle school got Don LaFontaine to come in and live narrate our graduation speech, it was awesome!

I miss them they often were the best part of some of the more forgettable movies I saw.

Plenty of voice talent out there, DLF passing was just an excuse to cut out having to pay for a narration.

Still can't forget Don LaFontaine's GoldenEye voiceover: "On November 17, United Artists brings you.....JAMES BOND" 7 years had passed since a James Bond film was released up to that point and hearing that just got you pumped up. Yeah, James Bond is back!

Trailer: _b u t t h e t w i s t i s t h a t_ Every breathing being on the planet: *pls don't*

What a lot of people don't know is that Don LaFontaine was also the voice over in the title sequence of "America's Most Wanted"

A video about voiceovers uses the on-device microphone for the in-apartment shots...

I have wondered about this off and on for fifteen years. Thank you for the story.

We seem to be missing the radio ads that used voice overs as well. There were a lot of radio ads there were entertaining on their own.

What about the decline of movies and the surge of series, why have 2 hours of content if you can have 50

"In a world, where movie trailers have no voiceover, one man's life has ended."

Don LaFontaine was truly a master at his art. He could make anything sound interesting. "In a world filled with peanut butter sandwiches.... all the jelly has gone missing. Find out where all the gelatinous fruit has gone in this breathtaking thriller coming to theaters near you on February 30th."

The movie trailer guy is no gone completely. Every now and then I hear a "Mr. Big Voice" on a movie trailer and I get excited when I do. I miss this type of trailers!

we traded narration with BWAAAAAAAAAAAA noises

DUDE!! La Fontaine didn’t voice Die Had 3, that was Hal Douglas and the Independents day trailer is Nick Tait (Aussie Actor also did J Park)

My boyfriend and I were just talking about how we miss this guy and how they really need to bring voice over actors back in modern day. this guy was amazing and made you want to go see the movie.

I was JUST thinking about the stereotypical “in a world...” trailer voice! 🤯

The voice actor died

I miss this, and we still have The Epic Voice Guy from Screen Junkies :)

Thank you for actually showing your references at the end! So many RU-vidrs I watch give good info, but leave out their sources

Thanks! I did not even notice how much trailers had changed since my childhood.

I want to know what happened to the *movie soundtrack?* Back in the eighties a movie needed a hit song to push that blockbuster movie. *Ghostbusters, Top Gun, Back to the Future and Footloose* are films that you can recall just by hearing a song. It seem that who was starring in your movie was hust as important as who was singing the main song. Big talent was approached to sing and do huge big budget music videos for films Hollywood was gambling on. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero had a scene making fun of the trend with M.C. Hammer. Who had a hit with Addams Family called Addams Grooves. Rap stars, pop stars even country singers were tapped for films were their style fit. But then all of a sudden it stopped. Films that would normally have a big song at the end of the movie and a music video released the week of the films debut were gone. Why? What happened to change this? Why did earlier Superhero films like Spider-Man and Batman have full soundtracks but later sequels didn't. Batman had songs by Prince, Seal, and U2. But today's Superhero films don't. But somewhere in the mid to late nineties the trend stopped. Some franchise like James Bond still use the big celebrity song and music video. But the trend is gone. I've often wondered why it died. Films with a hit song are remembered more fondly and have a deeper nostalgia than films that don't. So Cheddar I'm hoping you can answer this mystery for me.

His "In a world" voice is missed.

2:26 “Into this powerful vastness comes a man in pursuit of danger”. Sounds like me going into a meeting at work.

Thanks. Great recap. I knew and worked with Don (I was Head of Production/Executive Producer at McCann-Erickson Advertising in L.A. and did trailers with him - clients were Columbia and Sony) - not only was he the most used SAG member, he also charged double-scale...wow, I can only imagine the $$$! He was at SBV Talent at the time and was a very nice man...and really did travel in his personal, chauffeur-driven white limo.

I cant stand how pretty much every trailer now days has the same over the top thudding music like - dun.. duunnn DUUUNN THOOOOOOMMMM drop. Ech.

"In a world where there are no more trailer voicovers...there are...Honest Trailers?"

I miss the narration. Every time I see an old trailer I notice the absence of it in today's trailers. I really hope you bring it back for some movies.

I love this deep dive into the subject, because i am a long time fan of Don LaFontaine. Generations of movie trailers have this man to thank, i think that's incredible

Was Inception also partially responsible? I feel like that film’s trailer changed the style for the entire industry

Sneak P E E K You're giving the audience a peek into the new movie, not the peak of... a mountain.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what the last Top 10 film to use a voice over narration in their trailer was?

Didn't really know about this. Good job explaining it

0:27 "So how did we end up *in a world* without movie trailer voiceovers" Well played HAHAHA

I never knew that Don La Fontaine was a recording engineer! Great stuff

His voice always gives me nostalgia

9:18 I wasn’t expecting the background music to be such a bop. I wasn’t even listening to what the dude was saying; I was just jamming out to the beat!

I miss Don LaFontaine, his voice always made me smile

What would have been interesting is the transition from "all trailers have voice overs" to "all movie trailers have the Inception horn".

His voice is very familiar

Great historical piece! Thanks!

"it's 1994..." and I graduated from high school 😂😂😂😂

these guys clearly haven't heard of Honest Trailers

It's good to hear someone pronounce Casa Grande correctly!

“At the time, a trailer looked a little something like this” *RU-vid ad conveniently appears just as she said this* Me - “ Wow, movie trailers were super advanced in 1913”

I miss Don LaFontaine! Of course, I'm 73, so a great many of the movies I've known and loved had trailers with his voice.

"Oh no! What are we gonna do now that La Fontaine is dead?" ...bro hire another dude???

I actually wondered about this for a while

Now I know why my interest in movies has declined: Fontaine grabbed your interest by asking questions or keeping you in suspense! Clips and dialogue pretty much tell you the story already, so why not wait until it appears on cable or DVD?

4:51 YOOO THAT 86 THO

They changed it to *BBWOOOOO*

The actual reason trailer vo's aren't common anymore has nothing to do with Don's passing. Ashton Smith, Scott Rummell, Jim Tasker and others took over that business. It was a dispute between the agents, the unions and the performers that had to do with being paid for "scratch reads" (auditions). The producers didn't want to pay for these scratch reads any longer, and the union and the performers disagreed. So the movie companies started running trailers without voiceover.

I just watched Kino Lorber's DVD of Semi-Tough from the library. It has a dozen Burt Reynolds trailers, a couple of Kris Kristofferson trailers, a Jill Clayburgh trailer, and some Michael Ritchie trailers. When it bets to Stick, there's Don LaFontaine. is voice is on only one other trailer on the disc, though.

"The Mask" They call him Cuban Pete, he's the king of the Rumba beat.

Now they make honest trailers on RU-vid in format like that😂

Rip Don Lafontain the voice of my child hood.

Now trailers last 3 minutes, and they tell you the whole story and spoilers included

Video: "so a trailer at the time looked a little something like this"' RU-vid: *interrupts video to play back to back ads for movie trailers* Me: "Well played youtube, well played"

"So I'll miss this one gig. What's gonna happen? It's not like someone else will replace me and monopolize the industry so I'll never work again!"

The guys that edit for a trailer never get the credit they deserve. I love editing videos and I do it just for fun, but man, it’s not easy. It takes hours and it has to make sense because they’re not only cutting pieces from the movie but they have to synchronize the background music and the dialogues, the seconds for each scene, the pace of the trailer, the slow beginning and slowly intensifies until it reaches maximum intensity and at the end leaves the viewers wanting to see the movie. The movie itself might not be that good, but the trailer has to sell it. The trailer editors need credit at the end of each trailer. Edited by: (names)

I'm gonna miss the seasonal reminders. "THISSS SUMMMERRRRRRR" will be forever in my heart.

Hey, I know that 1940s trailer voice! It’s the transatlantic accent!

Thank you for a great video article. I still miss the power of voice as the main attention of focus. Listning can also be intelligently joyful just as much as the picture, if done well of course. I wish there were more people that care for attention just as we do.

really informative, thanks.

Don LaFontaine was almost the only narrator for trailers when I grew up . Honestly I didn't notice the recent shift in movie trailors, and this video is quite informative.

I’ve always thought having a “celebrity crush” is stupid, but Ali Larkin has stolen my heart. This girl has taught me more than any teacher I’ve ever had. Thank you and please keep teaching me about stuff I didn’t know I need to know.

They could've just hired Pablo Francisco as a replacement :)

Imagine calling a grown man thunder throat

One thing to note about dialogue from actors used in trailers - in the last 10 years marketing departments have started getting involved with notes to scripts before shooting begins so dialogue or even scenes can be added to be used in the trailer to explain the plot. In the movie, it might not make sense to have a long winded use of character names and explaining the plot - but several takes can be done for the teaser trailer. Marketing execs are on the set for filming of those scenes so they can get what they need. So it's really shifted from using voice talent to using the cast. With comedies, some actors are very aware of what type of material needs to be used for the trailer, so they ad-lib it and takes will be noted for trailer material. Trailers are far less something done after the fact and far bigger part of actual filming.

So, it ended because DLF died?

Now it seems like trailers give away the best parts of the movie.

The movie narrators actually made you want to see the movie, especially Don Lafontaine.

It morphed into exposition and narration from what I've seen.

Man dies. Cheddar: Why is man not doing the thing he does?

0:49 sneakpeak killed it for me. Sneak peek.

I remember I just Discovered him just before he passed away! it seems the Movie Trailer just Declined after that without him Narrating it!

Hal Douglas was the other voice over king. He retired two years after LaFontaine died and then himself died four years after that. Douglas' death, also played a role in the death of trailer voice overs.