Film Preview: Downton Abbey: A New Era (2021)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(November 21, 2021) Original
(February 20, 2022) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#3)
(May 15, 2022) New Posters (#4-#32) — Updated Release Date (changed from 3.18.22)
(May 22, 2022) New Trailer (#3)

Release Date:

May 20, 2022

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Follow-up to the 2019 feature film in which the Crawley family and Downton staff received a royal visit from the King and Queen of Great Britain.”

Poster Rating: C+ / C- / B- / C+ (4) / C / C+ / C (19) / B (4)

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) It’s unclear why there are searchlights in this photo and what that really means about the film itself. Also, listing only the character names and not the actors seems like a disservice. It’s also on a dull background no less. (#2) A dull backdrop with some fancy edging. It’s just dull.

(#3) The cast entire, but without the suitable details we’ve come to expect. It looks like a lot of compacted images of minimal importance.

(#4-#7) With such a large cast, it makes sense to split them off into smaller groups to fill a set of posters. They aren’t great, but they are each nice snippets. (#8) Not far removed from the prior designs stylistically and with the last “character” finally given its own design makes a nice, albeit uninspired touch. (#9) It’s very similar to some of the earlier designs and thereby doesn’t add much. (#10-#28) This series of character posters are distinct, but the black-and-white motif, albeit fitting of filmmaking of the period, don’t add up to much. (#29-#32) This series of character posters mirror certain travel advertisements and postcards of the era and make for a nice change of pace for the series.

Trailer Rating: B- / B / C-

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) The plot is given, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense and unless the studio is hoping to win attendees just because of the characters, they might be sorely mistaken.

(#2) Perhaps too many characters are given too little time in the design. We get some information about the plot, but it looks like the trailer was cobbled together from incoherent details into an incoherent design that might only appeal to fans of the series and prior movie.

(#3) The laws of diminishing returns apply doubly to movie trailers that come out right before a film’s theatrical release. Some of them give too much away and some of them, like this one, are just a hodge podge of images intended to appeal without conviction.