Red band trailers

A red band trailer's content is intended for a more mature audience, usually equivalent to an R-rated film. The moniker for such trailers is derived from the image of a red "band" that appears across the screen before the full content, displaying a warning message. Red band trailers might contain more violence, drug usage, mild nudity or harsher language. Unlike standard film trailers, which have a green background and are approved for all audiences, a red band trailer has a red background, along with the warning that "The following preview has been approved for restricted audiences only".

Until nearly a decade ago, red band (or restricted) trailers would often appear before R-rated films. However, in 2000, a Federal Trade Commission report criticized the entertainment industry for marketing violent entertainment to children. Following the report, many production companies instituted a full ban of red band trailers. American Pie (1999) was the last red band trailer that Universal Studios ran in theaters. This was somewhat loosened in 2007 when After Dark Films ran red band trailers for the NC-17 rated film Frontier(s) with prints from the After Dark's Horrorfest 2 series.

Red band trailers are still produced for web viewing, and most recently, Columbia Pictures' Pineapple Express (2008) had a red-band trailer that was shown in theaters before the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Red band trailers for Hamlet 2 and Burn After Reading have also been run before R-rated films in theaters.

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