Artemis Fowl 2020 Full Trailer BREAKDOWN

EDIT: We’ve finished an an initial trailer breakdown video! There’s a lot left to unpick, but you can check it out below.

Hey guys! Matt here – I’ve tried to put together as quickly as possible – there are bound to be things I’ve missed, so please do chime in through the comments, e-mail or hit us up on social media with anything else you’ve spotted!

Opinions are divided, and there’s a lot to unpick with the new 2+ minute long ARTEMIS FOWL trailer. It looks like Disney have kept the core of the story and adapted it heavily with some new twists and turns. It also looks like there’s the core of Book 1 and a tiny bit of ‘The Arctic Incident’ in there, as well as lots of new content.

It’s important to realize that this is Disney’s adaptation of a 20-year-old book, and to treat it as such on it’s own merit. It also appears that there are tonnes of clips in the trailer that are completely out of place / context. I think there are a large number of quick cuts and clips that will appear towards the end or the beginning of the movie, but make it appear differently.

That being said… we’ve started to unpick the trailer below! We’ll have a full video breakdown up as soon as possible but there’s simply SO MUCH to talk about it may take a little while. Check out the full trailer below, and then get reading! This is possibly one of the longest articles we’ve ever put together for AFC, but stick with it – there’s a lot in here.

For more movie news as it comes out, subscribe to our social media on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube, and join in the discussion in our Official Facebook Group and on the Artemis Fowl Subreddit!

Artemis Fowl Trailer Breakdown:

The first shot of the trailer appears to be the control center for an interview room, with Mulch as the interviewee. With the ‘old school’ technology and a decidedly British accent for the speaker, this is most likely a human operation. Perhaps MI6? Definitely has a James Bond feel! It definitely feels like this clip is set after the events of the movie.

For the eagle-eyed among you, there is some ‘new’ Gnommish at the start. If you want to try and decode it yourself, skip ahead a little, but it reads:

And here’s our first proper shot of Mulch Diggums (Josh Gad).

In a surprise casting, next we see Artemis Fowl Senior (Colin Farrell) and Artemis Fowl II (Ferdia Shaw). We know that Disney have been doing some re-shooting on the movie since the first teaser dropped over a year ago – we’ve heard on the grapevine that Farrell was a new addition for the reshoots.

We must say, Ferdia Shaw is absolutely on point as Artemis.

Loving the high-tech Disney logo, with the ring of Gnommish!

Again, for the eagle-eyed – you’ll see there’s some Gnommish on the rings around the Disney Castle. It’s basically gibberish but with “Artemis Fowl” written once or twice.

Artemis Fowl II and his father in the Fowl Library

Now this is where things start to take a bit of a turn. The Artemis Fowl II we know from the books isn’t a fighter. It looks, however, like Disney have decided to change this – Colin Farrell can be heard saying “you’ve grown strong son, and smarter” as two people (who we assume is Artemis Fowl II and either Butler or Artemis Fowl Senior) are seen practicing Kendo.

EDIT: In hindsight, this is most likely Juliet & Butler.

Next, we see Artemis at home, decoding the book. With references to the “healer” in Ho Chi Minh city, it looks like there is still the element of Artemis tracking down the book and decoding it.

“You’re all I have now, Arty” Artemis Senior remarks. Whilst Angeline Fowl (Miranda Raison) is cast, does this mean she’ll be dying in the movie? Perhaps this is another result of reshoots?

It looks like a fair portion of the scenes we’ve seen with Colin Farrell thus far are perhaps flashbacks, or are at least preemptive of the main storyline. In the trailer, we cut to news reporters swarming the Fowl Bentley as a newsreader discusses Artemis Senior’s disappearance. “He is suspected of being behind some of the biggest robberies ever.”

From this, it looks like Artemis Senior is a thief, and Artemis II was unaware of his father’s antics. We know from interviews shortly after the original teaser trailer that Artemis’ character arc in the movie will start prior to him ‘being evil.’ Perhaps we’ll see him start off as a good, normal child, who will descend into crime after the disappearance of his father and the loss of his seemingly good role model.

Artemis then receives a call from what we assume is a fairy – “your family has taken something of great value from us. Return it to me or I will destroy everything you love!” This decidedly sounds very Opal, but we’ll reserve judgement for now.

We then see Artemis Senior in some sort of magical trap. It does look like a fairy is responsible for Artemis Senior’s disappearance – could this be Opal Koboi? It most likely is.

We then cut to our first proper look at Butler! “You weren’t supposed to see this yet” he remarks, unlocking a a secret set of stairs into what looks to be Artemis Senior’s secret lair.

“Your father is in a complicated profession. For years, he has protected powerful secrets, that have kept mankind safe from the dangers of another world.” Butler explains. There’s a lot to look at in the next couple of shots, but there are a number of artifacts from across the world and, potentially, below it. The most interesting of which is a floating, Golden Acorn.

We then cut to our first look at the troll! In the books, our first interaction with a troll is at an Italian restaurant however in the movie, looking at the casting and this first shot, it would appear that it’s at an Italian wedding. This looks to be a bridesmaid facing up at the troll.

Oddly for me, the next line from Butler and shot might be the most poignant. “It’s time to face your destiny” Butler remarks, as the camera pans in on Artemis’ trademark black suit. There’s a criminal mastermind under there just waiting to come out.

Now what do we have here – it’s Artemis strutting beside what appears to be a jet of some kind (the chrome would indicate LEP). Without wanting to post too many spoilers, this looks like it could be a shot from the end (or at least close to the end) of the movie. If you look carefully, the pillars on either side of the doorway have chunks missing, and it would appear that the doors are also… missing, which would indicate this is post-Troll attack.

We’re then treated to a nice, spanning view of Ho Chi Minh City (in the summer…), along with some shots of Artemis & Butler walking through it.

Artemis being suited and booted once again indicates that a lot of the scenes with his father are a prelude to Artemis turning to crime, and going on a quest for the book.

“But we are not alone in this…” Butler continues. We then hear another voice (Perhaps Judi Dench as Root?) say “Mulch Diggums is a talented giant Dwarf” (which would explain Mulch being bigger than Artemis), with some shots of Mulch breaking locks and talking to Artemis (surrounded by Holly Short & Butler)

“And I’m Holly Short – your ally on the other side.”

This is an odd one. One of the core parts of the first book is that Holly Short is obviously kidnapped by Artemis in his quest for gold. Perhaps this scene is a bit out-of-context and appears towards the end of the movie? Again, it looks like Fowl Manor is pretty beat up (look at the window behind).

Don’t forget – there were some leaked photos a while ago showing Holly shackled in what appears to be a cage:

We then cut to shots of Artemis & Butler lowering some sort of contraption into a great tree. Could this be the where Holly completes the ritual? We can’t make out a river, let along a bendy one, but we assume this is the oak tree where Artemis & Butler will kidnap Holly whilst she’s completing the ritual.

And my-oh-my… Haven looks glorious. Regardless of your thoughts on the story direction, admit it – Haven looks amazing. We see various quick cuts of Holly in Haven City whilst Artemis remarks “It’s real!”

Now comes a short of something we’re not sure on – perhaps it’s a scenic shot of Ireland, or perhaps it has more relevance – we know that Fowl Manor is near the coast in the movie, so it’s most likely related to that.

“Alright” says Artemis “Save my father, save the world.” The camera cuts to Artemis, Holly & Mulch – the dream team!

Hmm… is that an Iris Cam in Mulch’s eye? Could it be that he is still sent in by the LEP? What do you think?

And then there’s Butler & Artemis “commandeering” new sunglasses lenses from an LEP helmet.

We’re then greeted with Artemis wielding a weapon – which is almost definitely of Fairy origin. This goes back to Disney deciding to make Artemis a more physically active character in the movie. Whilst it’s a big departure from the books, it’ll be interesting to see what happens!

And say what you want about absolutely everything else, but Holly pulling down the visor on her helmet is pure fire. Lara McDonnell looks FANTASTIC.

We then cut straight to a familiar line from the books.

“Scared, Artemis?” Butler asks.

“I prefer scared to dead.”

This is the line that Artemis says to Butler before he goes out to fend off the LEP. In this context, it almost looks like Butler is asking Artemis if he is scared, however it does seem like it’s within the context originally mentioned in the books.

Then boom – LEP shuttles in-bound, Root (Judi Dench) at the helm of one, and a “storm the beaches” moment. You can see the Fowl Manor lighthouse in the corner of the beach image.

Holly: “An army is coming.”

Butler, Holly, Mulch & Artemis are looking out through a window – is this at the LEP being in-bound or something else?

We then see Butler brutalizing the LEP – however if you catch a screenshot at the right point, you’ll see Artemis out there fighting with him. Whilst most won’t like the idea of Artemis involved in physical combat, it’s low-key kind of wholesome seeing Butler and Artemis kick some fairy behinds together.

We then see the masked figure once again, this time blasting some sort of magic at Artemis Senior. Could this really be Opal? Or is it more likely to be Briar Cudgeon?

The next line is a bit hard to identify – is it coming from the masked figure, or the Goblin Chief? It’s most likely the Goblin because of Mulch’s reply.

“You think you can beat us?!” hisses a voice.

“We’ll see.” replies Mulch.

Mulch then proceeds to shove his fingers up the Goblin’s nose, which is a direct scene from when we’re initially introduced to Mulch in the first book.

We’re then shown a brief scene of Artemis, followed by one of my own personally most-anticipated scenes – the time stop!

Over this, a voice (again, most probably Opal Koboi) remarks “Who do you think you are?” to which Artemis responds “I’m the next Criminal Mastermind.” Considering this voice is placed over the clip from the healer in Ho Chi Minh city, either it’s just her voice, or it’s Opal. Surely?

Next up is Artemis strutting into what looks to be a vault within a destroyed Fowl Manor, picking up a Neutrino and firing it. Butler shouts “Artemis!” It’s all a bit of a blur these last few seconds!

After the title card, we get one last scene. It’s Butler, Holly, Mulch & Artemis in the study as the LEP lift the troll down towards the front entrance.

“I didn’t reach much on trolls. Anything I should look out for?”

“The teeth,” Holly replies “They eat people.”

“Good… to know.” Artemis finishes.

We then see a quick cut of what looks to be the Fowl Manor / Troll fight before the trailer ends.

Artemis Fowl Trailer Conclusions:

At first glance, seeing scenes of Artemis Fowl II in physical combat can be jarring, but I do believe the core of the story is still there, the trailer just makes it seem either insignificant or out of context. In the order that events happen in the original book compared to the trailer, we see:

• Artemis Senior’s disappearance. Whilst it looks like Opal may now be behind him disappearing instead of the Russians, it remains true to the books that Artemis losing his father results in Artemis turning further ‘to the dark side.’
• Trollllll in the… Italian wedding! Want to see Holly go toe-to-toe with a troll in an Italian restaurant? Tough. Want to see Holly go toe-to-toe with a troll at an Italian wedding? Well this film looks set to deliver!
• Searching for the book in Ho Chi Minh City. There’s some potential for changes around who the healer is, however this looks to be fairly true to the book.
• Decoding the book. We see various scenes of Artemis decoding and translating the book. It looks like he may still need to find out who these ‘fairies’ are himself.
• Kidnapping a Fairy. We still see the scene of Butler / Artemis by the tree, scoping out the fairy people. The leaks of Holly Short being shackled tell us this plot point will still be there. It looks like the framing of the scene between Holly & Artemis as allies in the trailer might be from the end of the movie.
• Mulch’s introduction and breaking into Fowl Manor. The initial scene of Mulch in prison and fending off the goblins, as well as the iris cam in his eye within Fowl Manor tells us that Mulch will have a similar role to the books.
• Repurposing LEP gear. It looks like Butler & Artemis still use stolen LEP technology to their advantage.
• Butler beating the snot out of the LEP. Whilst Artemis may also throw up his fists, it looks like there’s still a nice brawl outside the front door of Fowl Manor between Butler and the LEP.
• Haven. Oh my god, Haven. It looks amazing. If you disagree, you’re wrong.
• LEP Siege of Fowl Manor. It’s obviously there. It’s an integral part of the book and it’s plainly there.
• The Timestop. A giant ball of time-stopping magic descending over Fowl Manor in a phenomenally slick looking way? Check!
• LEP dropping a Troll bomb at the gates? Yep! Looks like a troll will, in fact, be causing untold destruction to a young boy’s family home.

All in all, there’s a lot to unpack. Sure, there are some unfamiliar scenes and some changes to character development, but hey… it’s still an Artemis movie, 20 years in the making. We’ll be making our minds up as the credits roll.

Much love,
Matt