Well it won't be for long because it seems to be getting the cease and desist treatment, however the trailer for Paul that was shown at Comic-Con has been put online. No need to worry though, it's a terrible copy and you can hardly see a thing, even some of the dialogue is difficult to make out.

However you do see Paul, as well as get some of the jokes being fired about. You know, why don't they release the trailer online for all to see, in high quality? Okay, here comes a rant.

Please note I am not hosting the trailer, I am embedding it from another site. Find someone who understands the internet and the idea that if you show a closed group of people a trailer that gets them really excited that they might want to share it with other film fans, and ask them to explain it. If you must shut it down without letting anyone else see it, then go to the sources and do it, then afterwards release the trailer on the internet.

You know crushing the sources of the trailer (it's already appearing on foreign trailer sites) is not going to solve the problem. I thought marketing was about creating buzz and encouraging more and more people to see and talk about your product, whereas in these cases it's show a small room of people then shut it down and don't let anyone else see it. Bizarre. Corporate communications seems to work a whole different way.

I just don't understand why stemming the marketing potential of a trailer like this works. Was the trailer bad and only worked at Comic-Con? Isn't it good enough to go out on the internet?

Anyway, that aside, the trailer for Paul is available on various sites but disappearing fast. It may have even gone by the time I get this posted, but it's there. Mind you, you can hardly see a thing, except the alien and the fact that the titles all look like Close Encounters of the Third Kind titles, nice.

Here's the Comic-Con captured trailer for Paul which tells the story of two British first time Comic-Con visitors who head off to Area 51 for a wee look and happen upon an escaped alien. There's a great cast as well being led by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogen, with Sigourney Weaver, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Bill Hader, Jeffrey Tambor, Blythe Danner, David Koechner and John Carroll Lynch.

Terrible, but that closing line is hilarious. Come on studio, get the real one live.