Stephen Colbert Battles Budget Limitations In 'The Late Show' Theatrical Promo

Stephen Colbert provided one of the most affecting speeches on the final episode of Jon Stewart's run on The Daily Show, and now it's time to turn the spotlight back to Colbert as he preps for the September premiere of his version of David Letterman's former talk show, The Late Show.

CBS is going big for this promo, putting a Late Show trailer into movie theaters, complete with 3D effects and a giant CG dragon. Well... actually... there were supposed to be 3D effects and a dragon, but the big-screen presentation doesn't necessarily mean there's an appropriately-sized budget for the promo. Watch the Stephen Colbert trailer below, and you'll see what we mean.

You'd think Colbert could at least have borrowed a dragon from Peter Jackson, especially after Colbert did so much to promote the Hobbit films during their theatrical runs. Even a basic Smaug animatic, an Eye of Sauron graphic, or a leftover orc or two would have helped out here. I wouldn't want any change for those old-school 3D "effects," though — they're perfect.

This trailer is playing in AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters, along with a bunch of theaters outside those chains.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert premieres on September 8 on CBS. The show's first guest will be George Clooney, who handcuffed himself to David Letterman during one of Letterman's final episodes of his own Late Show run.

Here are a few other promos for the show created at the same time as this theatrical one. They don't have big effects, either, but one at least has a notable political guest (doing a strained and therefore awkwardly funny attempt at comedy), and another has a Charlie Rose Trapper Keeper that should be in every "back to school" kit this fall.