The worst marketed movies of all time.

[Shalmanese]

Originally Posted by The Evil Prince Zorte

One that seemed to be maliciously poor marketing was Idiocracy. It got a movie poster, but literally nothing else, no trailer or anything.

Ironically, probably more people have seen this movie due to the notoriety of it's suppression than would have seen it if it had been marketed normally, making it perhaps the best marketed movie in this thread.

[Evil Captor]

Originally Posted by Shalmanese

Ironically, probably more people have seen this movie due to the notoriety of it's suppression than would have seen it if it had been marketed normally, making it perhaps the best marketed movie in this thread.

I caught it on cable and watched it 'cause I realized it was a film version of "The Marching Morons."

[Stowed Bob]

Originally Posted by Smid

Of course, Fight Club, the person in charge of marketing it, didn't like or understand the movie, so buried it as a moronic action movie...

In some ways that brought an unusual audience which might actually have appreciated it, but a whole bunch who thought 'too much talkie blah blah blah'.

Beat me to it. I had no intention of ever watching that movie until a friend dragged me to it. Blew me away. I think a lot of my love of that movie was specifically because the trailers were so misleading.

[well he's back]

Not just old trailers. I hate new trailers that give away the whole plot

[Simplicio]

Originally Posted by well he's back

Not just old trailers. I hate new trailers that give away the whole plot

The worst was Sum of all Fears. It was a fairly mediocre Tom Clancy movie, but it had one innovative twist two thirds of the way through that probably would've made it memorable if you didn't see it coming: that:

SPOILER:

Unlike other "find the nuclear weapon in time" action movies, in this one the bomb actually goes off

Except of course, the twist is shown in great detail in the trailer.

Similarly, a recent re-release of the original Planet of the Apes had the famous last scene reveal printed on the cover of the box. I mean, I realize its a famous scene from an old movie, but still. There are plenty of people who weren't alive when it was in theaters and will rent it to see it for the first time without knowing the ending.

[Quimby]

Originally Posted by well he's back

Not just old trailers. I hate new trailers that give away the whole plot

The worst offender was What Lies Beneath. The trailer literally spells out the movie from beginning to end, hitting each twist along the way. I felt ripped off when I paid money to see it.

[Elendil's Heir]

I don't care what you say, The Shining just shouldn't have been marketed as a feel-good family film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Right now I'm re-watching Gosford Park, because the excellent podcast Up Yours, Downstairs! is discussing it. Like one of the hosts, I hated it the first time I saw it. IIRC, it was marketed as a lighthearted, Agatha Christie style murder mystery. It's really a drama about aristocrats competing to be the douchiest rich bastard while their servants watch it all unfold and sometimes get sucked in to the machinations. The murder is a maguffin for getting people to stay in the house longer so they can be assholes to each other even more, and more secrets can come out. The murder investigation is pretty much irrelevant.

Now, it's a masterful interpersonal, inter-class drama, and I'm having a lot of fun watching said aristocrats be assholes this time around. But the trailers were terribly misleading and ruined the experience the first time.

[grude]

Meet The Robinsons-

This is a funny and smart animated movie that I can easily sum up in three words "time travel comedy" but for some reason the trailers shown on TV never even gave a hint it was about time travel. I remember some heavily edited punch lines to jokes and the singing frogs, baffling marketing!

It is a light hearted time travel comedy with plenty of genre satire.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

Originally Posted by Elendil's Heir

I don't care what you say, The Shining just shouldn't have been marketed as a feel-good family film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

Is this the real actual trailer? I was under the impression it was a humorous "home project" of someone.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Shalmanese

Ironically, probably more people have seen this movie due to the notoriety of it's suppression than would have seen it if it had been marketed normally, making it perhaps the best marketed movie in this thread.

More people may have seen it then otherwise, but they definately lost money because of the poor marketing. I couldn't find it on DVD, so I ended up pirating it, and I'm a huge fan of the director.

[ScarletNumber]

Originally Posted by jz78817

another mishandling of Mike Judge was Office Space. the marketing it did get spent way too much mentioning Beavis and Butthead when the movie couldn't be any further from it (except for Judge's character in Office Space sounding exactly like Mr. VanDriessen.)

Office Space is legendary for how poorly it was marketed.

[etv78]

Simplicio-Respectfully, IMO Cultural Osmosis has ruined the twist in Planet of the Apes.