# Misleading trailers that ruined the movie for you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466 "2010-08-06T23:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/41 "2010-08-08T14:37:22Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > > [@joebuck20](#): > > > > I haven’t seen it obviously (since it hasn’t come out yet), but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World seems to be falling into this trap. Depending on what trailer you’re watching it’s a either superhero film, indie rock movie, romantic comedy or relationship revenge flick. > > Which means the trailers completely nail the movie, assuming it’s actually faithful to the comic. Noooo.. there’s a really horrible trailer they are running on the more female friendly channels. It makes it look like a straight 20s romantic comedy… and is pretty light on the comedy. It’s going to eff over the movie… and it’s sad because the movie is quite good. GO SEE SCOTT PILGRIM! ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/42 "2010-08-08T17:31:55Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > > [@Tengu](#): > > > > Which means the trailers completely nail the movie, assuming it’s actually faithful to the comic. > > Noooo.. there’s a really horrible trailer they are running on the more female friendly channels. It makes it look like a straight 20s romantic comedy… and is pretty light on the comedy. It’s going to eff over the movie… and it’s sad because the movie is quite good. > GO SEE SCOTT PILGRIM! I don’t see how the real trailer would make the movie any more popular on the female friendly channels. I’m looking forward to seeing it but if they don’t play up the “romantic teen comedy” angle i don’t see a single chick showing up. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/43 "2010-08-08T18:24:01Z")
Why do they make misleading trailers, anyway? They miss the people who would’ve enjoyed the film in it’s own right, and the people they tricked into seeing the movie will spread bad word of mouth. I guess the hope is that the number of people tricked before word gets out more than makes up for the missed audience? ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/44 "2010-08-08T18:43:53Z")
> [@Jet\_Jaguar](#): > > Why do they make misleading trailers, anyway? They miss the people who would’ve enjoyed the film in it’s own right, and the people they tricked into seeing the movie will spread bad word of mouth. I guess the hope is that the number of people tricked before word gets out more than makes up for the missed audience? That’s what I assume. Up until recently a studio could get in a really good weekend before everyone realizes something’s amiss with the movie. Now, with the prevalence of facebook and twitter word of mouth is spreading a lot faster. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/45 "2010-08-08T19:03:44Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > > [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > > > Noooo.. there’s a really horrible trailer they are running on the more female friendly channels. It makes it look like a straight 20s romantic comedy… and is pretty light on the comedy. It’s going to eff over the movie… and it’s sad because the movie is quite good. > > GO SEE SCOTT PILGRIM! > > I don’t see how the real trailer would make the movie any more popular on the female friendly channels. I’m looking forward to seeing it but if they don’t play up the “romantic teen comedy” angle i don’t see a single chick showing up. Women don’t only like romcoms, you know. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/46 "2010-08-08T23:45:01Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > > [@DigitalC](#): > > > > I don’t see how the real trailer would make the movie any more popular on the female friendly channels. I’m looking forward to seeing it but if they don’t play up the “romantic teen comedy” angle i don’t see a single chick showing up. > > Women don’t only like romcoms, you know. But videogamey action movies aren’t really at the top of their list. ---
**Author:** ![justafriend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@justafriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justafriend)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/47 "2010-08-08T23:57:42Z")
Twenty eight year old female here, and I’m _totally_ going to see Scott Pilgrim. It’s not going to be anywhere near as cool or complex as the books, but it at least looks to be a decent highlights reel. My submissions for stupid trailers are Fight Club and Moulin Rouge. The Fight Club trailers made the movie look like a stupid brawling action movie, while the Moulin Rouge trailer never once showed anyone singing. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/48 "2010-08-09T00:00:45Z")
I’d heard of and read the novel Bridge to Terabithia. Had no idea it wasn’t that well known. Though I guess it’s all relative. I see people talking casually about Terry Pratchett and Robert Heinlein on these boards and these are things that I find personally find to be fairly obscure. Fight Club was a pretty different movie than the trailer promised but I liked it better than I thought I would. So it doesn’t really fall into this category. Based on what I’d read about the movie Bug, I thought it would be straight up horror when it was really a couple of people who thought they had parasites. Wouldn’t have seen it otherwise. > [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Based on the teaser trailers for _E.T._, I was expecting scary aliens. I was disappointed. You watched E.T. and saw no scary aliens? Are you sure you saw the same movie I did?! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/49 "2010-08-09T02:51:32Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Based on the teaser trailers for _E.T._, I was expecting scary aliens. I was disappointed. Wait… a wizened little gnome from another planet… that not only tugs at our heartstrings but is _MEANT_ to tug at our heartstrings… that eats Reese’s Pieces… and that’s all Spielbergly sweet… and so ugly that it’s supposed to be cute? How is that not terrifying? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/50 "2010-08-09T05:38:07Z")
It didn’t ruin the movie for me, but the previews of **Splice** make it look like a Species knockoff, with a lot of the monster getting loose and racking up a high body count. That’s really misleading because: There are only three human deaths the whole movie, and it’s really an updated retelling of Frankenstein, focusing on the creator rejecting her creature. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/51 "2010-08-09T05:45:03Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > > [@scifisam2009](#): > > > > Women don’t only like romcoms, you know. > > But videogamey action movies aren’t really at the top of their list. It all depends on the woman. I’m many more times likely to go to the theatre to see a videogamey action movie than I am a romance. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/52 "2010-08-09T06:16:44Z")
I just saw _Shutter Island_ and I think that one counts. Not really for being misleading, though. It was pretty obvious from the trailer what the ‘twist’ was going to be. Watching the film, there were questions raised which kept it interesting, but there wasn’t a whole lot of suspense. I’m pretty sure it’s not some subtle double-fake either, but put together sloppily enough to be vague (purposely, probably, but I don’t know) . In that case the trailer made the film less fun to watch. I don’t think it would have been hard to catch the twist, but at least it might have been more fun to guess. Not a trailer, per se, but the Netflix description of _The Japanese Wife_ was utterly wrong. We watched the movie continually waiting for when things would get better since the blurb stated that he actually moves to Japan at some point. In fact it implies his adjustment to that life is the bulk of the movie. Instead he does die, and they never meet. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/53 "2010-08-09T13:51:30Z")
Can’t believe I’m the first person to say _Event Horizon_. Hooray! A science fiction movie! They must find some sort of weird aliens out there or something! I was seventeen and I loved Star Trek and I’d skipped school to see the rerelease of Star Wars. I was a nerd. I liked sci fi movies. I thought that was what I was going to see, not Lovecraftian horror. Not that there’s anything WRONG with Lovecraftian horror, except when you’re seventeen and you’re expecting something a little more along the lines of Close Encounters. I was huddled against the back of the chair begging the friend I’d gone to the movies with to just leave with me. She kept calling me a wuss. I wanted to throw up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/54 "2010-08-09T14:07:22Z")
The first one that came to mind for me is _Misery_. It looked like a nice romping comedy…well, it was directed by Rob Reiner! Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/55 "2010-08-09T21:08:00Z")
> [@justafriend](#): > > Twenty eight year old female here, and I’m _totally_ going to see Scott Pilgrim. It’s not going to be anywhere near as cool or complex as the books, but it at least looks to be a decent highlights reel. > > My submissions for stupid trailers are Fight Club and Moulin Rouge. The Fight Club trailers made the movie look like a stupid brawling action movie, while the Moulin Rouge trailer never once showed anyone singing. Yup - there are quite a few women who would go to see a video-gamey action movie. Enough that you might as well give them an honest ad rather than have word of mouth put everyone off seeing the movie because its trailers lied. You’ve reminded me of another one: the recent Sweeny Todd had no songs in its trailers and no mention that it was a musical. My GF loathes musicals, and was really pissed that she’d paid 7 quid to sit through one that wasn’t even very good. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’d heard of and read the novel Bridge to Terabithia. Had no idea it wasn’t that well known. Though I guess it’s all relative. I see people talking casually about Terry Pratchett and Robert Heinlein on these boards and these are things that I find personally find to be fairly obscure. I’m not sure about Heinlein, but Pratchett is one of the biggest-selling authors in history, and critically-acclaimed too - there’s is no possible way he can be considered ‘obscure.’ ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/56 "2010-08-09T21:32:43Z")
I don’t know what went wrong with the movie, but [The Shining](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA) looked fantastic from the previews. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand now I think I’ll read the thread before posting repeats ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/57 "2010-08-09T23:52:15Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > It didn’t ruin the movie for me, but the previews of **Splice** make it look like a Species knockoff, with a lot of the monster getting loose and racking up a high body count. That’s really misleading because: Wait, what? That’s what it’s really about? This is exactly what I was talking about! I would’ve seen _that_, but I was led to believe it was just a _Species_ knockoff by the trailer so I passed. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/58 "2010-08-10T00:07:58Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > You’ve reminded me of another one: the recent Sweeny Todd had no songs in its trailers and no mention that it was a musical. My GF loathes musicals, and was really pissed that she’d paid 7 quid to sit through one that wasn’t even very good. A number of the musicals made in the past decade have misleading trailers like this. _Moulin Rouge_ has already been mentioned, but the trailer for _Chicago_ also made it look like the singing would be limited to a nightclub scene or two. Of course _Chicago_ was based on the well-known stage musical so many viewers probably guessed it would be a musical, but if you’d never heard of it before the trailer wouldn’t have given you much of a hint. I think to some extent the studios are still afraid people consider musicals a played-out genre and want to play down the musical element in the marketing. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure about Heinlein, but Pratchett is one of the biggest-selling authors in history, and critically-acclaimed too - there’s is no possible way he can be considered ‘obscure.’ Although he’d better known here now than he used to be, Terry Pratchett still isn’t all that famous in the US. His Wiki article indicates he’s had trouble with his American publishers, although it doesn’t provide any details. I can tell from my bookshelf that he’s had at least two different US publishers though, and he may have suffered from poor marketing here. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/59 "2010-08-10T00:37:17Z")
As mentioned upthread, Pan’s Labyrinth. Thing was, all of us were expecting a darker fantasy, like Tim Burton style, but not _quite_ that dark. And violent. And horrific. And traumatizing. I never saw the trailer for The English Patient, I was about 9 when it came out. I always had this vague idea that it was a dramatic romance. I mean, yes drama, but not crying my eyes out tragedy drama. To compare it to another Ralph Fiennes movie, I was thinking something like The White Countess. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466/60 "2010-08-10T06:46:24Z")
Does anyone remember the entirely forgettable [Primeval](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primeval_(film))? The trailer was about the world’s worst serial killer. The film was about a crocodile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misleading-trailers-that-ruined-the-movie-for-you/549466.md?page=4)