# Purposefully-misleading movie trailers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748 "2011-07-20T19:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/21 "2011-07-21T00:26:21Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > One that I remember after all these years was for **Dirty Rotten Scoundrels** - in it they show Michael Caine and Steve Martin casually strolling along a sidewalk next to a lake, then Steve martin casually pushing a woman into the water. Not in the movie at all. I remember that. It was in TV commercials too, which aired after the movie came out. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Cyclone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Cyclone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyclone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/22 "2011-07-21T00:29:50Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I remember that. It was in TV commercials too, which aired after the movie came out. > > Weird. Sometimes movie trailers are made before the final cut of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/23 "2011-07-21T00:43:53Z")
Not sure it meets all the criteria of the OP, but the trailer for the movie Primeval promoted is as a serial killer along the lines of the Zodiac killer. It was was about a crocodile. Very misleading. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/24 "2011-07-21T01:38:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Many people, including me, have complained that too many movie trailers these days give away too much. Has any clever director made use of that aggravating trend in contemporary movie trailers to release one that seemed to tell too much… but was actually very misleading? > > Give movie titles and then spoiler-box the misleading nature of the trailer, surprises, twists, etc., please. YouTube links are welcome. > > Thanks! There was the recent trailer for “[Green With Envy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo0MIS4-EXQ)” which was misleading. But the “twist” was revealed in the trailer itself. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/25 "2011-07-21T01:43:08Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > It’s my (limited) understanding that the director and other people artistically concerned with the film generally have nothing to do with the trailer at all. I could add several more examples to the list of movies where the studio apparently had misleading trailers created because they didn’t know how to market the movie that had actually been made, but I don’t know of any that fit the OP’s request. Yes, that’s my guess as well. It would be pretty cool if directors had, or would seize, this element of creative control, but it’s news to me if any ever have. > [@Cyclone](#): > > Sometimes movie trailers are made before the final cut of the film. Sure, but wouldn’t you think once the movie was in final form they’d cut fresh trailers, if necessary, from that? It’s certainly trivially little additional trouble or expense at that point. The fact that there are these many ready examples seems to support the impression that studios don’t _mind_ careless or cynical deception. The bottom line, I think, is that even good-looking trailers are a bad basis for choosing to see a film. The most I allow these days is that an intriguing trailer may get me to read a couple of reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/26 "2011-07-21T02:04:19Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I think the **Heir** is looking for examples in which a director, or at least somebody _artistically_ concerned with the film, is deliberately “keeping secrets”–not trailers which are _carelessly_ misleading, or as cynical marketing ploys… Quite. But I appreciate the answers so far. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/27 "2011-07-21T02:28:46Z")
boxing helena ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/28 "2011-07-21T03:05:52Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > boxing helena From the title alone, I assumed it was about a kangaroo. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/29 "2011-07-21T03:43:41Z")
Every time this topic comes up, I always bring up “The Iron Giant.” It’s really a story about a boy who, in the height of the Cold War, teaches a huge death machine that he doesn’t have to be a “gun,” and can choose who to be. It has a very powerful anti-war message and treats the government agent as driven to villainy by his paranoia, and the Army as trigger-happy at best (until the general is convinced of the truth about the Giant). The trailer, however (which I have been completely unable to find online), takes a brief moment of footage showing the Giant totally eating the Army’s lunch (which was a defensive reaction), and tried to cast this movie as a shoot-em-up monster-hunt. I can only surmise that some idiot in marketing was trying to sucker teens and young men into seeing it, with the predictable result that what SHOULD have been the movie’s core audience (moms/dads with smaller children) assumed the movie would be too violent for their little ones and stayed away. The movie tanked. I’m still pissed off about it. **Edited to add:** on preview, I see that this isn’t what the OP was actually asking about. I never miss a chance to piss and moan about _The Iron Giant_, though, so I’ma leave it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/30 "2011-07-21T03:47:00Z")
Nice post nonetheless. Yeah, that’s a cool movie. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/31 "2011-07-21T04:06:02Z")
The Dark Knight doesn’t even mention Harvey Dent, but the movie is pretty much about him. Also, there’s a scene where the Tumbler does a donut in the temporary Batcave that’s not in the movie. Nolan says there’s no deleted scenes or anything extra, but it’s there in the trailer. Also, I can’t remember if I ever saw a video of it, but there’s lots of pictures of Batman standing on the crushed roof of a cop car. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/32 "2011-07-21T04:14:30Z")
One of the most recent examples: **The Beaver’s** trailer made it seem like a wacky oddball comedy, when in fact it’s an intelligent, thoughtful, somber movie about depression and the effect it has on the depressed and their loved ones. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/33 "2011-07-21T12:55:27Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > IIRC, the trailers for Fight Club made it look like the movie was just about… well, a fight club. Based on those trailers, I expected it to be mostly an action/fight movie, so I skipped it when it was in theaters. A couple of years later, a friend strongly recommended that I watch it, so I rented it and loved it and thought, “That’s not the movie they were advertising.” Of course, they probably made more money by advertising it like they did than if they had tried to be more accurate. I remember reading a story years ago about the pre release of fight club, told by Fincher, Norton and Pitt. Basically, the screening to the marketing people was a disaster. The actual person responsible for marketing hated the movie so much that he went outside and threw up. He had no idea how to market it. He didn’t understand the movie at all. Thats why the trailers and advertising were awful and made the film a box office failure. Found its home in dvd though… I struggled to find a link to that story, but the nets not like anymore… ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/34 "2011-07-21T14:43:21Z")
Not really what the OP is looking for, but still… [Shining](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA) - the light-hearted journey of discovery… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/35 "2011-07-21T14:54:41Z")
Someone linked this one years ago, it’s probably one of the most misleading trailers I’ve ever seen: [**Supernova**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsNpa5F3Udo). The movie isn’t funny, at all, yet the trailer uses massively inappropriate music to make it seem like a delightful space romp. I think they were trying desperately to draw in any viewers they could, since the movie was a tremendous stinker. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/36 "2011-07-21T15:17:36Z")
I think the problem with making a purposefully misleading trailer is that you’ll then get the people who wanted to see the movie you pretended you were going to show them and they’ll be pissed when they get the real version, no matter how good it is. Maybe the recent Sucker Punch is a good cautionary example. It looked like a kick-ass fantasy adventure but was (apparently) had this depressing, sad back story about an institutionalized abused kid. The one example where I think they might have tried to do a deliberately misleading trailer was Terminator II. Certainly in the movie, if you hadn’t heard anything about it beforehand, you might have thought Arnie was coming back for another shot at the kid and Robert Patrick was the good guy. But I can’t remember if they gave that away in the trailer or not. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/37 "2011-07-21T16:16:42Z")
Even though I still liked the movie plenty _Inglorious Basterds_ trailer led a lot of people to believe you’d be following the Basterds violent missions across the German countyside. Not so much. The way _The Changeling_ was marketed it seemed like a straight forward Angelina Jolie driven drama where she searches for her child throughout the whole thing. Instead her role seems to take backseat to a much meatier story of corruption in the LA police department with other characters. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/38 "2011-07-21T16:19:42Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > The one example where I think they might have tried to do a deliberately misleading trailer was Terminator II. Certainly in the movie, if you hadn’t heard anything about it beforehand, you might have thought Arnie was coming back for another shot at the kid and Robert Patrick was the good guy. But I can’t remember if they gave that away in the trailer or not. Heck, the _movie_ kept the audience guessing, right up to the confrontation in the corridor behind the mall arcade. ---
**Author:** ![ChechenFlower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ChechenFlower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChechenFlower)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/39 "2011-07-21T16:31:48Z")
The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. I was expecting horror/thriller and it turned out to be a Scooby Doo movie. It was just Uncle Max wearing a mask… ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748/40 "2011-07-21T17:06:19Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > A trailer for [Who Framed Roger Rabbit](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFCIaMyMORg) shows a character (Eddie Valiant?) with a pig head looking into a mirror and saying “I’m a pig!” That scene wasn’t in the movie. But it’s not like the rest of the trailer was misleading in any way. That was a terrible deleted scene. (number 9 on [this](http://www.cracked.com/article_19312_10-deleted-scenes-that-wouldve-ruined-film.html) list). That and many of these are misleading because they took that scene out of the final production. > [@Morbo](#): > > One that I remember after all these years was for **Dirty Rotten Scoundrels** - in it they show Michael Caine and Steve Martin casually strolling along a sidewalk next to a lake, then Steve martin casually pushing a woman into the water. Not in the movie at all. This, I think was an example of an intentionally shot trailer that is separate form the movie. Another example would be the trailer for Monsters, Inc. that has Sully end up in an empty bedroom. Neither were ever supposed to be in the film, but I would argue that both were accurate in portraying what the film was like. To fit the criteria of the OP, I would point to [Burn After Reading](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887883/) . The trailers lead you to believe this would be a light-hearted romp like Raising Arizona, but half way through it turned into Fargo. I don’t know if the directors pushed for that, but artistically it worked. The scene where brad pit is shot comes right out of the blue to completely change the tone and direction of the film. I don’t think it would have worked as well if the trailers had hinted to that happening in any way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purposefully-misleading-movie-trailers/589748.md?page=3)