# Worst advertising for movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887 "2003-11-01T21:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/1 "2003-11-01T21:08:55Z")
What’s the worst advertising for movies that you’ve ever seen? I don’t necessarily mean poorly done, maybe it was just inappropriate for the movie. In the inappropriate category: Fight Club. A brainy comedy/drama was advertised as Brad Pitt and Edward Norton beating people up. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/2 "2003-11-01T21:12:23Z")
Some time ago, we had a “worst movie trailer” thread. Someone proposed the trailer for the movie **Supernova** , and if you can find it online, by God it’s horrible. A retarded monkey could edit together a better trailer, and would probably choose more appropriate music, too. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/3 "2003-11-01T22:00:17Z")
One of the most unintentionally amusing taglines of recent years was: “Everybody has their limit. _Enough_. Jennifer Lopez.” ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/4 "2003-11-01T22:30:41Z")
Although I think all of them are not worth watching in the first place, it seems to me like the trailers for the new _Scary Movie_ completely ruin what could possibly be one of the few funny surprises in the movie. “But I am your daughter” No you’re not! You’re Michael Jackson! AHAHAHAHA! … although honestly I don’t see why that is funny, in and of itself (maybe there’s some context to it; probably not), you’d think they’d leave it off the trailers so that at least SOME easily amused individuals would be pleasantly surprised by it, but no… Way to ruin your already crappy jokes, assholes… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/5 "2003-11-01T22:41:38Z")
Every trailer for a comedy these days ruins all the jokes. In many cases, they show the only decent jokes in the entire film. Trailers for dramas, OTOH, give away plot points. This is a deliberate practice on the theory that people don’t want to be surprised when the see a film. The best recent trailer, BTW, was the one for [Comedian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328962/trailers) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/6 "2003-11-01T23:11:36Z")
Sometimes I think the studio looks at a movie, realizes they have no idea how to market it, so they just do their best to put the clips together to look like it’s a completely different (and easier to push) sort of film. My favorite example of this is the trailer for Todd Haynes’s ode to glam rock, _Velvet Goldmine_. The trailer is one of the most misleading things I’ve ever seen, and actually kept me from seeing the film in the theater. See, I like rock movies, but the trailer portrayed the film as a whodunnit where the victim just happened to be a rock star. Judging from the trailer I figured the focus would be on the murder investigation and not the music, so I stayed away (as did pretty much everyone else on earth). I saw the film a couple of years later on DVD, and as it turns out the murder investigation isn’t the main focus of the film. In fact, it’s not a part of the film at all, because _no one in the movie is murdered_! Just after the opening credits it looks like the rock singer gets shot, but a couple of minutes later we see the newspaper headlines announcing that the whole thing was a hoax. The “mystery” of the film isn’t “Whodunnit?” but rather “Why’dhewannapullthatstunt?” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptBushido \* > \*\* > “But I am your daughter” > No you’re not! You’re Michael Jackson! AHAHAHAHA! > > … although honestly I don’t see why that is funny, in and of itself \*\* It’s a spoof of the scene in _The Others_ where Nicole Kidman sees her daughter as a scary old woman. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/7 "2003-11-01T23:17:07Z")
Hands down, the trailer to “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks. It basically gave away the ending. The director, Bob Zemeckis, has said that he thinks trailers SHOULD give away all major plot-points to a movie…because he is of the opinion that Americans don’t want to see anything that might surprise and/or shock them. You may recall that another Zemeckis film, What Lies Beneath, also had a trailer that revealed a critical plot-twist, one that essentially rendered the entire first hour of the movie pointless. Ah, well… ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/8 "2003-11-01T23:34:07Z")
I’m glad **Scary Movie 3** was mentioned, because one of the scenes featured in the promo/trailer - Queen Latifah saying something like, “I’m prophesizing my foot halfway up your–” - wasn’t in the movie at all. I know this happens from time to time for different (and sometimes legit) reasons, but still! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/9 "2003-11-01T23:39:17Z")
All promotion for a movie called _The Mighty_ made it out to be a Sharon Stone movie with Harry Dean Stanton in it. But the movie is actually about two outcast half-formed kids, excellently played by Kieran Culkin (paraplegic) and Elden Henson (not too bright), and how they dealt with life by working together to form one whole person. Wonderful film! Also _Iron Giant_ was inadequately promoted, despite being arguably the best animated feature film in recent history. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/10 "2003-11-02T00:12:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*I’m glad **Scary Movie 3** was mentioned, because one of the scenes featured in the promo/trailer - Queen Latifah saying something like, “I’m prophesizing my foot halfway up your–” - wasn’t in the movie at all. I know this happens from time to time for different (and sometimes legit) reasons, but still! \*\* Maybe someone in post-production remembered that the word is actually “prophesying.” ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/11 "2003-11-02T00:18:12Z")
I know the Postman would be impossible to have a good trailer for but I hear the orginal one had people rolling in the isles “You’re not a POSTMAN! You’re just a drifter with a bag of mail!” You tell him! That Godzilla movie was pretty strange. They refused to show the new look for him so they were stuck showing his feet and closeups of his eyes. Could have been a clever lead in but since that didn’t have much else to show it looked really lame. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/12 "2003-11-02T00:41:42Z")
Cold Creek Manor It’s advertised as a supernatural (the house is trying to kill you) type thriller. It’s actually a very tame this guy is trying to kill you and there’s no mystery to it at all. There is, however an absolutely HILARIOUS snake scene. I was crying I was laughing so hard. It wasn’t supposed to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![CaptBushido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@CaptBushido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptBushido)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/13 "2003-11-02T01:35:28Z")
Yeah, I knew what the Scary Movie scene was a spoof of… I still don’t see why it’s funny. And I’m glad someone mentioned the Postman, so I can do a complete and utter hi-jack, and ask if I’m the only one who thought that movie wasn’t so bad. Even kind of enjoyable, in fact. I think, though, that I may just be a sucker for post-apocolyptic themed movies. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/14 "2003-11-02T02:11:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptBushido \* > \*\*And I’m glad someone mentioned the Postman, so I can do a complete and utter hi-jack, and ask if I’m the only one who thought that movie wasn’t so bad. Even kind of enjoyable, in fact. > > I think, though, that I may just be a sucker for post-apocolyptic themed movies. \*\* I liked it. It wasn’t great, but I thought it was entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![HeatMiser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecd19e/32.png) [@HeatMiser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeatMiser)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/15 "2003-11-02T02:15:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Darkhold \* > \*\*… > > That Godzilla movie was pretty strange. They refused to show the new look for him so they were stuck showing his feet and closeups of his eyes. Could have been a clever lead in but since that didn’t have much else to show it looked really lame. \*\* I personally rather enjoyed the theatrical trailer with the (edited) scene of the fisherman on the dock, leading up to the tagline “SIZE. DOES. MATTER.” It drew my attention to a film I might have otherwise ignored entirely - partly _because_ it didn’t show too much, and partly because it demonstrated a certain sense of humor in the buildup rather than just a 60 second sequence of Cars Being Squashed By Giant Feet or some such thing. As to the original question - the trailer for _The Fifth Element_ always struck me as being rather strange - the mood is one of a rather straight, serious sf/action file (albeit one with a very stylish look to it), as if it was aimed entirely at fans of _Die Hard_ with no regard for the humorous, over-the-top self-parodying aspects of the film. Oh wait, that’s probably exactly what they had in mind. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/16 "2003-11-02T02:18:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dizzy Fingers \* > \*\*Maybe someone in post-production remembered that the word is actually “prophesying.” \*\* Heh. Well, _maybe_. Or maybe I got the word wrong. But either way, the scene wasn’t in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/17 "2003-11-02T02:29:48Z")
I read in some review that _The Matrix Reloaded_ spoof scenes in _Scary Movie 3_ didn’t test well with audiences and most were removed including the one in the trailer featuring Eddie Griffin and Queen Latifah. Anything that lessens the screen time of and shortens the showbiz career of Eddie Griffin is alright by me. ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/18 "2003-11-02T02:37:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I personally rather enjoyed the theatrical trailer with the (edited) scene of the fisherman on the dock, leading up to the tagline “SIZE. DOES. MATTER.” It drew my attention to a film I might have otherwise ignored entirely - partly because it didn’t show too much, and partly because it demonstrated a certain sense of humor in the buildup rather than just a 60 second sequence of Cars Being Squashed By Giant Feet or some such thing. As I said I think it could have been a clever lead-in but since 99% of the movie was him running around crushing things they didn’t have anything interesting to show. (at least that’s my opinion) If the movie itself had been more subtle the subtle trailer would have been great. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/19 "2003-11-03T00:26:53Z")
I’ve said it before, but _12 Monkeys_ suffered from this, too. All the commercials made it out to be one of those tries-to-be-intellectual-but-is-just-mindnumbingly-stupid “art” films, whereas when I finally saw it, it turned out to be good SF and far and away the best time travel movie I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887/20 "2003-11-03T06:10:29Z")
Two good (bad?) examples of this: **Fools Rush In** with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. The trailers made it out to be a w-w-w-wacky romantic comedy. In fact, it was a decent romantic drama about cultures clashing with a few comedic moments. More recently, and **very** egregiously, is the movie **Anything Else**. The trailers made it seem like a standard teen romantic comedy starring Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci. In fact, it’s a Woody Allen movie starring Woody Allen, Jason Biggs and Christina Ricci. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-advertising-for-movies/210887.md?page=2)