Making a trailer is very different from making a film. A film doesn’t need to sell itself nearly as much, given the people behind it already have your ticket money/streaming service subscription money before you even begin watching it. A trailer, on the other hand, is all about selling a film and making the whole experience look worth a viewer’s time and money.
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Ideally, a good trailer will offer a taste of the film without giving away too much or misrepresenting the final product. The following nine films all had trailers that were deceptive or misleading in some way. This can be a good or bad thing. It’s usually better to be misled than spoiled, but if a film is wildly different from its trailer (in a bad way), that can harm a viewer’s enjoyment of the completed film.
The following article contains some spoilers.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Homehad its work cut out for it, ensuring it didn’t give away too many details regarding which characters would or wouldn’t show up due to the multiverse-related storyline. It also had notorious walking spoilerTom Hollanddoing press for the film, who hinted at the film’s darker elements while doing publicity andgot in some trouble for it.
While most figured there would be a return of oldSpider-Men, it was never explicitly stated in any marketing or confirmed directly by any cast or crew members. The trailer played a part in this deception, as certain shots edited out the two non-Tom HollandSpider-Menin the movie, including one brief shot of the final battle, where the Lizard seems to get hit by an invisible force. It didn’t fool everyone, but this misdirection was generally appreciated, seeing as the character reveals in the actual film (while expected) were more exciting.
‘The Snowman’ (2017)
The Snowmanis a notoriously poor film, an awkward and uninteresting murder mystery that doesn’t get viewers involved with the plot or the film’s characters. The trailer did its best to make the movie look exciting (or even just watchable) but had to go to extreme lengths.
The film’s marketing tried to suggest the serial killer in the film interacted with the police and tormented them far more than he did, and the trailer similarly tried to make the killer’s motives look more bizarre and twisted than they genuinely were. Add to that a couple of snippets from scenes that looked action-packed but weren’t really in the final movie, and you’re left with a trailer that, at best, succeeds in making a bad film look morbidly entertaining. Sadly, the final product isn’t even that.
‘Brave’ (2012)
Brave’s trailer only captures some of the movie’s plot. The film’s protagonist, Merida (Kelly Macdonald), does clash with her family over their plans for her to get married and her desire to be independent. But much of the final film also involves Merida’s mother getting turned into a bear due to a spell going wrong, which isn’t established in the trailer.
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It can be argued this is either a good or a bad thing, which probably contributes toBravebeing one ofPixar’smore divisive movies. That part of the story does come as a twist and is undoubtedly unexpected, but it also meant the film’s trailer made things look more serious and grounded than they ended up being, which could have disappointed older viewers. This is one of those rare instances where it’s up for debate whether a dishonest trailer was a good thing or not.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (2015)
Anticipation was high forStar Wars: The Force Awakensin the lead-up to its release. The marketing was promising a return to the look and feel of the saga’s original trilogy. The marketing hinted atJohn Boyega’s character, Finn, being a new Jedi, as the trailer depicted his brief lightsaber fight with the main antagonist Kylo Ren quite prominently.
Of course, he did wield a lightsaber and fight with it in the final film, but he was never revealed to have true Jedi powers. Instead, it turned out Rey, played byDaisy Ridley, who was Force-sensitive and naturally skilled with a lightsaber. It’s a more subtle but notable misdirection and an excellent example of a trailer lying in a non-offensive way.
‘Sorcerer’ (1977)
Sorcereris considered a remake of the French filmWages of Fear, which is probablyone of the most stressful thrillersof all time.Sorcereris similarly tense, being about a group of men who have to transport nitroglycerin via a truck through dangerous conditions, where any crash could lead to a fiery demise.
The trailer is honest about the film’s tone: it’s tense and unnerving but deceptive about what kind of thriller the film is. It’s a grounded, gritty survival thriller, but there’s a slightly supernatural feel to the tone of the trailer, and it hypes up how it’s directed byWilliam Friedkin, who’d done the smash-hit, supernatural-themed horror movieThe Exorcista few years beforehand, so at least the deceit is somewhat understandable.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)
Avengers: Infinity Warhad good reason to keep spoilers to a minimum. After all, this huge superhero team-up released ten years after the start of theMCUwas an emotionally-charged and often surprising film, with its shocking deaths, plot twists, and downbeat ending, where the heroes fail to stop Thanos (Josh Brolin).
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Beyond just now showing too much in the marketing, the film went a step further by showing brief moments in the trailer that didn’t appear in the final film. The most notable of these is the shot of various Avengers running at the camera, includingHulk(Mark Ruffalo), who’s actually in the Hulkbuster suit during the scene in question. This hides the fact that Hulk is defeated by Thanos early in the film, and so Bruce Banner spends the rest of it struggling and failing to turn big and green on command.
‘Les Misérables’ (2012)
Though the story ofLes Misérablesis well-known, the 2012 adaptation of the stage musical tried to misdirect viewers in a few notable ways.Anne Hathaway’s role was featured prominently in the trailer, for instance, whereas her character is only in the movie’s first act.
Additionally, the trailer may try to hide the fact that it’s amusical where every line is sung. Music is featured, sure, but the songs are underplayed considering how persistent they are in the final film, as some less musically-inclined viewers may have been turned off had they known this famous musical would have so much singing and no spoken dialogue.
‘The Truman Show’ (1998)
Jim Carreywas one of the biggest comedy stars of the 1990s, so maybe it made sense, from a marketing perspective, to makeThe Truman Showlook like a comedy. To the trailer’s credit, it doesn’t make it look as broad or silly as some of Carrey’s other big movies, but it emphasizes the film’s comedy, which as a whole is fairly infrequent.
The Truman Showis more of a drama with comedic/satirical elements and one of Carrey’s more grounded, serious performances. People recognized this and praised the movie for these qualities upon release, but the people marketing it? They may have wanted viewers to think it swung more towards comedy than drama.
‘Thor: Ragnarok’ (2017)
Thor: Ragnarokfeatures one of the moreviolent, shocking scenes in the MCUso far: Thor (Chris Hemsworth) losing his eye at the hands of his evil sister, Hela (Cate Blanchett). It’s an incredible moment in an otherwise light-hearted, goofy movie, which is surprisingly impactful.
That might be why the trailers wanted to keep it a secret, even when showing scenes that took place after Thor lost his eye. Shots were altered to show Thor with both eyes, which is a misdirection that most fans were probably thankful for, given it meant the dramatic eye-slicing scene wasn’t spoiled before the movie came out.
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