Movie buffs look forward to trailers all the time. A trailer can determine the pre-love or hate for a movie. Often people can watch the trailer for a movie, and predict what the movie’s basic feel will be like. But what if the trailer gives more than the basic feel of the movie away? What if it gives you more than is required? With the recent Spider Man installment giving away most or maybe all of the amazing scenes of the movie away, people are deciding on just straight up avoiding movie trailers. Is it a wise choice? Maybe so.
Fair warning, there are massive spoilers ahead.
The Amazing Spider Man 2 was a movie which obviously most film geeks were desperately waiting for. It is a Spider Man movie after all! But the trailers gave away essentially most of the amazing scenes of the movie. What was unbelievable was the fact that essentially the final act of the movie was given away in the trailers itself. Now, that’s really poor marketing to say the least. On top of that, there is a scene in the movie which was shown in the trailers, but was conveniently deleted from the movie without any shame. I do not want to sound like some spoil sport who needs everything perfect, but it certainly did dismay a lot of fans, myself included.
The Amazing Spider Man 2, unfortunately, is not the only one-there are a slew of other movies which have spoiled the movie for us. Cast Away, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, is a movie about how Hanks, a FedEx employee is lost at sea after a terrible plane crash, and the ultimate question is if Hanks will ever be able to return home. But you can avoid the movie and watch the trailer instead, because he does arrive back home, as shown in the trailer.
Terminator Salvation was the most hated Terminator movie. While the first two are loved by all, and the third is a weaker entry but is still appreciated by some, the fourth was a sort of disaster, even though it had a great cast. But even Christian Bale and Sam Worthington could not save this movie from gaining the hate that it deserved. But wait, that’s not all folks! Sam Worthington plays the character of Marcus Wright, who thinks he is a human but is actually a machine. How do I know that without watching the movie? Because I saw the trailer. That plot point is supposed to serve as a twist about midway through the movie-but apparently such twists are not important enough, and can be given away in trailers.
The trailers of a movie are supposed to evoke the interest of a moviegoer-it should appeal to him, but there should still be a little bit of curiosity in the moviegoer so that he is ready to go and pay the price of admission. There have been some excellent trailers recently that have not really given away anything about the movie but basic plot points.
X Men Days Of Future Past had three trailers, all of which only gave away the basic plot points. While some were afraid that the death of Storm was shown in the trailer and so that was spoiled, it was later realized that that was not a spoiler in any ways. As a matter of fact, the best scenes of the movie were only teased in the trailer, but never spoiled.
Another example is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only was the trailer a damn good one, but it also didn’t give away who the Winter Soldier was. Even though most comic books fans were bound to know who he was, the marketing team respected the fact that not everyone knew it, and so the trailer did create a sense of suspense.
There are also instances when trailers mislead the viewer. Drive was directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and is considered a cult classic. However, the trailer made it feel like a an action movie, and so most people had a completely different view of Drive while going into the movie. The movie is definitely a masterpiece, but the trailer has gained some controversy. As a matter of fact, a woman from Michigan had sued the distributing company for the movie, claiming, that the trailer made her feel that the movie was very similar to the Fast and Furious movies, and hence had been wrongly marketed. However, her case was overruled. Wall-E and Lost In Translation are some, among many other movies, that have gained heat for misleading audiences by their trailers.
It is astounding as to how filmmakers invest so much of their time, money and heart into making a movie, but don’t give much time thinking about the first footage that the audiences will get to watch. Movie trailers nowadays are being made more to get your attention and impress you, rather than convey to you truthfully what the movie is about. Definitely this is a big letdown for all movie geeks/nerds and casual movie fans alike.
What according to you are some movie trailers that have misled you or spoiled the movie for you? Comment below and let us know your grievances, or for that matter trailers that according to you are picture perfect.