Here Are 29 Movie Trailers That Really Sold Their Movies

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We recently asked movie lovers in the BuzzFeed Community to name a movie that they felt had a better trailer than a final product. Here are some of the responses:

1. Sucker Punch (2011)

Sucker Punch had one of the coolest trailers ever. While I am still a fan of the movie (can't help but love badass women in cool clothes), the trailer was ten times more epic.

—amandav4bb8241e2

2. Lucy (2014)

Universal Pictures

Scarlett Johansson's an amazing action actor and the premise was awesome, but there was something missing, or maybe they tried to wrap up (the plot) too hastily.

—jeanettec439d752da

3. Abduction (2011)

Lionsgate Entertainment

That damn Taylor Lautner movie. It came out on my birthday and I was so excited.

—savannae2

4. Click (2006)

Columbia Pictues

I was expecting an Adam Sandler comedy, not a movie that rips your heart out only to have it all be a joke in the end. I respect the message, but I wanted the funny.

—aubreyraynet

5. Gamer (2009)

Lionsgate Entertainment

Hands down the trailer for Gamer was amazing. Michael C. Hall in the trailer gave me chills while Marilyn Manson performing "Sweet Dreams" made it seem badass.

—candicel4693a4d12

6. The Family Stone (2005)

20th Century Fox

The trailer lures you in with Sarah Jessica Parker playing the quirky, uptight girlfriend coming home to meet the family for the holidays. The family obviously disapproves! She offends them! Wacky sibling hi-jinx ensue! But then BAM! Diane Keaton has cancer! She dies! WHY? WHY?! ARE YOU THERE GOD ITS ME MARGET, WHY?! Worst trailer representation of a movie ever.

—krisp41c399978

7. Atomic Blonde (2017)

Focus Features

It was a great movie, and I LOVE it. I've seen it in theatres three times now, but the trailer was the best-edited trailer I have ever seen in my life. It pumped me up almost as much as the entirety of Wonder Woman.

—alexbc2

8. The Apparition (2012)

Warner Bros.

The Apparition with Ashley Greene got me excited when I saw its trailer. When I saw the actual movie I was disappointed, since I felt the trailer gave the idea of an entirely different movie.

—marcovargasg

9. Aloha (2015)

Sony Pictures

The way Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone stare at each other for .5 seconds in the trailer is better than the entire movie. That's all I want to watch. I swear to god, I still watch that trailer and get a little teary eyed.

—gracec43b3821c0

10. Pixels (2015)

Unbelievable cast. Awesome effects. Basically spent the entire actual movie in a stupor wondering how it could be so bad when the trailer was so awesome.

—roxanner40e19d31e

11. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

20th Century Fox

The movie was pretty good, but the trailer was so pretty and epic. It used "Dirty Paws" by Of Monsters and Men, and it gave me chills.

—sairacv13

12. Tron: Legacy (2010)

Walt Disney Studios

The Tron: Legacy trailer was so good, not to say that the movie was bad, but it didn't live up to the expectations that the trailer displayed.

—sevans13

13. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Focus Features

Sold as a motorcycle movie with Ryan Gosling (super into that). Actually a three act film about fatherhood (not so into that). Bradley Cooper was there too, so eh.

—halanii

14. Unfriended (2014)

Universal Pictures

The trailer had me really excited and intrigued, but it was just nonstop screaming the entire movie.

—eab17

15. Clash of the Titans (2010)

Warner Bros.

That trailer with the instrumental of "Bird and the Worm" is still the coolest thing I've ever seen. Then, when I actually watched the movie, I realized I should've just watched that trailer on loop for two hours instead.

—calliej4f6dbf871

16. Baby Driver (2017)

TriStar Pictures

While the movie itself was great, the trailer for Baby Driver was probably one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Editing, cinematography, the soundtrack— absolute perfection.

—allisons33

17. Joy (2015)

20th Century Fox

When "You Can't Always Get What You Want" starts I always get chills. I watched that trailer way too many times. The part where it looks like Bradley Cooper is conducting the music KILLS ME. The movie just didn't do that damn trailer justice. That trailer is art. —audreybochsler

18. Stomp The Yard (2007)

Rainforest Films

I really thought that Chris Brown was the star and he'd play a prominent role in the film. 14 year old me was so excited since he was my favorite at the time (this was before the Rihanna incident). When they killed him off in the first minute of the movie, I almost walked out of the theater. It was a decent movie, but that first scene just kind of ruined the rest for me.

—laurentees

19. Man of Steel (2013)

Warner Bros.

The Man of Steel teaser trailer. Superman is one of my favorite superheroes (I love the genuine good guys who espouse hope and justice and I don't find them boring at all) and I had a lot riding on this movie. When I saw this teaser trailer, I had chills. From The Lord of the Rings music (seriously, look it up), to Russell Crowe's beautiful narration, I felt the warmth and hope I want from all my Superman movies. Plus, what Jor-El says in the teaser is an altered version of my favorite quote about Superman from my favorite Superman comic, Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman. And realizing that, I was completely in love and so on board. And then... the movie was not only a disappointment, it went completely against everything this trailer presented and all I believe Superman to be. It was pretty crushing, I have to admit.

—anyac421cbfae4

20. Across the Universe (2007)

Sony Pictures

The trailer builds it up like a fantastic Beatles montage that makes you want to swoon. The movie itself was good, but there's something about the perfection of the trailer that's hard to top.

—janem4a7311686

21. The Theory of Everything (2014)

Focus Features

The trailer made me cry for a solid five minutes because of the music, along with the emotional scenes of Steven Hawkins' illness progressing while his wife sticks by his side. It all works so well together. Not that the movie isn't good, it just didn't make me cry as much as the trailer.

—jessicak411e32390

22. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Paramount Pictures

So well done, using Kanye West's "Black Skinhead". Yes, the movie was good, albeit three hours, but the trailer was incredible!

—christinah48c4abf49

23. The Stepford Wives (2004)

Paramount Pictures

The teaser trailer had a beautiful, sleek, minimalist feel that implied the film would bring the sci-fi thriller into a contemporary setting, but instead we got a slapstick spoof of the original.

—matters

24. The Visit (2015)

Blumhouse Pictures

It was set up to be this sweet little visit with dear old grandma and grandpa...except grandma has lost her shit and grandpa is in denial. The trailer had me captivated and feeling like it would be an awesome horror movie.

Let me just say I walked out of my local cinema PISSED that my fiancé and I wasted $20 to watch that atrocity. The script, the acting... awful. Just awful. HOWEVER DAT PLOT TWIST THO! The only redeeming moment of the entire film.

—christinat4d59744e6

25. The Village (2004)

Touchstone Pictures

The trailer made it look like it was going to be M. Night Shyamalan's scariest film ever.

—christinap4fa9d6b8b

26. Goodnight Mommy (2014)

Dimension Films

One of the absolute scariest trailers I've even seen. The movie was okay.

—aamrofchak

27. John Carter (2012)

Walt Disney Studios

The editing, the showcasing of great visual effects, the set design, and using Peter Gabriel's cover of "My Body Is A Cage" were inspired. That trailer elevated essentially every aspect of that movie. This still actively bugs the hell out of me years me later.

—abbyj6

28. Watchmen (2009)

That movie looked stylish and epic as hell. It was exactly what I imagined after reading the graphic novel.

—bmw448

29. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)

LucasFilm

We all waited years for the next Star Wars movie. We even paid to see the original trilogy remastered. When the trailer dropped, it was amazing. New aliens, new worlds, actors we liked. It amped all us Star Wars fans up to insane levels.

Then we saw the actual movie and got Jar Jar Binks. Thanks, George Lucas.

—auriellis

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