People Are Sharing Movies That Were Drastically Different Than Their Trailers Marketed Them To Be

"I’ll answer this on behalf of my late mother, who I went to see Thelma & Louise with because she thought it was a 'wacky female roadtrip adventure comedy' from the commercials."

Recently, in a thread on the subreddit r/movies, redditor u/sonofwelk asked for fans to name some "films that were completely different to the trailers," and movie lovers really came through with some great responses!

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So, with that in mind, here are just a few of the most popular responses shared:

1. Downsizing (2017)

© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

"A modern comedy take on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? No. A confusing climate change apocalypse movie."

—u/Hawkmek

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com

2. About Time (2013)

Murray Close/©Universal / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer made it seem like it's entirely a pure 'get the girl' rom-com."

—u/lysflatheaven

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

3. Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

©Buena Vista Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailers implied that it was going to be a whimsical children's fantasy film, similar to Narnia. In reality, it was a coming of age tale dealing with sudden death and loss. I read the book when I was a kid, so I was thrown off when I first saw the trailer. Based on the trailers, I thought they took Terabithia literally and made a movie about the place. I'm glad that I was wrong, as the movie is basically a shot for shot adaptation of the book, just set in the mid-2000s instead of the '70s."

—u/ZombieJesus1987

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Buena Vista Pictures / Via youtube.com

4. Kangaroo Jack (2003)

(c) Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection

"Its hilarious that whenever this subject comes up, this absurd movie that bombed that everybody immediately forgot about comes up again and again. I'm guessing it's because my whole generation were kids at that age, saw the trailer, and were super into the idea of a talking, risqué kangaroo, and got really pissed when the whole trailer turned out to just be about a five-minute dream sequence in the movie itself."

—u/RKU69

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Warner Bros.

5. Godzilla (2014)

Kimberley French/©Warner Bros. Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer was about 50% Bryan Cranston, who was super-popular after Breaking Bad. You'd think he was actually the protagonist, but if you watch the movie, he's only got a few scenes."

—u/barriekansai

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

6. Hancock (2008)

©Sony Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"Hancock isn’t about a drunk superhero like it seems in the trailer. Instead, he's a drunk angel. It’s weird."

—u/Wiger_King

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com

7. The Grey (2011)

Kimberly French/©Open Road Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailers made it seem like 'It's Taken...WITH WOLVES!' Instead, it's a bleak existential drama. Very strange experience."

—u/Penguininamansbody

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Open Road Films / Via youtube.com

8. Antebellum (2020)

Matt Kennedy /© Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer manipulated movie footage to create the illusion of supernatural or sci-fi elements. There was nothing like that in the actual movie. For example, the little girl in the hotel hallway was manipulated to look like a ghost in the trailer. In the movie, she was actually just a normal little girl. The glitching airplane flying over the cotton field in the trailer indicated time travel or parallel universes, but it was just a normal airplane in present day. There was no glitching in the movie."

—u/Dear-Bandicoot7087

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Lionsgate / Via youtube.com

9. Sucker Punch (2011)

Clay Enos/©Warner Bros. Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

"I only recently watched it, but it looked like a simple movie when I saw the trailer. On actually seeing it, I think I was surprised by how much it was just a series of music videos. There’s a plot, but it’s not particularly engaging between the long segment parts."

—u/TheGRS

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

10. Drive (2011)

Richard Foreman Jr/©FilmDistric/Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailers made it out to be a car chase centric thrill ride. In reality, all car scenes were shown in their entirety in the trailers."

—u/MaximumOverfart

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Film District / Via youtube.com

11. Adventureland (2009)

Miramax / ©Miramax/Courtesy Everett Collection

"It was sold as a dumb boner comedy, but it's much better than any of those types of films. I think it's one of the best films of 2009."

—u/More_Asbestos

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Miramax / Via youtube.com

12. Jarhead (2005)

(c) Universal / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailers made it out to be a Gulf War-era testosterone-laced action romp. This was insane given the minimal amount of action shown in any of the trailers. In reality, what we got was a deep character study on the futility and 'shut up and wait' aspect of war. To be clear, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, especially during subsequent viewings once my expectations were fully tempered."

—u/shaoting

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

13. Stranger than Fiction (2006)

(c) Sony Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer included all of the comedy scenes from the movie and made it seem like it was a wacky story because it starred Will Ferrell. The movie is actually quite serious for the premise, and Will Ferrell delivered a wonderful dramatic performance."

—u/jordanclock

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com

14. Thelma & Louise (1991)

© MGM / courtesy Everett Collection

"I’ll answer this on behalf of my late mother, who I went to see this movie with because she thought it was 'a wacky female roadtrip adventure comedy' from the commercials. Wrong."

—u/usarasa

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

MGM / Via youtube.com

15. 500 Days of Summer (2009)

©Fox Searchlight. All rights reserved / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer made it look much funnier and more light-hearted."

—u/Hipster_Communist

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Fox Searchlight / Via youtube.com

16. Halloween Ends (2022)

Ryan Green /© Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"There is so much cut content in the trailers."

—u/Phyliinx

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

17. Loser (2000)

(c) Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection

"The movie with Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari is one I have been thinking about recently. I remember seeing the trailer in the early 2000s and thought it looked like a typical college rom-com with some American Pie humor, but the film turned out to be quite humorless and actually dark in places."

—u/sonofwelk

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Columbia Pictures / Via youtube.com

18. Click (2006)

©Sony Pictures/ Courtesy Everett Collection

"I thought it was just another Adam Sandler goofball comedy where he could control time. Instead, I bawled my eyes out the last 20 minutes."

—u/cofasians

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Sony Pictures / Via youtube.com

19. Fight Club (1999)

© 20th Century Fox Film Corp. / courtesy Everett Collection

"This one comes to mind. Obviously, they wouldn’t want to give away the twist, but the trailer made it look like just a bunch of guys who organized bar fights."

—u/brokeneckblues

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

20th Century Fox Film / Via youtube.com

20. Galaxy Quest (1999)

(c)DreamWorks / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer basically promoted it as a kids movie, but in reality, it’s the best Star Trek movie ever made."

—u/seattle_lite90

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

DreamWorks / Via youtube.com

21. In Bruges (2008)

Focus Features / ©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer makes it look like a goofy crime comedy when it's an incredibly bleak (but still hilarious) dark comedy."

—u/tommy_the_tit

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Focus Features / Via youtube.com

22. Happy Feet (2006)

©Warner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailers were happy-go-lucky and cute. The film was that, too, but also big and weird and sad and genuinely experimental, especially for a big-budget studio animated film. For some (like myself), it really worked. For others, it came off as confrontational and 'too much for a children's film.' Having talked to people that worked on it, this was intentional because they had no idea how to market the movie's wildly varying tone, or its darker sequences, or its religious and environmentalist subtexts, so they culled most of the stuff from the first 30 minutes and went with what was safest."

—u/JeffBaugh2

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

23. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Jack English/©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

"I think the trailer showed most of the 'action,' and it was a lot slower paced in reality. A couple near us got up and walked out declaring it 'shit' as they walked by. I still enjoyed it."

—u/fiasko82

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Focus Features / Via youtube.com

24. Mother! (2017)

© Paramount Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer sold me a creepy thriller, but I got zero thriller. Instead, it was two thirds of a movie and one third of a PowerPoint presentation."

—u/JohnnyJayce

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com

25. Flight (2012)

©Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

"I thought it was going to be some corporate cover-up that gets pinned on Denzel Washington and he has to uncover it to prove his innocence. Turned out to be about alcoholism."

—u/DistantPattern

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com

26. Observe and Report (2009)

©Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer made it seem like a really silly comedy, but it was much darker. A YouTube comment I saw once referred to it as, 'What if Taxi Driver was a comedy?' and I agree with that. I found it to be way less funny and way more uncomfortable than the trailer made it out to be."

—u/CrystalPancakes

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

27. Crimson Peak (2015)

Kerry Hayes/©Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

"I was really disappointed with this movie. The trailer made it look like a really cool ghost story, but it has almost nothing to do with ghosts."

—u/nlmf

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

28. The Descendants (2011)

©Fox Searchlight Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer made it seem like a light, heartfelt comedy with George Clooney hiding in bushes and running around. Instead, it was a heartbreaking drama about loss, regret, and dysfunctional family."

—u/gogojack

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Fox Searchlight Pictures / Via youtube.com

29. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)

Atsushi Nishijima/©Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer I remember seeing made it look like bank robbery was the central theme, but that was, like, 10 minutes of it."

—u/bluebadge

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Focus Features / Via youtube.com

30. The Green Knight (2021)

Eric Zachanowich / © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection

"The trailer completely misrepresents the main character's arc. The trailers make it seem like he's a noble knight on a quest to prove his nobility. In the actual movie, he's a naive moron in completely over his head."

—u/Stepjam

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

A24 / Via youtube.com

31. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

© 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection.

"I remember the trailer didn't make it very obvious that it was a musical."

—u/JJMcGee83

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com

32. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

(c) Focus Features / courtesy Everett Collection

"This had trailers that made it look like a goofy Jim Carrey comedy. It is not."

—u/nuclearlemonade

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Focus Features / Via youtube.com

And finally:

33. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

©Fox Searchlight / courtesy Everett Collection

"Not a trailer, but I remember a bus advertising for this movie in the UK tagged it as 'The feel-good movie of the year.' Yeah, that’s a 'no.'"

—u/Character-Ad3913

You can watch the (somewhat misleading) trailer here:

Fox Searchlight / Via youtube.com

You've read their picks, but now it's your turn! What's a movie you felt turned out drastically different than its trailer led you to believe? Share in the comments below!

Some responses were edited for length and/or clarity. H/T: Reddit.