15 Times Hollywood Made Trailers So Misleading, Audiences Actually Got Pissed

Movie studios sure love doing the ol' bait and switch.

I assume it's pretty difficult to market a movie. You have to create trailers that give just enough away to pique audiences' interest but don't give too much away, so as to spoil the movie. And, of course, you have to accurately represent the film, right?

New Line Cinema / Via giphy.com

Well, sometimes, in order to reach a broader audience and make the most amount of money, production companies completely forget about that last one and make trailers that are just...wrong.

Showtime / Via tenor.com

Sometimes they create trailers that suggest a movie is an entirely different genre or has an entirely different tone. Or they take out-of-context scenes or quotes and form a false narrative. Or, even worse, they shoot new scenes just for the trailer, all while having no intention of putting them in the movie.

HBO / Via tenor.com

This happens pretty often, and with some big movies, too. Here are 15 examples of movies with very misleading trailers:

1. Yesterday (2019)

Universal Pictures

The trailer for the 2019 movie Yesterday teases a scene where the main character, Jack, and another character, played by Ana de Armas, are guests on The Late Late Show With James Corden. However, in the actual movie, there is no such scene. In fact, de Armas never shows up at all, as she was cut from the film.

Well, back in January 2022, two de Armas fans filed a $5 million lawsuit against Universal for this exact reason after renting the film, assuming that the actor would appear in it. In December, a judge rejected Universal’s request to dismiss the case, saying that the movie studio “is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer.” The lawsuit is ongoing.

You can watch the trailer below:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

2. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Warner Bros. Pictures

This is a perfect example of how sometimes a trailer fails to capture the tone or spirit of a movie, effectively turning its audience away. The trailer makes it seem like Edge of Tomorrow is dark, depressing, generic, and devoid of any humor. Of course, a few minutes into the movie, you can already tell that's not the case. 

This movie is fun and unique. Everyone's performances are so good, including Bill Paxton's (which, for some reason, was completely downplayed in the trailer and reduced to a line or two of what seems like serious dialogue, even though he's completely hamming it up in the movie).

You can watch the original trailer below:

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

3. Jennifer's Body (2009)

20th Century Studios

This may be seen as an essential feminist horror film now, but when Jennifer's Body was released, the marketing made it seem as if it was gonna be some sort of exploitative, male-gaze, teen sex movie.

The filmmakers were pretty upset when they saw how their film was being marketed. Karyn Kusama, the director of the film, even told BuzzFeed News that one of the marketing ideas was for Megan Fox to "host an amateur porn site to promote the film." Karyn and writer Diablo Cody reached out for an explanation of the misleading marketing and received this crude email in response: “Jennifer sexy, she steal your boyfriend."

You can watch the original trailer below:

20th Century Studios / Via youtube.com

4. Drive (2011)

FilmDistrict

Drive was marketed as a Fast and the Furious–type action movie but is actually more of a modern noir film. So when one Michigan woman saw the movie, she complained that it contained "very little driving" and "bore very little similarity to a chase or race action film." Naturally, she sued the distributor.

A better marketing campaign would have been a two-and-a-half-minute trailer of uncut footage of Ryan Gosling driving his '73 Chevy Malibu at night through a neon-lit city listening to "A Real Hero" by Electric Youth. But that's just me.

You can watch the original trailer below:

FilmDistrict / Via youtube.com

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Universal Pictures

The marketing team for this movie was, I'm assuming, trying to reach Jim Carrey's Liar Liar fans or something. I mean, the trailer for this movie realllly makes it seems like a goofy, feel-good comedy, but it's...um, you know, NOT that. It doesn't exactly fit into one specific genre; it's kind of a romance and kind of a sci-fi drama with elements of comedy. But it's definitely an *emotional* and existential look at relationships, memories, and pain.

You can watch the original trailer below:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

6. Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

Disney

The trailer for this movie is not only misleading but is also just not good. It reveals nothing about the plot or the characters, and it's hard even to stay focused on the less than two-minute ad because it's basically just random shots of a forest with CGI creatures. The actual movie, based on a novel of the same name, is a coming-of-age story about a young kid, Jess, who, while struggling with his father, his family's lack of money, and school bullies, forms a close friendship with the new girl at school and then, shortly after, has to deal with her death. There are scenes that take place in the CGI-riddled forest (named Terabithia), of course, but the movie is "grounded in reality far more than in fantasy."

You can watch the original trailer below:

Disney / Via youtube.com

7. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Universal Pictures

The trailer for Fast Times boasts that it's a movie about "everything you always wanted to do in high school with everyone you always wanted to do it with." It appears to be a slapstick sex comedy in the vein of Porky's or Animal House. It also introduces four supporting characters as if they were the protagonists. 

The actual movie, however, is more of a coming-of-age story about a teen named Stacy (who's not even mentioned in the trailer) and her exploration of sex. It depicts a much more realistic view of sex than a normal '80s teen sex romp and even includes a "low-key and authentic" abortion scene.

You can watch the original trailer below:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

8. Kangaroo Jack (2003)

Warner Bros. Pictures

The marketing for Kangaroo Jack presented it as a fun kids movie about a talking kangaroo. Shortly after the film's release, it was clear the movie was not what it had appeared to be. Critics even warned parents not to bring their kids to see it, as it was "too crude, violent and offensive for younger viewers."

Turns out, Kangaroo Jack was originally a much more mature movie with "a lot of cursing" and "a lot of sex." After poor test screenings, the filmmakers edited it into what they thought was appropriate for kids. They really played up the kangaroo aspect too, even though the animal is barely in the film and doesn't really talk. The part in the trailer where it talks (and raps) is just a dream sequence.

You can watch the original trailer below:

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

9. Catfish (2010)

Universal Pictures

The marketing for the 2010 documentary Catfish suggests the film is horror. The trailer essentially shows a found-footage horror movie: A group of friends, happy and smiling, pack their filmmaking gear, go on a road trip, discover something is amiss, and investigate, and eventually things become chaotic. There's even a quote from a critic in the trailer who compares the film to Hitchcock movies. 

While Catfish is suspenseful, it's far from horror. The movie was released right in the midst of the found-footage era, just a few years after Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield and two years before Chronicle. Either the marketing team wanted to appeal to that sort of crowd or they intentionally misled us in order to echo what happens to the filmmakers in the documentary. Either way, it worked. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and it even launched a TV series of the same name.

You can watch the original trailer below:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

10. Red Eye (2005)

DreamWorks Pictures

The ads for Red Eye were all intentionally misleading...at first. Each of the trailers for the film begins as if Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy are having a meet-cute at the airport, with music and dialogue that makes it seem like a romantic comedy. The tone quickly shifts as they get on the airplane and Murphy's character reveals he's a villain and this movie is actually a thriller. But this isn't why the movie is on this list, because even though we were misled at first, we're eventually told the truth.

Red Eye is on this list because in one specific trailer, after the big villainous reveal, the marketing team decided to digitally alter Murphy's eyes to glow red, suggesting that this is a supernatural horror film. It's not; it's a thriller about a domestic terrorist (Murphy) who blackmails a hotel manager (McAdams) into switching the hotel room of the US deputy secretary of homeland security in order to assassinate him. Regular humans' eyes don't glow red, so interesting choice for a film about regular humans.

You can watch the original trailer below:

DreamWorks Pictures / Via youtube.com

11. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2006)

Warner Bros. Pictures

When the trailer was first released for Sweeney Todd, I'm sure a lot of Stephen Sondheim fans were super confused. The trailer, and even the print ads, made no mention of the fact that this was a musical. There are a few seconds in the middle of the trailer where Johnny Depp sort of talk-sings, but considering how this movie is almost entirely made up of singing, it seems the marketing team took the very little dialogue from the movie, shoved it into the trailer, and tried to pass this off as a Tim Burton slasher.

So, of course, horror fans were pissed when they sat down in theaters and realized what they had just bought tickets to. People walked out of theaters, and complaints were even made to the UK's Trading Standards agency for consumers and the Advertising Standards Authority. The Sweeney Todd debacle is seen as "one of the biggest bait-and-switch marketing schemes in movie history."

You can watch the original trailer below:

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

12. Black Christmas (2006)

20th Century Studios

The trailer for this horror film featured scenes that weren't in the movie. This isn't uncommon, especially when a movie's not even finished with its final edits. Unfortunately, that wasn't really the case with Black Christmas. The production company actually shot brand-new scenes specifically to use in the trailer. 

Distributors called the director, Glen Morgan, and asked if they could do some extra "shots for TV spots — ornaments and stuff," according to the director. Instead, they added a new character, a scene involving a hand shooting up out of frozen ice, and Michelle Trachtenberg wielding a shotgun and saying, “Merry Christmas, motherfucker!” So we (and the director) were completely lied to.

You can watch the original trailer below:

20th Century Studios / Via youtube.com

13. Predators (2010)

20th Century Studios

When fans went to see Predators in theaters, they were expecting a scene where Adrien Brody's character is covered in 15 laser targets, presumably from 15 different Predators, as seen in the trailer. However, in the actual movie, there's one single laser target on him from one single Predator. The shot is identical, save for the number of lasers, so this was clearly a tactic added just for the trailer to get people talking, and thus get more ticket sales.

Yes, this seems to be smaller-scale deception compared with the others on this list, but that shot from the trailer set up certain expectations. And when the movie failed to meet those expectations, audiences felt tricked. So even if they loved the movie, they definitely left theaters with a bad taste in their mouths.

You can watch the original trailer below:

20th Century Studios / Via youtube.com

14. Fantastic Four (2015)

20th Century Studios

The production of this movie was wrought with problems from the start. During filming, the producers rewrote the script and completely changed the ending. Then 20th Century Fox demanded heavy reshoots. So it's no surprise that the marketing was a big ol' mess too.

After too much studio involvement, we were left with a trailer full of scenes that never made it into the final cut of the movie. It was later revealed that "even the most popular image of the Thing, put out by the studio, didn't appear in the finished product."

You can see which scenes from the trailer didn't make the cut here.

You can watch the original trailer below:

20th Century Studios / Via youtube.com

15. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Paramount Pictures

The original theatrical trailer for Ferris Bueller apparently shows us two siblings we didn't know Ferris even had. In the movie, we're introduced to Jeanie, Ferris's younger teenage sister, but he originally had another younger sister and a younger brother.

This is definitely the least divisive one on this list, and in the grand scheme of things, I'm sure people didn't leave the theater mad (except maybe the actors whose scenes were cut).

You can watch the original trailer below:

Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com

Have you ever been misled by a movie trailer? If so, which one? Let us know in the comments!