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* ''Film/FightingForMyFamily'' features Wrestling/DwayneJohnson on the poster. He only appears in three scenes (AsHimself no less, as the movie is the biopic of a wrestler/).
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* ''Film/FightingForMyFamily'' ''Film/FightingWithMyFamily'' features Wrestling/DwayneJohnson on the poster. He only appears in three scenes (AsHimself no less, as the movie is the biopic of [[Wrestling/{{Paige}} a wrestler/).wrestler]]).
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/DCLeagueOfSuperPets'' (which features Batman in a supporting role) both coming out in 2022 and the confirmation that ''Film/TheFlash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''four'' cinematic Batmen in theaters in 2022-2023. That’s not even counting the SpinOff projects for Creator/HBOMax, such as the live-action ''Film/{{Batgirl}}'' movie (which also features Keaton’s Batman in a supporting role) or a prequel series focused on the Penguin.
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/DCLeagueOfSuperPets'' (which features Batman in a supporting role) both coming out in 2022 and the confirmation that ''Film/TheFlash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''four'' cinematic Batmen in theaters in 2022-2023. That’s not even counting The first poster for the SpinOff projects for Creator/HBOMax, such as the live-action ''Film/{{Batgirl}}'' aforementioned ''Flash'' movie (which also prominently features Keaton’s Batman in a supporting role) or a prequel series focused on both the Penguin.Batcave and the [[CoolPlane Batwing]], making it clear that Batman's presence is being touted as one of the major selling points.
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* The undisputed king of Wolverine Publicity in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe has to be Darthwiki/DarthVader -- this trope could have well been called "Vader Publicity". Even when the main focus of Lucasfilm's marketing is a series that doesn't involve Vader as a Sith Lord, such as the first two prequels or ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', one can be absolutely sure to see zillions of different products featuring Vader in the current merchandising line. Often, original trilogy characters are included in the line, or the line itself becomes partly original trilogy-focused, for the sake of including Vader merchandise. One can also expect a cameo or two from the Sith Lord in some form in the media itself (such as a vision to his former self Anakin in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''), or at least a new character that happens to be a blatant {{Expy}} (such as Darth Malak in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'').
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* The undisputed king of Wolverine Publicity in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe has to be Darthwiki/DarthVader Darth Vader -- this trope could have well been called "Vader Publicity". Even when the main focus of Lucasfilm's marketing is a series that doesn't involve Vader as a Sith Lord, such as the first two prequels or ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', one can be absolutely sure to see zillions of different products featuring Vader in the current merchandising line. Often, original trilogy characters are included in the line, or the line itself becomes partly original trilogy-focused, for the sake of including Vader merchandise. One can also expect a cameo or two from the Sith Lord in some form in the media itself (such as a vision to his former self Anakin in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''), or at least a new character that happens to be a blatant {{Expy}} (such as Darth Malak in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'').
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* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' suffered this in some countries, tackling Snoopy and Charlie Brown's names in the beginning of the title, easily the two most popular characters. While Charlie Brown is easily the lead character in the film, Snoopy suffers from this (possibly as a whole for the franchise), being a supporting character at best.
** It's not so much that the advertising is wrong as rather that the strip is ''literally not called "Peanuts"'' in some foreign markets where it exists.
** It's not so much that the advertising is wrong as rather that the strip is ''literally not called "Peanuts"'' in some foreign markets where it exists.
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* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' suffered this in some countries, tackling Snoopy and Charlie Brown's names in the beginning of the title, easily the two most popular characters. While Charlie Brown is easily the lead character in the film, Snoopy suffers from this (possibly as a whole for the franchise), being a supporting character at best.
** It's not so much that the advertisingbest (though this is wrong as rather that mostly because the strip is ''literally not called "Peanuts"'' "Peanuts" in some foreign markets where it exists.markets).
** It's not so much that the advertising
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* ''Film/TheGuyver'' is absolutely '''shameless''' about this. In the old VHS and DVD covers, Creator/MarkHamill's face is next to the Guyver's and his name is given top billing, making people believe that he becomes the Guyver. This never happens.
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* ''Film/TheGuyver'' is absolutely '''shameless''' about this. In the old VHS and DVD covers, Creator/MarkHamill's face is next to the Guyver's front and center and his name is given top billing, making people believe that he becomes the Guyver. This never happens.
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* ''Film/TheGuyver'' is absolutely '''shameless''' about this. In the old VHS and DVD covers, Creator/MarkHamill's face is next to the Guyver's and his name is given top billing, making people believe that he becomes the Guyver. This never happens.
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** In the original pitch for ''Film/RogueOne'', Vader had a single minor appearance with no dialogue. The execs requested that his part be beefed up, so he was given dialogue [[spoiler: and a truly spectacular action scene at the end of the movie]]. [[EvilOverlooker His helmet is also featured prominently on the movie's poster]], and is actually larger than many of the ''main characters''. [[spoiler:Coincidentally, he's the only character in the poster [[KillEmAll that doesn't die]].]]
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** In the original pitch for ''Film/RogueOne'', Vader had a single minor appearance with no dialogue. The execs requested that his part be beefed up, so he was given dialogue [[spoiler: and a truly spectacular action scene at the end of the movie]]. [[EvilOverlooker His helmet is also featured prominently on the movie's poster]], and is actually larger than many of the ''main characters''. [[spoiler:Coincidentally, he's the only character in the poster [[KillEmAll [[EveryoneDiesEnding that doesn't die]].]]
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the show.
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the show. In the actual film, [[spoiler:she's the BigBad, with the events of the show influencing her FaceHeelTurn.]]
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** A case of Marvel outside the MCU piggybacking on the bigger franchise happened with ''Film/{{Morbius}}'', which is set in Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse, yet in one trailer showed the Vulture from ''Spider-Man: Homecoming'' to tease a connection between the 'verses. (Adrian Toomes does appear in the film, in a [[TheStinger post-credits scene]] widely derided for [[AssPull not making any sense]])
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' coming out in 2022 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen in 2021-2022 (Affleck again in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'').
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/DCLeagueOfSuperPets'' (which features Batman in a supporting role) both coming out in 2022 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' ''Film/TheFlash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' ''four'' cinematic Batmen in 2021-2022 (Affleck again theaters in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'').2022-2023. That’s not even counting the SpinOff projects for Creator/HBOMax, such as the live-action ''Film/{{Batgirl}}'' movie (which also features Keaton’s Batman in a supporting role) or a prequel series focused on the Penguin.
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the show.
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the show.
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the TV show.
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** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the TV show.
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** This trend popped up again in the marketing for ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', which used unrelated footage of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk for some of the TV spots.
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** This trend popped up again in the marketing for ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', which used unrelated footage of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk for some of the TV spots. ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', released the same year, would do something similar, with some of the TV spots for the film using shots of popular Marvel characters like the Avengers and Spider-Man, even though none of them actually appear in the movie.
** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the TV show.
** After the massive success of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'', the marketing for ''Film/DoctorStrangInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' heavily featured Creator/ElizabethOlsen as Comicbook/ScarletWitch, complete with the first two trailers making sure to explicitly reference the events of the TV show.
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Removing link to Darth Vader Clone per: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1637766526064200700&page=1
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** The original ''Star Wars'' movies were the rise, fall and redemption of Darth Vader - the last part meaning [[RedemptionEqualsDeath he dies in the last one]]. Well, once Disney decided to make more movies, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' just had to include Vader's destroyed helmet as early as the trailer and a DarthVaderClone as the villain (in-universe, a deliberate case of copycat, as it's [[spoiler: his grandson]] who also fell for the Dark Side).
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** The original ''Star Wars'' movies were the rise, fall and redemption of Darth Vader - the last part meaning [[RedemptionEqualsDeath he dies in the last one]]. Well, once Disney decided to make more movies, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' just had to include Vader's destroyed helmet as early as the trailer and a DarthVaderClone Darth Vader {{Expy}} as the villain (in-universe, a deliberate case of copycat, as it's [[spoiler: his grandson]] who also fell for the Dark Side).
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** Advertising for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' puts the spotlight on Film/IronMan, whose movies became the highest grossing in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, at the time. The Blu-Ray box art for the film shows Iron Man, Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}, Film/{{Thor}} and [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], the four Avengers who had their own movies prior to the big team-up. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and ComicBook/BlackWidow are completely absent.
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** Advertising for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' puts the spotlight on Film/IronMan, whose movies became the highest grossing in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, at the time. The Blu-Ray box art for the film shows Iron Man, Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}, Film/{{Thor}} and [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008 the Hulk]], the four Avengers who had their own movies prior to the big team-up. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and ComicBook/BlackWidow are completely absent.
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** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Comicbook/{{Shuri|Marvel Comics}}.
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** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Comicbook/{{Shuri|Marvel Comics}}.Comicbook/{{Shuri}}.
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** This trend popped up again in the marketing for ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'', which used unrelated footage of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk for some of the TV spots.
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Rewrote an entry.
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* Stitch the alien is represented in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'''s marketing more than the little girl Lilo, with [[https://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:LiloandStitchmovieposter.jpg the theatrical poster]] simply showing Stitch surrounded by other Creator/{{Disney}} characters, referencing the film's promotional campaign of Stitch hijacking iconic scenes from other Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon films.
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* The cute and fluffy blue alien Stitch the alien is represented in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'''s ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''[='=]s marketing much more than the little girl Lilo, Lilo Pelekai, with [[https://disney.wikia.fandom.com/wiki/File:LiloandStitchmovieposter.jpg the theatrical poster]] simply showing Stitch surrounded by other Creator/{{Disney}} characters, referencing the film's promotional campaign of Stitch hijacking iconic scenes from other Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon films. In fact, Stitch became so popular a character (and such a merchandising powerhouse) that not only did Disney make [[WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie three]] [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch sequel]] [[WesternAnimation/LeroyAndStitch films]] and [[WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries a cartoon TV series]] with him, but they also made [[Anime/{{Stitch}} three]] [[Animation/StitchAndAi spin-]][[Manga/StitchAndTheSamurai offs]] where Lilo was removed as a lead character. By TheNewTwenties, Disney even began rebranding [[Franchise/LiloAndStitch his franchise]] by shortening it to just his name.
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** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' is about video game characters, both original and already famous from other titles. So while the story only deals with Disney's original characters created for the film, a lot of posters prominently featured Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Zangief, M. Bison]], VideoGame/QBert, Clyde the VideoGame/PacMan Ghost, and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] in them, even though they only have seconds to minutes of screen time for each of them. Calhoun, one of the four major characters, didn't even make it onto the front cover of the DVD case because of all space taken up by the extras. In-Universe, it's PlayedForDrama[[spoiler:/Averted; Ralph seeing Vanellope's picture on the console is what causes him to realize that she is supposed to be in the game]].
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** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' is about video game characters, both original and already famous from other titles. So while the story only deals with Disney's original characters created for the film, a lot of posters prominently featured Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Zangief, M. Bison]], VideoGame/QBert, Clyde the VideoGame/PacMan ''VideoGame/PacMan'' Ghost, and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] in them, even though they only have seconds to minutes of screen time for each of them. Calhoun, one of the four major characters, didn't even make it onto the front cover of the DVD case because of all space taken up by the extras. In-Universe, it's PlayedForDrama[[spoiler:/Averted; Ralph seeing Vanellope's picture on the console is what causes him to realize that she is supposed to be in the game]].
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** It's not so much that the advertising is wrong as rather that the strip is ''literally not called "Peanuts"'' in some foreign markets where it exists.
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* Despite only being a secondary character in ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', Tinker Bell has been used to introduce just about every Disney TV special of the past several decades. Younger generations of kids might not even know why she's important!
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* DVD releases of ''Film/AShotInTheDark'' (which is the second entry in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' franchise) have the most peculiar and interesting case of this, through the means of having The Pink Panther on the cover, even though he does not appear in the film's animated opening credits.
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' coming out in 2021 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022 (plus Affleck again in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'').
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2022}}'' coming out in 2021 2022 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022 (plus Affleck in 2021-2022 (Affleck again in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'').
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Moved from the Breakout Character page.
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* Bing Bong, Riley's [[ImaginaryFriend imaginary friend]] from ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut'' became this because of the crucial role he plays in the film's plot and for being adorable and hilarious. It got to the point where his image was placed on Inside Out merchandise packaging, even if the product was not related to him at all.
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* Based on marketing, you would think Creator/DrewBarrymore was the main character of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', when in reality her character [[spoiler:dies several minutes into the movie.]] Despite this, she even received top billing on some promotional material (she was credited toward the end as [[AndStarring "And Drew Barrymore"]] in the actual film).[[note]]She ''was'' originally cast as the lead, Sidney, but due to scheduling issues she had to take the smaller role of Casey instead[[/note]] This was a marketing gimmick since they were paying homage to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' by killing off the supposed main character early on, shocking audiences.
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* Based on marketing, you would think Creator/DrewBarrymore was the main character of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', when in reality her character [[spoiler:dies [[spoiler:[[DeadStarWalking dies several minutes into the movie.movie]].]] Despite this, she even received top billing on some promotional material (she was credited toward the end as [[AndStarring "And Drew Barrymore"]] in the actual film).[[note]]She ''was'' originally cast as the lead, Sidney, but due to scheduling issues she had to take the smaller role of Casey instead[[/note]] This was a marketing gimmick since they were paying homage to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' by killing off the supposed main character early on, shocking audiences.
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%% * In addition to the {{Trope Namer|s}} [[Franchise/{{Wolverine}} himself]], ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' also features fan-favorites Wade Wilson and Gambit.
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* International advertisements and covers for ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' put a lot of emphasis on Raphael.
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* International advertisements and covers for ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' put a lot of emphasis on Raphael. Which is the character with the most focus, but nonetheless...
* ''Film/FightingForMyFamily'' features Wrestling/DwayneJohnson on the poster. He only appears in three scenes (AsHimself no less, as the movie is the biopic of a wrestler/).
* ''Film/FightingForMyFamily'' features Wrestling/DwayneJohnson on the poster. He only appears in three scenes (AsHimself no less, as the movie is the biopic of a wrestler/).
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2021}}'' coming out in 2021 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an alternate timeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022.
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** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2021}}'' Batman|2022}}'' coming out in 2021 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an alternate timeline), AlternateTimeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022.2022 (plus Affleck again in ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'').
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** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. No less than ''three'' SpinOff films were in various stages of development, and one of them, the adaptation of ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually titled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
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** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. No less than ''three'' SpinOff films were in various stages of development, development at one point, and one of them, the adaptation of ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually titled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
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** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. She currently has no less than ''three'' SpinOff films in various stages of development, and one of them, ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually retitled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
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** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. She currently has no No less than ''three'' SpinOff films were in various stages of development, and one of them, the adaptation of ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually retitled titled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
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** Franchise/WonderWoman has quickly become this for the DCEU following the massive success of [[Film/WonderWoman2017 her own movie]], as well as her well-received supporting part in the otherwise-panned ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Aside from the marketing for ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' greatly playing up her presence, the cover for the "Ultimate Edition" of ''Batman v. Superman'' made sure to [[https://blogs-images.forbes.com/johnarcher/files/2016/08/BatmanVSupermanUHDBDUSCoverArt.jpg feature her front and center]]. The same thing happened with [[https://i.imgur.com/I9KlsaG.jpg both the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD home releases]] of ''Justice League''. The trend has become so pronounced that the first teaser for ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' actually parodied it by opening with a shot of the Titans dressed in Wonder Woman costumes.
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** Franchise/WonderWoman has quickly become this for the DCEU following the massive success of [[Film/WonderWoman2017 her own movie]], as well as her well-received supporting part in the otherwise-panned ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Aside from the marketing for ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' greatly playing up her presence, the cover for the "Ultimate Edition" of ''Batman v. Superman'' made sure to [[https://blogs-images.forbes.com/johnarcher/files/2016/08/BatmanVSupermanUHDBDUSCoverArt.jpg feature her front and center]]. The same thing happened with [[https://i.imgur.com/I9KlsaG.[[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91331R4Xc3L._SL1500_.jpg both the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD home releases]] of ''Justice League''. The trend has become so pronounced that the first teaser for ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' actually parodied it by opening with a shot of the Titans dressed in Wonder Woman costumes.
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** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Shuri.
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** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Shuri.Comicbook/{{Shuri|Marvel Comics}}.
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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* The Blu-ray cover of ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' features the Queen in the front and center, in her hag form, with Snow White relegated to the bottom of the picture.
* Stitch the alien is represented in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'''s marketing more than the little girl Lilo, with [[https://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:LiloandStitchmovieposter.jpg the theatrical poster]] simply showing Stitch surrounded by other Creator/{{Disney}} characters, referencing the film's promotional campaign of Stitch hijacking iconic scenes from other Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon films.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfsAndTheMagicFlute'' was originally a ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'' film, but when Franchise/TheSmurfs became really popular the title was changed to make it look like they were the stars, even though the film really focused much more on Johan and Peewit.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' had megastar actor Creator/JohnGoodman providing the voice of Baloo the Bear, and ads for the movie loudly proclaimed "Baloo is back!", even though this story was supposed to be about Mowgli.
* ''Wreck-It Ralph'':
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' is about video game characters, both original and already famous from other titles. So while the story only deals with Disney's original characters created for the film, a lot of posters prominently featured Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Zangief, M. Bison]], VideoGame/QBert, Clyde the VideoGame/PacMan Ghost, and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] in them, even though they only have seconds to minutes of screen time for each of them. Calhoun, one of the four major characters, didn't even make it onto the front cover of the DVD case because of all space taken up by the extras. In-Universe, it's PlayedForDrama[[spoiler:/Averted; Ralph seeing Vanellope's picture on the console is what causes him to realize that she is supposed to be in the game]].
** Advertising for ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' really put emphasis on the scene featuring all the ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' girls together. This scene doesn't even occur until the middle of the film and is only a few minutes long. [[spoiler:As it turns out, it's more than just a funny gag. The princesses help save Ralph in the climax. They're still far from as prominent in the movie than they are in the marketing, though.]].
* The posters and covers of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' prominently featured Droopy, [[AdvertisedExtra despite his only getting a short cameo]]. One could even argue Tom and Jerry themselves were victims of this trope, since the movie wasn't really about them anyway [[HumanFocusedAdaptation but about a poor little orphan girl]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' animated shorts ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' and ''Secrets of the Masters'' are both advertised as being "brand new Po adventures" when they're actually about the Furious Five and the Master's Council. Po is just the narrator.
* For ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'', WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, who appears in the "Blame It On the Samba" sequence, receives some fanfare in the VHS trailer and is the only character on the DVD case. On the other hand, most theatrical posters, both domestic and international, prominently featured another character from a different segment, Pecos Bill.
* In the poster for ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'', the ProductPlacement characters are featured first and foremost on the film poster, even though the characters in question aren't featured prominently in the film.
* Promotional materials for ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' give the big adorable robot Baymax the most attention by far, with the theatrical poster only including him, and [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the Japanese title]] [[MarketBasedTitle changing to "ベイマックス" (Baymax)]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' suffered this in some countries, tackling Snoopy and Charlie Brown's names in the beginning of the title, easily the two most popular characters. While Charlie Brown is easily the lead character in the film, Snoopy suffers from this (possibly as a whole for the franchise), being a supporting character at best.
* ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'': While Creator/RobinWilliams plays a side role in this movie, his role is heavily featured in teasers, [[NeverTrustATrailer leading many to assume the film would be a wacky family comedy rather than the environmental drama it really was.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'' heavily advertised Creator/GeorgeTakei, to the point that in some trailers, he got higher billing than Creator/MatthewMcConaughey. In reality, [[AdvertisedExtra he played a minor villager in the beginning and end the film]].
* When Periwinkle became a BreakoutCharacter in the ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' movies ''just'' when Disney decided they were going to pull the plug on the franchise for low toy sales, the toy line decided to shove her into every line they had, elbowing out characters who had earned the spotlight she took. She barely appeared in ''The Pirate Fairy,'' but she was on more merchandise for it than Iridessa, Fawn, and Vidia combined, and all three were present and important to the plot; the same happened for ''Legend of the [=NeverBeast=].'' Peri might have started showing up more again in the movies too, but the ones after that were scrapped.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Creator/JackNicholson became (at the time) the highest-salaried actor in film history for his performance as ComicBook/TheJoker in ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'', even getting a share of the film's enormous box-office take. Creator/WarnerBros promoted him as the movie's main star on posters, on videotape boxes, and in the credits of the movie itself. This extended even to DC Comics' [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51xoXalpGyL._SX319_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg official adaptation]], which, despite being clearly titled ''Batman'', showed the Joker's face [[EvilOverlooker looming like a godlike apparition over Gotham City]], while a smaller image of Batman himself appears below.
* The American DVD cover of ''Film/InfernalAffairs'' shows Kelly Chen posing with a gun. At no point in the movie does she have a gun, or even an action scene. The two main characters get much less space on the cover. On the other hand, this might just be a case of SexSells. The Chinese [=DVDs=] rightly put Andy Lau and Tony Leung up front, but since fewer Americans know who any of them are, they decided to sex things up a bit.
* In at least one video store, in the French film section, there is a sub-section called "Films in which Creator/AudreyTautou has less screen time than the box art would suggest." There's also a [[CreepyChild "Non-Satanic Malevolent Children"]] section in Horror, but that's neither here nor there.
* "[[BruceLeeClone Bruceploitation]]" refers to the wave of Creator/BruceLee imitators, and Lee-style martial arts movies, that followed the superstar's death. Actors adopted stage names like Bruce Li, Bruce Lei, and Dragon Lee in an attempt to cash in on Lee Mania. Creator/JackieChan recalled how his early movie posters would say "the next BRUCE LEE, [--Jackie Chan--]," with Lee's name much larger than his own.
* The undisputed king of Wolverine Publicity in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe has to be Darthwiki/DarthVader -- this trope could have well been called "Vader Publicity". Even when the main focus of Lucasfilm's marketing is a series that doesn't involve Vader as a Sith Lord, such as the first two prequels or ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', one can be absolutely sure to see zillions of different products featuring Vader in the current merchandising line. Often, original trilogy characters are included in the line, or the line itself becomes partly original trilogy-focused, for the sake of including Vader merchandise. One can also expect a cameo or two from the Sith Lord in some form in the media itself (such as a vision to his former self Anakin in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''), or at least a new character that happens to be a blatant {{Expy}} (such as Darth Malak in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'').
** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' had a heavy marketing campaign focused on featuring Anakin finally becoming Darth Vader and his first chronological appearance in the Vader suit. While the movie ''does'' detail his turn to the dark side, he doesn't don the outfit until the very end of the movie.
** It's even parodied in ''LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace'' where throughout the movie, Darth Vader would appear out of nowhere to take center stage of a scene, only for a LEGO mini-figure of Creator/GeorgeLucas to call cut and tell Vader he's not in the movie because it takes place in the prequel era.
** The original ''Star Wars'' movies were the rise, fall and redemption of Darth Vader - the last part meaning [[RedemptionEqualsDeath he dies in the last one]]. Well, once Disney decided to make more movies, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' just had to include Vader's destroyed helmet as early as the trailer and a DarthVaderClone as the villain (in-universe, a deliberate case of copycat, as it's [[spoiler: his grandson]] who also fell for the Dark Side).
** In the original pitch for ''Film/RogueOne'', Vader had a single minor appearance with no dialogue. The execs requested that his part be beefed up, so he was given dialogue [[spoiler: and a truly spectacular action scene at the end of the movie]]. [[EvilOverlooker His helmet is also featured prominently on the movie's poster]], and is actually larger than many of the ''main characters''. [[spoiler:Coincidentally, he's the only character in the poster [[KillEmAll that doesn't die]].]]
* The DVD release of ''Film/MazesAndMonsters'' has on the cover a dragon, a castle and a maze. None of these things appear in the movie. The title refers to a roleplaying game (a reference to ''Dungeons and Dragons'') played by the characters. Furthermore, while Tom Hanks is in the movie, the picture of him on the cover is from when he was much older and well established. Furthermore, despite how much the breakdown of his character drives the plot, he was actually a supporting character and given rather low billing compared to the other cast members (the movie seems to treat Jay Jay as the main character).
* ''Film/DazedAndConfused'' was promoted with posters prominently featuring Creator/MillaJovovich simply because she was, at the time, the most famous person in the cast. She only has one line in the movie, is not a focus character in the ensemble action, and only pops up a handful of times. She's also on the cover of the DVD cases (excluding Creator/TheCriterionCollection edition) since those reuse one of the movie's promotional posters.
* ''Deep In The Valley'' has Creator/KimKardashian on the front cover. She appears in the actual movie for all of ten seconds and her character does nothing other than lets the heroes into a night club.
* The DVD cover for ''Frankenstein Island'' features only Creator/JohnCarradine's name at the top, and his face is on all of the different DVD covers. In the movie he plays the ghost of Dr. Frankenstein, and his screentime is less than five minutes combined.
* The DVD cover for Showtime's 2005 musical parody ''Film/ReeferMadness'' features Creator/NeveCampbell, both with her picture displayed in the foreground and her name at top-center - yet her character is in two scenes in the whole movie, once for the length of a musical number and the other for literally the three seconds it took to say her line, and like Creator/JohnCarradine above, has less than 5 minutes total screen time.
* In ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'', you could be forgiven for thinking that Angelina Jolie's character was the main character, being the focus of basically every commercial and having a spot on the cover. Turns out that her character gets around 10 minutes of screentime.
* The Hungarian movie ''SacraCorona'' featured FrancoNero on the cover. He appears in the role of Gerard Sagredo in the opening scene, where he's promptly killed. He makes a second appearance as a ghost towards the end of the film.
* Although Creator/StevenSeagal is featured prominently in the promotional material for the film ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'', his character meets an untimely death barely a quarter of the way through the movie.
* The American DVD for ''Film/TheTwinsEffect'' (retitled Vampire Effect) places Jackie Chan prominently on the cover. His appearance only amounts to a cameo.
* The White Witch, BigBad of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', has made a cameo in the film versions of both ''Film/PrinceCaspian'' [[spoiler: (when her three worshipers try to force Caspian to resurrect her)]] and ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' [[spoiler: (as a form taken by the Mist of Evil)]], despite being completely absent from the respective books. (In this case, it has more to do with Creator/TildaSwinton's contract, as she signed on to do and get paid for three films.)
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** Advertising for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' puts the spotlight on Film/IronMan, whose movies became the highest grossing in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, at the time. The Blu-Ray box art for the film shows Iron Man, Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}, Film/{{Thor}} and [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], the four Avengers who had their own movies prior to the big team-up. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and ComicBook/BlackWidow are completely absent.
** Due to the character's obscurity, a lot of the marketing for ''Film/AntMan1'' referenced the Avengers. A series of posters were made showing Ant-Man posing on top of Iron Man's armor, Captain America's shield, and Thor's hammer, complete with the tagline "No shield. No hammer. No problem," even though none of those characters appear in the movie proper.[[note]]Captain America does appear in the second [[TheStinger Stinger]], which is actually a scene from ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' that has very little bearing on the plot of ''Ant-Man''. Cap himself never meets or interacts with Ant-Man at any point in the film.[[/note]] Additionally, the TV spots spoiled ComicBook/TheFalcon's cameo in the movie, and even made sure to include the scene where Luis excitedly points out that Falcon is one of the Avengers, just in case there was anyone left in the audience who didn't realize the movie takes place in the same universe as the Avengers flicks.
** The studio did the same thing for ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'', with one TV spot showing prominent shots of Iron Man's helmet, Thor's hammer and Cap's shield, likely for the same reasons as ''Film/AntMan1''. Another TV spot took this even further by using recycled footage from ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. Furthermore, one TV spot (narrated by Creator/BenedictCumberbatch himself) [[ItMakesSenseInContext depicts the Avengers as dogs]] and then ending with...[[PunnyName Dogtor Strange]]. Yet ''another'' spot has Cumberbatch analyzing the injuries of the cast of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.
** One of the selling points used to market ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' after the failure of ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' was the presence of Iron Man as Peter's mentor. Some fans complained about this, to the point that the film's poster (which managed to feature Iron Man ''twice'') became a [[MemeticMutation meme]] [[https://twitter.com/agentbizzle/status/867529152194256896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fuproxx.com%2Fviral%2Ftwitter-roasts-spider-man-homecoming-poster-best-tweets%2F in its own right]].
** Likewise, while the second ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' trailer includes a voiceover from Ross that references the other heroes of the MCU, the international version of the trailer took this a step further by actually showing recycled footage of Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers and the Chitauri.
** The first trailer for ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' actually begins with reused footage of Scott fighting Iron Man's team during ''Civil War''. Later TV spots also show footage from ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Shuri.
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** Franchise/WonderWoman has quickly become this for the DCEU following the massive success of [[Film/WonderWoman2017 her own movie]], as well as her well-received supporting part in the otherwise-panned ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Aside from the marketing for ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' greatly playing up her presence, the cover for the "Ultimate Edition" of ''Batman v. Superman'' made sure to [[https://blogs-images.forbes.com/johnarcher/files/2016/08/BatmanVSupermanUHDBDUSCoverArt.jpg feature her front and center]]. The same thing happened with [[https://i.imgur.com/I9KlsaG.jpg both the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD home releases]] of ''Justice League''. The trend has become so pronounced that the first teaser for ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' actually parodied it by opening with a shot of the Titans dressed in Wonder Woman costumes.
** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. She currently has no less than ''three'' SpinOff films in various stages of development, and one of them, ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually retitled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
** Likewise, when ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' unexpectedly became an utterly ''massive'' success at the box office and the biggest hit of the entire DCEU, WB responded by pimping the character heavily, including a special ad promoting Creator/JasonMomoa's [[RoleReprise reprise of the Aquaman role]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'' ([[AdvertisedExtra even though it's not a terribly big part]]). The post-credit scene for ''[[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]]'' [[spoiler: was basically an extended Aquaman gag, with Billy trying to see if he can talk to fish]], and WB even released a fake teaser that marketed ''Shazam'' as ''Aquaman 2'' as an April Fools' Day joke.
** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2021}}'' coming out in 2021 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an alternate timeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022.
* Pee-wee Herman makes a cameo in the 1987 comedy ''Film/BackToTheBeach''. His scene [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment doesn't really advance the plot]] (not that ''Back to the Beach'' had much plot to begin with, anyway), and seems to have been included only because Pee-wee's portrayer, Creator/PaulReubens, was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time. (You'll also notice that he's prominently featured on that movie's video box cover, despite appearing on screen for only a few minutes.)
* Ultimately subverted by Anna Nicole Smith in ''Film/ToTheLimit'' (1995). She was heavily promoted as the star of this direct-to-video action flick, despite not portraying the main character ''and'' despite ''To the Limit'' being a sequel to an earlier film -- ''Da Vinci's War'' -- in which Smith hadn't even appeared! (This was a year or so after Smith had been named ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year, appeared in some sexy ads for women's jeans, and been cast in relatively small roles in two major Hollywood movies, so at the time it seemed like she was everywhere.) Throughout the movie (which, continuity-wise, is pretty much a mess anyway), her character is featured to a ridiculous degree, at one point with the story stopping dead in its tracks just to [[{{Fanservice}} show an extended sequence of her naked in the shower]]! And yet, despite her character being both TheDitz ''and'' a FauxActionGirl, Anna Nicole is the one more responsible than anyone else for defeating the villain in the end! Weird.
* [[TheHero Optimus Prime]] is the most advertised character in the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'', followed by [[KidAppealCharacter Bumblebee]] and the [[TokenHuman human characters]]. Also, the Dinobots are heavily featured in the marketing campaign for ''[[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Age of Extinction]]'', [[AdvertisedExtra even if they only are on-screen for 15 minutes]].
* Based on marketing, you would think Creator/DrewBarrymore was the main character of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', when in reality her character [[spoiler:dies several minutes into the movie.]] Despite this, she even received top billing on some promotional material (she was credited toward the end as [[AndStarring "And Drew Barrymore"]] in the actual film).[[note]]She ''was'' originally cast as the lead, Sidney, but due to scheduling issues she had to take the smaller role of Casey instead[[/note]] This was a marketing gimmick since they were paying homage to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' by killing off the supposed main character early on, shocking audiences.
* ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'': Legolas gets minimal screen-time in this film, but he was an EnsembleDarkhorse in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Three guesses who got the most coverage in all the trailers.
%% * In addition to the {{Trope Namer|s}} [[Franchise/{{Wolverine}} himself]], ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' also features fan-favorites Wade Wilson and Gambit.
* Both movie adaptations of ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' place more focus on Willy Wonka than protagonist Charlie Bucket in their advertising, DVD box art, etc. (The first film, of course, is actually titled ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', but the reasons why didn't have to do with this trope.) Mr. Wonka is a {{Deuteragonist}} who is offstage for the first half of both films, aside from a few brief flashbacks and a voiceover in the 2005 version. Mr. Wonka also tends to be the most prominent figure on cover illustrations and in advertisements for other adaptations, but the films are the worst about this trope.
* When ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'' was promoted in some countries overseas, the poster they used was different than the one promoted in America. Instead of the promotional posters showing the large image of the film's lead, Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor, his image is mostly replaced by a huge one of Creator/BradPitt who has a small role in the film. This caused a huge backlash among many movie goers. The studio explained this trope as being the reason for the poster change, claiming Brad Pitt was more popular and well known among foreigners.
* The advertising for the television debut of ''Film/LogansRun'' made it sound like Creator/FarrahFawcett, who'd just become a superstar with ''Series/CharliesAngels'', was one of the main characters. Nope. [[AdvertisedExtra She just had a bit role as a nurse.]]
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', where in order to keep the antagonist's identity a secret to cinema-goers, Kevin Spacey wasn't used in promotion for the film at all despite being a significantly bigger star than anyone else in the cast at the time.
* Inverted with Creator/JamesMcAvoy, who generally receives the short end of the stick when it comes to marketing. Even when he portrays the lead character, he is occasionally ignored or placed in the background of promotional materials.
** ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland'': [=McAvoy=]'s Dr. Nicholas Garrigan is the main protagonist, but Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin completely dominates the [[http://www.impawards.com/2006/posters/last_king_of_scotland.jpg theatrical poster]] and the North American [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Nnwj5qvuL.jpg Blu-Ray/DVD cover.]]
** ''Film/{{Atonement}}'': For the official [[http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~nishiken/images/img318.jpg Japanese poster]] and the [[http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/dvdcovers/96487_front.jpg Canadian DVD artwork,]][[note]]which incorrectly lists Knightley's name first[[/note]] Creator/KeiraKnightley is much more noticeable than her male co-star, even though James has the most screen time.
** ''Film/{{Wanted}}'': Despite receiving first billing, [=McAvoy=] is considerably smaller than Creator/AngelinaJolie on the [[http://www.impawards.com/2008/posters/wanted.jpg poster]] and the standard DVD cover (which used the same picture), but he's treated more fairly on the [[http://images4.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/837_front.jpg Blu-Ray artwork.]]
* ''Film/VictorFrankenstein'': The story is told from Igor's perspective, yet Creator/JamesMcAvoy has slightly more prominence than Creator/DanielRadcliffe in the trailers, the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160113223859/http://cdn2-www.shocktillyoudrop.com/assets/uploads/gallery/victor-frankenstein/victorpostersmall.jpg theatrical]] [[http://1.fwcdn.pl/an/49468/72114.12.jpg posters]] and the [[http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/08/18/exclusive-interview-with-victor-frankenstein-poster-designer-ciara-mcavoy-3480148?lt_source=external,manual old-fashioned alternate poster]] created by professional artist Ciara [=McAvoy=]. Moreover, the film was known as ''Igor'' for a time, but the title was later switched to ''Victor Frankenstein''. Radcliffe is more famous than [=McAvoy=] (e.g. the former's Website/IMDb [=STARmeter=] is almost always consistently higher than the latter's), so it's unusual that the marketing department chose to give more focus on the less well-known actor.
* During the credits at the beginning of ''Film/LifeOfPi'', they give a special emphasis in Creator/GerardDepardieu having a role in it, but his total screen time, as the ship's cook, is no more than four minutes.
* Marketing for ''Film/ThePlaceBeyondThePines'' prominently features Ryan Gosling, making him out to be the main character. This is true, [[spoiler:for the first third of the film, as he is killed and the rest of the movie revolves around his death]].
* [[http://incinerama.com/gsetads.jpg This print advertisement]] for ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' features the face of Creator/JohnWayne as the Roman Centurion-- neglecting to mention that it was a {{cameo}} role in which he has exactly one line.
* International advertisements and covers for ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' put a lot of emphasis on Raphael.
[[/folder]]
----
* The Blu-ray cover of ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' features the Queen in the front and center, in her hag form, with Snow White relegated to the bottom of the picture.
* Stitch the alien is represented in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'''s marketing more than the little girl Lilo, with [[https://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:LiloandStitchmovieposter.jpg the theatrical poster]] simply showing Stitch surrounded by other Creator/{{Disney}} characters, referencing the film's promotional campaign of Stitch hijacking iconic scenes from other Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon films.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfsAndTheMagicFlute'' was originally a ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'' film, but when Franchise/TheSmurfs became really popular the title was changed to make it look like they were the stars, even though the film really focused much more on Johan and Peewit.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook2'' had megastar actor Creator/JohnGoodman providing the voice of Baloo the Bear, and ads for the movie loudly proclaimed "Baloo is back!", even though this story was supposed to be about Mowgli.
* ''Wreck-It Ralph'':
** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' is about video game characters, both original and already famous from other titles. So while the story only deals with Disney's original characters created for the film, a lot of posters prominently featured Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, [[Franchise/StreetFighter Zangief, M. Bison]], VideoGame/QBert, Clyde the VideoGame/PacMan Ghost, and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] in them, even though they only have seconds to minutes of screen time for each of them. Calhoun, one of the four major characters, didn't even make it onto the front cover of the DVD case because of all space taken up by the extras. In-Universe, it's PlayedForDrama[[spoiler:/Averted; Ralph seeing Vanellope's picture on the console is what causes him to realize that she is supposed to be in the game]].
** Advertising for ''WesternAnimation/RalphBreaksTheInternet'' really put emphasis on the scene featuring all the ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' girls together. This scene doesn't even occur until the middle of the film and is only a few minutes long. [[spoiler:As it turns out, it's more than just a funny gag. The princesses help save Ralph in the climax. They're still far from as prominent in the movie than they are in the marketing, though.]].
* The posters and covers of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'' prominently featured Droopy, [[AdvertisedExtra despite his only getting a short cameo]]. One could even argue Tom and Jerry themselves were victims of this trope, since the movie wasn't really about them anyway [[HumanFocusedAdaptation but about a poor little orphan girl]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' animated shorts ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' and ''Secrets of the Masters'' are both advertised as being "brand new Po adventures" when they're actually about the Furious Five and the Master's Council. Po is just the narrator.
* For ''WesternAnimation/MelodyTime'', WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck, who appears in the "Blame It On the Samba" sequence, receives some fanfare in the VHS trailer and is the only character on the DVD case. On the other hand, most theatrical posters, both domestic and international, prominently featured another character from a different segment, Pecos Bill.
* In the poster for ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'', the ProductPlacement characters are featured first and foremost on the film poster, even though the characters in question aren't featured prominently in the film.
* Promotional materials for ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' give the big adorable robot Baymax the most attention by far, with the theatrical poster only including him, and [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the Japanese title]] [[MarketBasedTitle changing to "ベイマックス" (Baymax)]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePeanutsMovie'' suffered this in some countries, tackling Snoopy and Charlie Brown's names in the beginning of the title, easily the two most popular characters. While Charlie Brown is easily the lead character in the film, Snoopy suffers from this (possibly as a whole for the franchise), being a supporting character at best.
* ''WesternAnimation/HappyFeet'': While Creator/RobinWilliams plays a side role in this movie, his role is heavily featured in teasers, [[NeverTrustATrailer leading many to assume the film would be a wacky family comedy rather than the environmental drama it really was.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/KuboAndTheTwoStrings'' heavily advertised Creator/GeorgeTakei, to the point that in some trailers, he got higher billing than Creator/MatthewMcConaughey. In reality, [[AdvertisedExtra he played a minor villager in the beginning and end the film]].
* When Periwinkle became a BreakoutCharacter in the ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' movies ''just'' when Disney decided they were going to pull the plug on the franchise for low toy sales, the toy line decided to shove her into every line they had, elbowing out characters who had earned the spotlight she took. She barely appeared in ''The Pirate Fairy,'' but she was on more merchandise for it than Iridessa, Fawn, and Vidia combined, and all three were present and important to the plot; the same happened for ''Legend of the [=NeverBeast=].'' Peri might have started showing up more again in the movies too, but the ones after that were scrapped.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Creator/JackNicholson became (at the time) the highest-salaried actor in film history for his performance as ComicBook/TheJoker in ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'', even getting a share of the film's enormous box-office take. Creator/WarnerBros promoted him as the movie's main star on posters, on videotape boxes, and in the credits of the movie itself. This extended even to DC Comics' [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51xoXalpGyL._SX319_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg official adaptation]], which, despite being clearly titled ''Batman'', showed the Joker's face [[EvilOverlooker looming like a godlike apparition over Gotham City]], while a smaller image of Batman himself appears below.
* The American DVD cover of ''Film/InfernalAffairs'' shows Kelly Chen posing with a gun. At no point in the movie does she have a gun, or even an action scene. The two main characters get much less space on the cover. On the other hand, this might just be a case of SexSells. The Chinese [=DVDs=] rightly put Andy Lau and Tony Leung up front, but since fewer Americans know who any of them are, they decided to sex things up a bit.
* In at least one video store, in the French film section, there is a sub-section called "Films in which Creator/AudreyTautou has less screen time than the box art would suggest." There's also a [[CreepyChild "Non-Satanic Malevolent Children"]] section in Horror, but that's neither here nor there.
* "[[BruceLeeClone Bruceploitation]]" refers to the wave of Creator/BruceLee imitators, and Lee-style martial arts movies, that followed the superstar's death. Actors adopted stage names like Bruce Li, Bruce Lei, and Dragon Lee in an attempt to cash in on Lee Mania. Creator/JackieChan recalled how his early movie posters would say "the next BRUCE LEE, [--Jackie Chan--]," with Lee's name much larger than his own.
* The undisputed king of Wolverine Publicity in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe has to be Darthwiki/DarthVader -- this trope could have well been called "Vader Publicity". Even when the main focus of Lucasfilm's marketing is a series that doesn't involve Vader as a Sith Lord, such as the first two prequels or ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', one can be absolutely sure to see zillions of different products featuring Vader in the current merchandising line. Often, original trilogy characters are included in the line, or the line itself becomes partly original trilogy-focused, for the sake of including Vader merchandise. One can also expect a cameo or two from the Sith Lord in some form in the media itself (such as a vision to his former self Anakin in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''), or at least a new character that happens to be a blatant {{Expy}} (such as Darth Malak in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'').
** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' had a heavy marketing campaign focused on featuring Anakin finally becoming Darth Vader and his first chronological appearance in the Vader suit. While the movie ''does'' detail his turn to the dark side, he doesn't don the outfit until the very end of the movie.
** It's even parodied in ''LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace'' where throughout the movie, Darth Vader would appear out of nowhere to take center stage of a scene, only for a LEGO mini-figure of Creator/GeorgeLucas to call cut and tell Vader he's not in the movie because it takes place in the prequel era.
** The original ''Star Wars'' movies were the rise, fall and redemption of Darth Vader - the last part meaning [[RedemptionEqualsDeath he dies in the last one]]. Well, once Disney decided to make more movies, ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' just had to include Vader's destroyed helmet as early as the trailer and a DarthVaderClone as the villain (in-universe, a deliberate case of copycat, as it's [[spoiler: his grandson]] who also fell for the Dark Side).
** In the original pitch for ''Film/RogueOne'', Vader had a single minor appearance with no dialogue. The execs requested that his part be beefed up, so he was given dialogue [[spoiler: and a truly spectacular action scene at the end of the movie]]. [[EvilOverlooker His helmet is also featured prominently on the movie's poster]], and is actually larger than many of the ''main characters''. [[spoiler:Coincidentally, he's the only character in the poster [[KillEmAll that doesn't die]].]]
* The DVD release of ''Film/MazesAndMonsters'' has on the cover a dragon, a castle and a maze. None of these things appear in the movie. The title refers to a roleplaying game (a reference to ''Dungeons and Dragons'') played by the characters. Furthermore, while Tom Hanks is in the movie, the picture of him on the cover is from when he was much older and well established. Furthermore, despite how much the breakdown of his character drives the plot, he was actually a supporting character and given rather low billing compared to the other cast members (the movie seems to treat Jay Jay as the main character).
* ''Film/DazedAndConfused'' was promoted with posters prominently featuring Creator/MillaJovovich simply because she was, at the time, the most famous person in the cast. She only has one line in the movie, is not a focus character in the ensemble action, and only pops up a handful of times. She's also on the cover of the DVD cases (excluding Creator/TheCriterionCollection edition) since those reuse one of the movie's promotional posters.
* ''Deep In The Valley'' has Creator/KimKardashian on the front cover. She appears in the actual movie for all of ten seconds and her character does nothing other than lets the heroes into a night club.
* The DVD cover for ''Frankenstein Island'' features only Creator/JohnCarradine's name at the top, and his face is on all of the different DVD covers. In the movie he plays the ghost of Dr. Frankenstein, and his screentime is less than five minutes combined.
* The DVD cover for Showtime's 2005 musical parody ''Film/ReeferMadness'' features Creator/NeveCampbell, both with her picture displayed in the foreground and her name at top-center - yet her character is in two scenes in the whole movie, once for the length of a musical number and the other for literally the three seconds it took to say her line, and like Creator/JohnCarradine above, has less than 5 minutes total screen time.
* In ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'', you could be forgiven for thinking that Angelina Jolie's character was the main character, being the focus of basically every commercial and having a spot on the cover. Turns out that her character gets around 10 minutes of screentime.
* The Hungarian movie ''SacraCorona'' featured FrancoNero on the cover. He appears in the role of Gerard Sagredo in the opening scene, where he's promptly killed. He makes a second appearance as a ghost towards the end of the film.
* Although Creator/StevenSeagal is featured prominently in the promotional material for the film ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'', his character meets an untimely death barely a quarter of the way through the movie.
* The American DVD for ''Film/TheTwinsEffect'' (retitled Vampire Effect) places Jackie Chan prominently on the cover. His appearance only amounts to a cameo.
* The White Witch, BigBad of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', has made a cameo in the film versions of both ''Film/PrinceCaspian'' [[spoiler: (when her three worshipers try to force Caspian to resurrect her)]] and ''Film/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' [[spoiler: (as a form taken by the Mist of Evil)]], despite being completely absent from the respective books. (In this case, it has more to do with Creator/TildaSwinton's contract, as she signed on to do and get paid for three films.)
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** Advertising for ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' puts the spotlight on Film/IronMan, whose movies became the highest grossing in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, at the time. The Blu-Ray box art for the film shows Iron Man, Film/{{Captain America|TheFirstAvenger}}, Film/{{Thor}} and [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]], the four Avengers who had their own movies prior to the big team-up. ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and ComicBook/BlackWidow are completely absent.
** Due to the character's obscurity, a lot of the marketing for ''Film/AntMan1'' referenced the Avengers. A series of posters were made showing Ant-Man posing on top of Iron Man's armor, Captain America's shield, and Thor's hammer, complete with the tagline "No shield. No hammer. No problem," even though none of those characters appear in the movie proper.[[note]]Captain America does appear in the second [[TheStinger Stinger]], which is actually a scene from ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' that has very little bearing on the plot of ''Ant-Man''. Cap himself never meets or interacts with Ant-Man at any point in the film.[[/note]] Additionally, the TV spots spoiled ComicBook/TheFalcon's cameo in the movie, and even made sure to include the scene where Luis excitedly points out that Falcon is one of the Avengers, just in case there was anyone left in the audience who didn't realize the movie takes place in the same universe as the Avengers flicks.
** The studio did the same thing for ''Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}}'', with one TV spot showing prominent shots of Iron Man's helmet, Thor's hammer and Cap's shield, likely for the same reasons as ''Film/AntMan1''. Another TV spot took this even further by using recycled footage from ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' and ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''. Furthermore, one TV spot (narrated by Creator/BenedictCumberbatch himself) [[ItMakesSenseInContext depicts the Avengers as dogs]] and then ending with...[[PunnyName Dogtor Strange]]. Yet ''another'' spot has Cumberbatch analyzing the injuries of the cast of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.
** One of the selling points used to market ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'' after the failure of ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' was the presence of Iron Man as Peter's mentor. Some fans complained about this, to the point that the film's poster (which managed to feature Iron Man ''twice'') became a [[MemeticMutation meme]] [[https://twitter.com/agentbizzle/status/867529152194256896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fuproxx.com%2Fviral%2Ftwitter-roasts-spider-man-homecoming-poster-best-tweets%2F in its own right]].
** Likewise, while the second ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' trailer includes a voiceover from Ross that references the other heroes of the MCU, the international version of the trailer took this a step further by actually showing recycled footage of Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers and the Chitauri.
** The first trailer for ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' actually begins with reused footage of Scott fighting Iron Man's team during ''Civil War''. Later TV spots also show footage from ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''.
** In an inversion, after ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' ended up as an insane hit at the box office (becoming the highest grossing solo film in the entire MCU), the later promotional material for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' made sure to prominently feature the character, as well as Okoye and Shuri.
* ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse'':
** Franchise/WonderWoman has quickly become this for the DCEU following the massive success of [[Film/WonderWoman2017 her own movie]], as well as her well-received supporting part in the otherwise-panned ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. Aside from the marketing for ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' greatly playing up her presence, the cover for the "Ultimate Edition" of ''Batman v. Superman'' made sure to [[https://blogs-images.forbes.com/johnarcher/files/2016/08/BatmanVSupermanUHDBDUSCoverArt.jpg feature her front and center]]. The same thing happened with [[https://i.imgur.com/I9KlsaG.jpg both the Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD home releases]] of ''Justice League''. The trend has become so pronounced that the first teaser for ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' actually parodied it by opening with a shot of the Titans dressed in Wonder Woman costumes.
** Along those same lines (and as mentioned in the Comic Books section), ComicBook/HarleyQuinn experienced a massive surge in popularity after becoming the BreakoutCharacter in ''Film/{{Suicide Squad|2016}}''. She currently has no less than ''three'' SpinOff films in various stages of development, and one of them, ''Film/{{Birds of Prey|2020}}'', was eventually retitled ''Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'' to capitalize on her fame.
** Likewise, when ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' unexpectedly became an utterly ''massive'' success at the box office and the biggest hit of the entire DCEU, WB responded by pimping the character heavily, including a special ad promoting Creator/JasonMomoa's [[RoleReprise reprise of the Aquaman role]] in ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'' ([[AdvertisedExtra even though it's not a terribly big part]]). The post-credit scene for ''[[Film/Shazam2019 SHAZAM!]]'' [[spoiler: was basically an extended Aquaman gag, with Billy trying to see if he can talk to fish]], and WB even released a fake teaser that marketed ''Shazam'' as ''Aquaman 2'' as an April Fools' Day joke.
** With ''Film/{{The Batman|2021}}'' coming out in 2021 and the confirmation that ''The Flash'' will feature both Creator/MichaelKeaton and Creator/BenAffleck as Batman (with Keaton playing an older version of the character from an alternate timeline), that means DC will have no less than ''three'' cinematic Batmen hitting theaters from 2021 to 2022.
* Pee-wee Herman makes a cameo in the 1987 comedy ''Film/BackToTheBeach''. His scene [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment doesn't really advance the plot]] (not that ''Back to the Beach'' had much plot to begin with, anyway), and seems to have been included only because Pee-wee's portrayer, Creator/PaulReubens, was one of the biggest stars in the world at the time. (You'll also notice that he's prominently featured on that movie's video box cover, despite appearing on screen for only a few minutes.)
* Ultimately subverted by Anna Nicole Smith in ''Film/ToTheLimit'' (1995). She was heavily promoted as the star of this direct-to-video action flick, despite not portraying the main character ''and'' despite ''To the Limit'' being a sequel to an earlier film -- ''Da Vinci's War'' -- in which Smith hadn't even appeared! (This was a year or so after Smith had been named ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' Playmate of the Year, appeared in some sexy ads for women's jeans, and been cast in relatively small roles in two major Hollywood movies, so at the time it seemed like she was everywhere.) Throughout the movie (which, continuity-wise, is pretty much a mess anyway), her character is featured to a ridiculous degree, at one point with the story stopping dead in its tracks just to [[{{Fanservice}} show an extended sequence of her naked in the shower]]! And yet, despite her character being both TheDitz ''and'' a FauxActionGirl, Anna Nicole is the one more responsible than anyone else for defeating the villain in the end! Weird.
* [[TheHero Optimus Prime]] is the most advertised character in the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'', followed by [[KidAppealCharacter Bumblebee]] and the [[TokenHuman human characters]]. Also, the Dinobots are heavily featured in the marketing campaign for ''[[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction Age of Extinction]]'', [[AdvertisedExtra even if they only are on-screen for 15 minutes]].
* Based on marketing, you would think Creator/DrewBarrymore was the main character of ''Film/{{Scream|1996}}'', when in reality her character [[spoiler:dies several minutes into the movie.]] Despite this, she even received top billing on some promotional material (she was credited toward the end as [[AndStarring "And Drew Barrymore"]] in the actual film).[[note]]She ''was'' originally cast as the lead, Sidney, but due to scheduling issues she had to take the smaller role of Casey instead[[/note]] This was a marketing gimmick since they were paying homage to ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' by killing off the supposed main character early on, shocking audiences.
* ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'': Legolas gets minimal screen-time in this film, but he was an EnsembleDarkhorse in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. Three guesses who got the most coverage in all the trailers.
%% * In addition to the {{Trope Namer|s}} [[Franchise/{{Wolverine}} himself]], ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' also features fan-favorites Wade Wilson and Gambit.
* Both movie adaptations of ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' place more focus on Willy Wonka than protagonist Charlie Bucket in their advertising, DVD box art, etc. (The first film, of course, is actually titled ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', but the reasons why didn't have to do with this trope.) Mr. Wonka is a {{Deuteragonist}} who is offstage for the first half of both films, aside from a few brief flashbacks and a voiceover in the 2005 version. Mr. Wonka also tends to be the most prominent figure on cover illustrations and in advertisements for other adaptations, but the films are the worst about this trope.
* When ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'' was promoted in some countries overseas, the poster they used was different than the one promoted in America. Instead of the promotional posters showing the large image of the film's lead, Creator/ChiwetelEjiofor, his image is mostly replaced by a huge one of Creator/BradPitt who has a small role in the film. This caused a huge backlash among many movie goers. The studio explained this trope as being the reason for the poster change, claiming Brad Pitt was more popular and well known among foreigners.
* The advertising for the television debut of ''Film/LogansRun'' made it sound like Creator/FarrahFawcett, who'd just become a superstar with ''Series/CharliesAngels'', was one of the main characters. Nope. [[AdvertisedExtra She just had a bit role as a nurse.]]
* Subverted in ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', where in order to keep the antagonist's identity a secret to cinema-goers, Kevin Spacey wasn't used in promotion for the film at all despite being a significantly bigger star than anyone else in the cast at the time.
* Inverted with Creator/JamesMcAvoy, who generally receives the short end of the stick when it comes to marketing. Even when he portrays the lead character, he is occasionally ignored or placed in the background of promotional materials.
** ''Film/TheLastKingOfScotland'': [=McAvoy=]'s Dr. Nicholas Garrigan is the main protagonist, but Creator/ForestWhitaker's Idi Amin completely dominates the [[http://www.impawards.com/2006/posters/last_king_of_scotland.jpg theatrical poster]] and the North American [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Nnwj5qvuL.jpg Blu-Ray/DVD cover.]]
** ''Film/{{Atonement}}'': For the official [[http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~nishiken/images/img318.jpg Japanese poster]] and the [[http://images2.static-bluray.com/movies/dvdcovers/96487_front.jpg Canadian DVD artwork,]][[note]]which incorrectly lists Knightley's name first[[/note]] Creator/KeiraKnightley is much more noticeable than her male co-star, even though James has the most screen time.
** ''Film/{{Wanted}}'': Despite receiving first billing, [=McAvoy=] is considerably smaller than Creator/AngelinaJolie on the [[http://www.impawards.com/2008/posters/wanted.jpg poster]] and the standard DVD cover (which used the same picture), but he's treated more fairly on the [[http://images4.static-bluray.com/movies/covers/837_front.jpg Blu-Ray artwork.]]
* ''Film/VictorFrankenstein'': The story is told from Igor's perspective, yet Creator/JamesMcAvoy has slightly more prominence than Creator/DanielRadcliffe in the trailers, the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20160113223859/http://cdn2-www.shocktillyoudrop.com/assets/uploads/gallery/victor-frankenstein/victorpostersmall.jpg theatrical]] [[http://1.fwcdn.pl/an/49468/72114.12.jpg posters]] and the [[http://moviepilot.com/posts/2015/08/18/exclusive-interview-with-victor-frankenstein-poster-designer-ciara-mcavoy-3480148?lt_source=external,manual old-fashioned alternate poster]] created by professional artist Ciara [=McAvoy=]. Moreover, the film was known as ''Igor'' for a time, but the title was later switched to ''Victor Frankenstein''. Radcliffe is more famous than [=McAvoy=] (e.g. the former's Website/IMDb [=STARmeter=] is almost always consistently higher than the latter's), so it's unusual that the marketing department chose to give more focus on the less well-known actor.
* During the credits at the beginning of ''Film/LifeOfPi'', they give a special emphasis in Creator/GerardDepardieu having a role in it, but his total screen time, as the ship's cook, is no more than four minutes.
* Marketing for ''Film/ThePlaceBeyondThePines'' prominently features Ryan Gosling, making him out to be the main character. This is true, [[spoiler:for the first third of the film, as he is killed and the rest of the movie revolves around his death]].
* [[http://incinerama.com/gsetads.jpg This print advertisement]] for ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' features the face of Creator/JohnWayne as the Roman Centurion-- neglecting to mention that it was a {{cameo}} role in which he has exactly one line.
* International advertisements and covers for ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' put a lot of emphasis on Raphael.
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