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 | This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab. | |
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You see a preview of what seems to be a big movie coming out. It gives you the date and you're all hyped up. But when the big day finally comes, it's not there.
This trope is about delays between the release of a teaser trailer or poster and the release of the movie itself, or even if it never gets released at all. The film could be in Development Hell or is facing delays. The release dates may change in such cases and on some rare cases, they may never get released at all.
Not to be confused with Release Date Change, where the change in release is minor and is done to avoid competition with other films.
Examples:
Animated Films
- The teaser trailer for Aladdin and the King of Thieves appeared on the 1995 VHS of Angels in the Outfield and said it was to be released in Fall 1995, but it didn't come out until August 1996. (The delay came about due to Disney getting Robin Williams back as the voice of the Genie — midway through production.)
- The VHS of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer: The Movie has a sneak preview for In Search of Santa, a Direct-to-Video Christmas film from the same animation company as Rudolph, which promised for a 2D animated release in Christmas 1999 from GoodTimes Entertainment. The release of this didn't happen until five years later, when it was executed as a computer animated movie and released by Miramax.
- At the end of the 1998 VHS of Lady and the Tramp was a short trailer announcing that the direct-to-video sequel Scamp's Adventure would be released in 2000, but it ended up being released in February 2001. That's what happens what you release a trailer early in production.
- The 1992 VHS of Rock-A-Doodle had a sneak preview of Thumbelina, which said it was to be released by MGM, but due to to production difficulties, it was released by Warner Bros. in March 1994.
- Similarly, a sneak preview of Rock-a-Doodle appeared at the beginning of the 1990 VHS of All Dogs Go to Heaven, promising a release for Thanksgiving from MGM but it ended up being released by The Samuel Goldwyn Company due to production issues and content changes. It was rescheduled for Thanksgiving 1991, but moved again to April 1992 to avoid competition with Beauty and the Beast and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (the film was released in Europe in Summer 1991 though).
- The teaser poster for Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released in 1990, but the film didn't come out until 1992 in Europe and 1993 in the U.S.
Comic Books
- Archaia Entertainment's Free Comic Book Day compilation for 2012 included a one-shot story based on the film Labyrinth, "Hoggle and the Worm", to whet appetites for a graphic novel prequel (revealing the backstory of fan favorite Jareth the Goblin King) that had been announced for year's end. But the book's release date was pushed back to April 2013, and then that February it was pushed back again to an unspecified date in 2014 and its Amazon preorder page was taken down. This isn't stopping Archaia from including a second one-shot story featuring Sir Didymus in the 2013 Free Comic Book Day collection...
Film
- Alien³ had an teaser trailer released in early 1991, which promised a vague 1992 release date and the image of a facehugger egg opening over Earth itself. Although the film was released in May 1992, it was held up by production woes that lasted through the winter of 1991, and the hinted plot in the trailer (xenomorphs take over Earth) was completely different to the final product.
- Trailers and posters for Big Trouble were shown in the summer of 2001 with a release that September, but because of 9/11, it was delayed until April 2002.
- The teaser trailer for Bram Stoker's Dracula promised a Summer 1992 release, but it was pushed back to that November.
- Charlie Bartlett was set to open on August 3rd, 2007 and had trailers, posters and TV spots but MGM delayed it due to financial issues and a crowded release schedule. Amazingly enough, the studio never had the TV spots pulled and TV stations were still running the ads with the old date the week of the canceled release date. MGM finally released the film on February 22nd, 2008.
- Collateral Damage was to be released in October 2001, but due to the 9/11 attacks, the film was postponed until it was released in February 2002 with major edits.
- The trailer for Gangster Squad was released in May 2012, with the trailer advertising a release in Fall 2012. But after the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado, the film had to be reshot to lose a similar sequence that had appeared in that trailer, and was thus released in January of 2013.
- The initial trailers and print ads for G.I. Joe: Retaliation had a listed release date of June 29, 2012. The film was then pushed back, just weeks before its release, to add 3D effects and add more footage with Channing Tatum's character, Duke. The film was finally released on March 28, 2013.
- Trailers for House of 1000 Corpses were released in 2000 by Universal but the studio dropped the film due to its graphic content. It would be released in 2003 with Lionsgate distributing.
- Ishtar had its trailer released in August 1986 with plans to open the film around Thanksgiving 1986. However, extensive re-editing pushed the film back to May 1987.
- Jack The Giant Slayer sent out a trailer in Spring 2012 with a June release date promised, but Warner Bros. decided to push it back to March 2013 and changed the title — it was originally Jack the Giant Killer — in the interim.
- The 1991 souvenir program for the U.S. tour of Les Misérables included an ad promising a film version via TriStar Pictures for 1993. That movie didn't arrive until 2012, and Universal produced it. A Columbia/Tristar-produced non-musical version starring Liam Neeson was released in 1998.
- Trailers for She's Having a Baby were released in January 1987 with VHS copies of Ferris Bueller's Day Off but the film wasn't released until February 1988 due to director John Hughes having production problems with Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
- A live-action Spider Man movie was to be released in Christmas 1986 by Cannon and a short teaser and poster were released, but it sadly never came to be.
- The Thirteenth Warrior had its first trailer released in January 1998, with the working title Eaters of the Dead (also the title of the book it was based on). The film came out in August 1999 with its revised title.
- The teaser for a film version of Where The Wild Things Are was released in 2000 attached to How The Grinch Stole Christmas and was to be released by Universal in 2001. The film was released in 2009 by Warner Bros.
Western Animation
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