History NeverTrustATrailer / LiveActionFilms

* The trailer for the 1998 Creator/ToddSolondz film ''Happiness'' makes it look like a quirky romantic comedy. The film is anything BUT.

* The trailer for ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' includes a scene where Air Traffic Control is trying to contact an airliner which has just had a near-miss with a mysterious object, asking them if they want to report a UFO. There's no reply, only a long silence, making the audience think that the airliner has been snatched or even destroyed by the object. In the actual film, the crew eventually do respond: they've been thinking over whether making a UFO report is worth the trouble.

* The trailer for ''Film/LordOfWar'' made it out to be more of an action comedy than the super-depressing drama with some BlackComedy it ended up being. And then they flipped it for another of Nicolas Cage's movies, ''Film/BangkokDangerous'', which the trailers made look like a slow, thoughtful examination of the assassination trade, when it was actually a pretty standard shoot 'em up action movie. Clearly, the promotional firms for the two movies should have been switched... as it is, they should just be fired.

* In yet another example of a non-comedy starring a comedian marketed as a comedy, there's the 1994 Creator/RobinWilliams film ''Film/BeingHuman'' ([[Series/BeingHumanUK no relation]]). The trailer made it look like it was going to be another one of those "sweet-but-unlucky Robin" movies, and hey, the premise was the story of the same man through different periods of history, [[Series/BlackAdder that makes for good comedy]]. But the movie was really a drama. And it was boring. And now it's more or less forgotten.

* ''Film/Case39's'' trailer essentially gives the plot to a completely different movie: it insinuates that the young girl protagonist is stalked by a demonic force [[spoiler: when in reality she IS the demonic force, and several scenes in the trailer are, like many examples before it, not in the film or there in a completely different context.]] There's one which states that the church has investigated 38 cases of supernatural activity, and this is the 39th... no church plays any part in the film, and it's called that because it's a social worker's 39th case. It's so overt that WebVideo/{{Phelous}} even comments on it in his [[https://youtu.be/Qi8Us1czzlc?t=1115 review of it.]]

*** The trailers make it appear that [[Comicbook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle]] and Bane are close allies, but in reality she's more or less blackmailed and intimidated into giving him occasional help.

* Television ads for the ''[[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' remake have the tagline promise that humanity will heroically "Fight Back!" Really. In reverse, some of the ads imply that humanity is completely and totally doomed, and there is no point trying to fight back, making Klaatu look invincible.

* The trailer for ''Film/DesperateMeasures'' made Michael Keaton's character out to be, literally, Satan himself. His statements, "I cannot be killed; I am immortal," and, "What are you going to do, ''shoot'' me, Frank...?" were taken viciously out of context to this end, with the trailer-makers even going so far as to use an electronic distortion effect to make the latter line sound like it was spoken in a suddenly deep and clearly inhuman voice. In actual fact the Keaton character is just a brilliantly devious human sociopath and the film has absolutely no supernatural angle whatsoever, even in subtext. A second trailer portrayed the film properly as the cat-and-mouse between the cop with a sick son and the criminal he has to keep alive in order to save him (since he's a match for a bone marrow transplant).

* ''Film/DuckYouSucker'', Creator/SergioLeone's last spaghetti Western, was marketed as a lighthearted action/adventure Western set during the Mexican revolution. The film starts off this way, initially centering around a bandit managing to get an Irish explosives expert to help him rob a bank. Then of course [[spoiler: the aforementioned bank turns out to be a political prison, and John had tricked him into liberating a bunch of revolutionaries, making him a hero]]. After that point... let's just say it gets pretty brutal.
** It's ironic when one considers that some of the more brutal moments are actually shown in the trailers (among them a particularly unnerving scene where [[spoiler: hundreds of revolutionaries are forced into ghettos, with soldiers standing on each side shooting them]]), and they still managed to make it look like it was fairly light-hearted.

* ''Film/TheHuntsmanWintersWar'' had a VERY frustrating marketing campaign. The teaser trailer was forthcoming in portraying the movie as a sequel to ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'', but then later trailers and TV spots began marketing it as a prequel for some unfathomable reason, with narration saying "Discover the story behind Snow White". The only "prequel" element is the opening prologue that sets up the relevant conflict; the rest of the story is 100% a sequel to the first movie. With confused marketing like this, is it any wonder why the movie bombed?

* ''Mignonnes'' is a French drama about an eleven-year-old Senegalese immigrant girl who joins a hip-hop dance group, its writer/director Maïmouna Doucouré intending it as a satire and critique of the [[TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior sexualization of young girls]] in popular culture. So what happened when Creator/{{Netflix}} picked it up for American distribution? They gave it the English-language title ''Film/{{Cuties}}'' (a word that, while a literal translation of "mignonnes", has [[PaedoHunt very different connotations]] when used to describe young girls, especially in any sort of sexualized context) along with a poster that features the film's tween girl protagonists in {{stripperiffic}} dance wear and seductive poses, making it look like a ''Film/StepUp'' ripoff with added pedophilia -- in other words, exactly what the film is criticizing. The outrage from all quarters was so immediate that Netflix hastily apologized, pulled the marketing material they created, and switched to the original, more modest French poster.

** The trailer's opening narration states: "He [Scrooge] was the greediest man alive, until the night he met someone extraordinary..." We then see Kermit saying "Hello," implying that Kermit is the "someone" he meets. Kermit plays Bob Cratchit, who, of course, already works for Scrooge at the beginning of the story.

** In general, all the ads highlight the Muppets' comedy and downplay how well the film actually captures the darkness and poignancy of the original book.

* The controversial drama ''Film/MysteriousSkin'' needed to omit the references to sexual abuse, homosexuality, and [[ClusterFBomb extremely heavy]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking cursing]] to make their trailers suitable for general TV. This naturally put too much emphasis on the "alien abduction" aspect, so it looks like a family-friendly sci-fi movie with dramatic moments here and there. ''It is '''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not]]''' family-friendly.'' [[spoiler: Brian only thinks he got abducted by aliens because he repressed the ''real'' memories of getting molested by his Little League baseball coach.]] While the movie is regarded positively by those who went in expecting a tragedy, people who saw only the trailers may have been surprised after the first twenty minutes.

* ''Film/RedDog'' is misleading, similarly to ''Marley & Me''. The trailer is very light in tone, as is much of the film, but not without considerable MoodWhiplash when [[spoiler:Red Dog's owner dies in the middle and Red Dog follows at the end]].

** Not exactly the fault of the marketing department, but promotional posters and trailers for ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' showed Luke's new lightsaber having a blue blade. It was supposed to be blue, but it was determined that the blade wouldn't have stood out against Tatooine's blue sky in the opening sequence, so the color was changed to green. Similarly, the film was initially marketed as "Return of the Jedi", but briefly changed to "Revenge of the Jedi" to give it a darker edge, and several posters that feature the "Revenge" title exist. The title was changed back to "Return" before release due to George Lucas' protest that revenge isn't the Jedi way.

** ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' is an equally bad offender, but for understandable reasons -- the trailers and promo material tried to build up Shockwave as the main villain. [[spoiler:In reality, he has next to no story importance, and his actions can be summarized with "having a cameo in Chernobyl, then walking down a street in Chicago and getting killed". The true villain is Sentinel Prime, but his FaceHeelTurn being the big plot-twist in the middle of the film, they of course didn't want to spoil this.]]

*** In one trailer, as Grimlock charges towards him, Optimus Prime lets out a battle cry before slamming Grimlock in the face and sending him flying, where Grimlock collides into the river. In the film, Optimus tries reasoning with Grimlock, "''We're giving you freedom!''" before delivering the big punch, and the 3 other Dinobots (Slug, Strafe and Scorn) are in the background watching Grimlock cringing in pain, as while they were hidden from the trailer.

* The ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' movie trailer has the male and female leads kissing. It looked like they were going to be romantically involved but it was just a fake kiss to show up his ex-girlfriend, and their only kiss in the movie. There is also no indication whatsoever that the film is based on a graphic novel, nor is there any mention of it: a relatively easy thing to gloss over, given the film's [[NotWearingTights omission of the costumes worn in the source material.]] And of course the movie actually had almost nothing to do with the book.

* ''Film/SuckerPunch''. It is not a lighthearted film at all. Many believe the film [[BoxOfficeBomb bombed]] precisely because the ads played up the skimpy costumes and goofy violence. [[MisaimedMarketing Audiences were turned off by what they thought was just another exploitative action flick]], when the real film had some HiddenDepths. [[BrokenBase Well, at least according to some people...]]

* ''Billion Dollar Brain''; the trailer gives the impression the film is a science-fiction movie about an evil computer that attempts to take over the world; in fact it's about an incompetent British ex-MI5 agent (Michael Caine) who stumbles across a Texan oil billionaire's attempt to foment counter-revolution in Latvia; the eponymous computer is used to run his business empire and only appears in one brief scene.

* The trailer for ''Film/OmenIIITheFinalConflict'' hinted that UK ambassador Damien Thorn was plotting to become the president, even though according to the constitution he would be ineligible due to being born in England. He makes no such attempt in the film.

* The trailer for ''Film/OmenIIITheFinalConflict'' hinted that UK ambassador Damien Thorn was plotting to become the president, even though according to the constitution he would be ineligible due to being born in England. He makes no such attempt.

* The ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'' trailer shows a battle between a human army and the creatures of the Moors. What it doesn't show is that this is in the start of the movie and not its climax.

* Trailers for ''Film/LittleWomen2019'' made one speech from later in the film look like a triumphant statement on female empowerment, leaving out the last line, [[spoiler: "But I'm so lonely!"]] that changes its meaning entirely. (Or the fact that it's said at the protagonist's DarkestHour, [[spoiler: when she's chosen to marrying a man she doesn't love romantically just because she's desperate to ''be'' loved]].) While the film has a definite feminist message, it's a lot less {{Anvilicious}} about it than the trailer would have you believe.

* The trailer for Georgia Rule made the film out to be a fun family comedy about inter generational bonding. While there are some comedic moments, the movie was mostly a very dark family drama with HEAVY subject matter. Namely, the question of whether or not Lindsay Lohan's character was repeatedly raped by her stepfather between the ages of 12 and 14.

*** ''Rogue One'' in general has a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZjqmmL-24 lot of this]], as the trailer has heaps of scenes (Krennic walking across the battlefield of Sakrif, Jyn and Cassisn fleeing from a AT-AT, Jyn facing a Tie-Fighter etc) that were not in the finished film. In addition the trailer has scenes with added dialogue, completely different from what is actually spoken in the film. Saw Gerrera's narration, especially during the bit in the trailer where Jyn turns to the camera in an imperial outfit eerily saying "What will you become?", strongly implies an [[FaceHeelTurn evil outcome]] for the heroine... not found in the actual film where she’s just using that uniform as a disguise.

* In the original teaser trailer for ''Film/TheSantaClause,'' the voiceover narration claims that Santa was "out for the rest of the season" after falling off Scott's roof, implying that he was merely injured and that Scott would be a temporary substitute. In the actual movie, Santa is killed by the fall and Scott becomes the new Santa permanently. Although ''Series/TheSantaClauses'' eventually [[spoiler:reveals that the previous Santa didn't really die.]]

* ''Film/TheSantaClause 2'' trailer featured reindeer speaking proper English, when Comet was the only reindeer who could talk, although he spoke gibberish.

*** The teaser trailer that showed shots of Darth Vader in his iconic costume, and showed what appeared to be various characters reacting to it (R2-D2 beeping wildly, Padme looking nervous, etc.). The trailer made many audiences think that the costumed Vader would have a large role in the movie itself. In fact, Anakin doesn't get armored up as Vader until the last few minutes of the movie; he interacts with none of the other characters except for Palpatine and doesn’t do anything threatening.