History TrailersAlwaysSpoil / LiveActionFilms

** Heck, almost the ''whole movie'' is spoiled by the trailer. The good news being that such scenes as [[spoiler:Nate's death]] flash by so quickly and without any suitable context that most people won't realize ''why'' they're spoilers.

* ''ChildrenOfMen'': Sitting through the first act is tedious when you already saw TheReveal in the trailer.

* ''{{Collateral}}'' treats Tom Cruise/Vincent's occupation as a secret, but you already knew it if you saw any promotion at all. Even critics were unsure how to treat this bit of information, most saying something to the effect of "I guess this is a spoiler, but it's already spoiled." In a hilarious bit of probably accidental hypocrisy, [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040806/REVIEWS/408060302/1023 Roger Ebert's review]] kindly tells you not to finish reading it if you don't already know, but the picture and caption at the top of the webpage give it away anyway.
* Likewise, if you watch the trailer for ''CollegeRoadTrip'', you probably won't have to see the movie at all, as it seems to summarize the entire plot of the movie quite nicely.

* The trailers for ''TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'' detail every event in the movie, showing everything important that happens in Benjamin's life.

* Watch the trailer for the hip, black version of ''DeathAtAFuneral'' and you don't need to bother seeing ''either'' movie because it shows [[spoiler: the boyfriend accidentally getting high then getting naked, the elderly uncle's bathroom problems, and the two brothers (who are also rivals) learning their father was having a homosexual affair -- with the same actor as the original!]]
* ''DeathRace'''s trailer appears to cover the entire plot. If anyone was watching for that rather than Jason Statham based violence, they'd be disappointed.

* The ''Film/DieHard 2'' trailer showed John [=McClane=] fighting [[spoiler: Major Grant at the end revealing his FaceHeelTurn as TheMole near the end of the film]].
* ''DoubleJeopardy'' was infamous for its trailer revealing that: Ashley Judd goes to jail for the murder of her husband, she finds out her husband is alive, a fellow inmate informs her that she cannot be convicted for the same crime twice, and that she menacingly points a gun on her husband while Tommy Lee Jones (who was investigating Judd) sits back and watches.

* The first trailer for the movie adaptation of ''EndersGame'' ends with [[spoiler:Ender shouting "Now!" as he orders his fleet to destroy a planet- the Buggers' homeworld.]] This would happen to be ''the absolute climax moment for the film.''

* The Music/JenniferLopez movie ''{{Enough}}'' is about an abused wife who goes on the run, but her husband tracks her down and she realizes the only way to stop him is to TakeALevelInBadass. The trailers showed her confronting him after her training, which is the climax of the movie.

* The trailer for ''SupermanIII'' showed that not only does [[spoiler: Gus Gorman (''RichardPryor'')]] become a [[spoiler: good guy]], but that [[spoiler: Superman beats the computer]]. Granted, it's a Superman film so you probably could have figured out that last part, but still.

* The trailer for the [[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows seventh Harry Potter movie]].

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTC9Lt3hiWo the trailer]] for ''Film/AngelHeart'' shows a whole bunch of bits and pieces of the film, playing segments of dialogue throughout, but again, all is shown out of context, and only makes sense when one actually sees the film. It's actually quite haunting, and if this trailer freaks you out (which it will), [[NightmareFuel just wait until you see the actual movie and you find out just what all that scattered dialogue means...]].

* Before ''Film/BlackSwan'' won an Oscar, the trailers and TV spots for the film show [[spoiler:Nina's [[NightmareFuel disturbing]] swan morph.]]

* In ''[[Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street'', only four characters are killed; the trailer shows all of the deaths and the order they happen.

* ''Film/ThePurge'': AvertedTrope. The trailer explains the premise, shows the Sandins taking in a stranger, and then experiencing a home invasion by a gang of psychopathic killers. The trailer doesn't show any plot twists, the ending or anything like that.

** [[spoiler:M's death]] in Skyfall was revealed in the internet even before the movie's teaser trailer was revealed.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjLamj-b0I8&feature=related the original trailer]] for ''Film/{{Alien}}'' literally explains absolutely nothing about the film. All we get are a bunch of quick shots of... intense things happening, most of the images being two or three seconds long.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b726feAhdU The utlimate example]] would be ''Film/TheShining'', the trailer for which is literally just a single scene, specifically a long shot of a room. There's some credits, then a river of blood, and that's it.

* ''BallsOfFury'' tries really hard to make Feng's identity a secret, despite that ChristopherWalken is 99% of the star power (the other 1% being, of course, James Hong).

* The trailer for ''Film/{{Bratz}}'' pretty much tells the entire movie's story.

* The trailer for ''{{Carrie}}'' shows pretty much all the climax of the film, including the deaths of every significant character, which begs the question of why anyone, having seen it, would actually go and see the film.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze6M7EbB0R4 This trailer]] for ''Charlie St. Cloud'' gives away basically every plot point from the film.

** Not the only Arnie movie to be spoilt either. ''Film/TotalRecall1990'''s main trailer is pretty much the majority of the movie, especially the best parts [[spoiler:("Consider that a divorce!")]]. The trailers for ''Eraser'' give away [[spoiler:that James Caan is the villain.]]

* The trailers for ''TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton'' pretty much detail every event in the entire movie, showing just about everything important that happens in Benjamin's life.

* The Music/JenniferLopez movie ''{{Enough}}'' is about an abused wife who goes on the run, but her husband tracks her down and she realizes the only way to stop him is to TakeALevelInBadass. The trailers showed her confronting him after her training, which is basically the climax of the movie.

** Not to mention a lot of the scenes from said trailer show Harry [[spoiler:after his death and resurrection, removing the dramatic tension leading up to his death]].

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W8igqK_QWU trailer]] for ''ICantThinkStraight'' pretty much sums up all the major plot points in the movie, which is a shame since Lisa Ray and Sheemal Sheth give great performances as Tala and Leyla, respectively.
* The trailers and posters for ''Film/TheIncredibleBurtWonderstone'' spoil just about every plot development and serves as more or less a two minute summary of the entire film.

** On the other hand, the post-credits scene from ''Film/IronMan'' is just about the only really cool thing in the movie that ''wasn't'' shown in the trailer.

* The remake of the horror and revenge film ''ISpitOnYourGrave'', about a woman who spends over a month taking systematic revenge on the individuals in a group that gang-rapes her, actually says what the entire story and ending are plainly and totally straight, clearly with no attempt in allowing the slightest bit of suspense. It states right in your face what happens after describing the entire first half in a few sentences with the words: "When the carnage clears, victim has become victor."

* In certain circles (that is, the obsessive ones), the trailer for ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]'' is rather notorious for giving away what is clearly set up in the film (and even more so in the book) as a point of mystery and contention -- the identity of the mysterious White Wizard who is following Aragorn's Terrific Trio around.
** In the book, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas were totally surprised to find out that [[spoiler: Gandalf had returned from the dead]], and when they heard about a "White Wizard", and even at first when they finally came across him, they thought [[spoiler: it was Saruman, not Gandalf]]. In the movie, to maintain this, Peter Jackson actually went so far as to have [[spoiler: Gandalf the White]] speak with the voices of [[spoiler: ''both Lee and [=McKellen=]'']] imitating each other's voice, with their voices overlaid on top of each other. You can hear the transitions quite well, and for a moment [[spoiler: Gandalf]] sounds like he's talking with the VoiceOfTheLegion because of this.

** A more minor example would be the Twins and their ghosting ability. Within the progression of the story itself, their ability to phase into intangible ghost-like forms came as a surprise to the main characters, but scenes with them using said ability were featured pretty heavily in the film's marketing. As such, as soon as the Twins first showed up on screen, probably just about everybody in the theater started eagerly anticipating when they'd get to see their powers in action, which actually didn't happen until a good chunk of time after their first appearance.
* The trailer (not to mention the VHS cover art) for ''Film/MeetTheFeebles'' shows the surprise ending in action.

** The trailer for RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes basically summarizes the plot of the whole movie.

* All trailers for ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' show things that happen in the last 10 minutes into the film. The same is true for one of the international posters advertising the film. [[spoiler: Namely, that titular ship Prometheus crashes into the alien vessel.]]
** To be fair, that was a very quick shot which only lasted about two seconds, so it's pretty easy to miss unless you've actually ''seen'' the movie.

* ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'' treats Nathan Wallace's secret identity as the Repo Man like it's a big secret, and "Legal Assassin," his first big solo a third of the way into the movie, is TheReveal. The official website's designers were clued into this: they treat Nathan and the Repo Man as separate characters. The people who made the trailer did not get that memo, however: they used part of "Legal Assassin" in the trailer, complete with visuals of Nathan donning the uniform, and even declared that the film starred "Anthony Stewart Head as Repo Man"!

* ''Film/TheRocketeer'' trailer was basically a mini version of the movie, leading some people to blame it for the movie's poor box office -- people felt they had already seen it.

* Late trailers for ''[[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' go out of their way to reveal [[spoiler:[[BackFromTheDead Megatron's return]]]].
** To be fair, anyone who thought [[spoiler: Megatron wouldn't back for the sequel]] really [[LateArrivalSpoiler should've known]] [[JokerImmunity otherwise]].

* The trailer (or at least one of them) for ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' gave away ''absolutely everything''. The sequel, ''New Moon'', is even worse! The first trailer for it was fine, it stopped at the first major plot revelation. But the second trailer? Well that just takes one scene from pretty much every plot point in the movie, save the VERY last one, and mashes it all together in a sequential montage! You could nearly write the Wikipedia plot summary with just that trailer alone!

* There is no reason to see the film ''WarmBodies'' due to the fact that the trailer casually spoils the fact that it's a reverse parody of ''{{Twilight}}'' where the zombie boy gets turned back into a human by the love of a human girl. Unless the producers do a DoubleSubversion where she gets turned and the plot occurred for naught, but since this is Hollywood, they'll never do anything ''that'' creative. [[spoiler: Or would they?]]

* The TV-movie ''WhenAStrangerCalls'' suffered from this in that the promos spoiled just about every single plot point. The kicker? When it was recently remade into a theatrical film, the theatrical film had the exact same issue.

* Invoked with the trailer for ''Film/FemmeFatale'' which shows the entire movie in fast forward.
* Watch ANY of ''{{Melancholia}}'''s trailers and you've pretty much seen the whole movie.

* The trailer of ''NowYouSeeMe'' shows [[spoiler:Michael Caine's character ordering Morgan Freeman's character to expose and ruin the Four Horsemen.]] While this isn't as a bad a spoiler as some, given the movie's extra twists, it does completely deflate the tension out of an earlier scene where [[spoiler:Caine is trying to threaten and intimidate Freeman to refrain from exposing the Four Horseman that takes place before the Horsemen have double-crossed Caine.]]

** When RogerEbert reviewed ''DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory'' favorably, he said he was pleasantly surprised by how much funny stuff was kept ''out'' of the trailer. Likewise, he mentioned in his one-star review of ''Year One'' that the only funny stuff were lines already in the trailers.

* In ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'', only four characters are killed; the trailer shows all of the deaths and the order they happen.

* A home video trailer for ''TitanAE'' showed the entire movie, start to finish, in order, including the final scenes of [[spoiler: a new Earth being formed and the lead characters on it]]. Why bother to see the movie?