What movies had trailers so good that the actual movie ended up being disappointing ?

echoplex21@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 96 points –
75

Prometheus teaser so much promise and not only was it a nonsensical movie with horribly written and acted characters, it didn't even include scene from this trailer or anything close to it.

I remember I thought "man, this is going to scratch the sci-fi horror itch I have had for years". Little did I know I was going to watch 2 hours of plot-driving goo and the stupidest group of scientists in history

Dark Knight Rises was when I decided to start avoiding trailers as best as I can. They showed the best part of the opening scene, with the plane dragging the hull of the other plane through the air..

I remember sitting in the theater that whole scene pretty much knowing what was gonna happen. And when it did, instead of being blown away like anybody should be, I had basically no reaction.

You're spot on. It was around this time where I stopped watching trailers/reading reviews.

I now come into a movie with just a rough 1-2 sentence outline and if it's worth my time or not. Been a huge game changer.

They had released a sneak peak in IMAX of the entire opening scene a few months before release. Nolan does it for all of his movies. That scene was super well known way before the movie came out and was used to build hype.

I remember feeling the exact same way for Fast 5.

Every Zach Snyder movie.

Oh man this is definitely high up on the list and that's from someone who does still enjoy his movies.

His watchmen trailer is still one of my favorites: https://youtu.be/wdiHDzT6YbQ?si=CKcY4fqFnDLGuHzO

Also loved his man of steel trailers

https://youtu.be/KVu3gS7iJu4?si=sGqdM3kbNG1-FRyR

https://youtu.be/wArmHSPIvlQ?si=3uFQPSIhM1oY_mTW

I like his movies, too. But compare Army of the Dead to the actual film, it’s not even close to as good. He can nail trailers and opening scenes, but they always seem to underwhelm by midway through.

Was gonna say Batman vs Superman. Even the title is made for trailer hype. Can still remember the hypetrain at the line “tell me, do you bleed?”

Maybe a hot take but I’d say this is true about most Neil Blomkamp movies too

He got his start directing music videos, so it makes sense.

Star Wars the Force Awakens. I remember being super toked when the trailer came out. The movie it self was a B- at best.

Pretty much every trailer in the entire trilogy was just nostalgia bait honestly.

When that cross guard for the lightsaber appeared in the trailer that was a true Star Wars moment hype

Suicide Squad. Trailers were good, Purple Lamborghini was good track. Everything looked good in trailers. And I saw a movie. Jared Leto as Joker was stupid, film was boring with few good scenes you saw in trailer. Waste of money and time. I know that there are other Suicide Squad movies, Harley Quinn movie. I haven't seen them and probably I won't see them

I agree, what a huge disappointment that one was. Skip Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey for sure. I will say that The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker show are fantastic. Both are by James Gunn if you happen to like his Guardians of the Galaxy work.

I like Guardians of the Galaxy. Maybe one day I'll give it a chance. Thanks

Wonder Woman 1984 Top notch trailer and terrible movie, that I even not have watched to the end.

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This might be controversial, but for me it was Watchmen.

I was really into the graphic novel when the movie was announced. They dropped this trailer with Smashing Pumpkins "The beginning is the End is the Beginning" playing over it and it was so good. Perfectly captured what I felt the tone of the graphic novel was. Gritty, forlorn, dark, contemplative.

https://youtu.be/wdiHDzT6YbQ?si=K6WoxVts0ZGzSb28

I must have watched that trailer 100 times before the movie came out. Then I saw the movie and it was weirdly campy and totally the opposite of the feel the trailer gave in a lot of places. Which in turn was very different from the feel I got from the graphic novel. I was so disappointed. I've never gone back to rewatch it, and I probably should because I think the consensus was that it's a pretty good movie and being more than a decade removed from reading the book might help me appreciate the movie on its own merit a bit more.

Not controversial at all. That trailer was brilliant and it was also right before Dark Knight (or was it DKR) which got me even more excited after experiencing it.

Mind you I still enjoyed the movie (though way more after watching the directors cut).

Ah is the directors cut good? I think I own it someplace but have never watched it.

Director's cut is definitely the best version overall, though there's also an ultimate cut that features an animated Tales of the Black Freighter starring Gerard Butler cut into the movie throughout. Worth checking out at least once. The recent Watchmen show on HBO was also excellent. It serves as a sequel 30 years later.

Prequel trilogy. They get you excited.

I was like a little kid rushing to the theater to see The Phantom Menace. I was so soul-crushingly disappointed after that to this day I’ve never seen the other two prequels. I know they’re supposed to be better than PM, but I don’t care, I’m not watching them.

They are better in the sense that it's to better to be stuck in shit up to your neck than being stuck in it up to your chin.

How to train your Dragon 3

The trailer(s) had a lot of interesting twists and cool cutscenes, new characters, new "lore" elements ... all the good stuff that makes the audience curious for more. Well, it turned out that the trailers spoiled ALL the important plot elements, so the actual movie had basically no extra content other than filler scenes. If you had seen the trailer, there was no need to see the movie.

I tend to go into movies without watching the trailers so the only media I saw of HTTYD 3 was the promo image of Hiccup as an adult with a beard. Needless to say I was... Very... Disappointed...

For me it was Wonder Woman 1984. I thought the first one was pretty good and the trailer for the second looked like it was something I was going to enjoy.. I was wrong

Yes! That fucking Welcome Home had us all thinking it would be a hardcore horror action. It wasn't bad, but damn, yeah, disappointed is the right word.

I went to 9 because of the incredible short, but holy crap the movie was some bad anime tier trash. Worst thing I've ever seen in theatres.

I didn't think it's was awful, but the trailer absolutely oversold what to expect.

Scorcher VI - Global Meltdown. All I remember is the trailer, can't even remember the movie.

The 2009 animated film 9.

Trailer was fucking epic. Movie was boring as hell.

Sucker Punch.

Maybe it's just me, but after watching 300 and the trailer I thought it was going to be some full on adventure story with badass women (which I get in some ways it is).

Just to be the only person sitting in the middle of the cinema (me a fat dude) watching women being subjected to abusive or sexual content for like 2 hours :/

Just didn't expect it all.

Million ways to die in the west had every funny joke in the trailer. There's no point seeing the movie after that.

For me it has to be all the trailers for the first Suicide Squad. So well executed and somehow stole the show away from the equally as promising Batman Vs Superman. That Comic Con was probably the most optimistic DC's future looked in the past decade.

My fun little canon is that the actual movie doesn't exist and the trailers are a very stylized prologue to James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. It gives backstory to some of the main characters (Flagg, Harley, Waller) and their motivations while also teasing characters who may or may not show up in potential sequels

https://youtu.be/PLLQK9la6Go?si=V3HNYcOzET4uujVk

https://youtu.be/CmRih_VtVAs?si=iL-1CTtz7NaFLRk8

https://youtu.be/7NHtV4bfs6Y?si=G_nRwb5wPbIrGYJO

No question. Man of Steel. The trailers with each dad is something I go back to and watch TO THIS DAY. It screams of a movie that I wish I could see. So much more with inner turmoil of who The Man of Steel was. I wanted to see the Kansas boy's roots. sigh ....

/edit just got downvoted, but I'll add more anyways. The movie we got seemed a bit confused. It felt like a lot of style and little substance. I love Cavill though. I also enjoyed the Krypton portion even though a lot of people didn't.

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little me fell for Fantasia's trailer like it was going to be the best Disney/Gisnep movie ever, only yo find out it was a scary musical before I knew what was "trippy"

Matrix 2 was a huge disappointment... Still remember how I knew after 15 minutes of watching the movie that it sucked.

That Godzilla that made it seem like Brian Cranston was a main character and then he died like 10 minutes in.

C’mon - that was an excellent switcheroo, like killing off Janet Leigh ⅓ of the way through Psycho. That they’d kak a big star in the first 42 minutes (just checked) is a great way to throw an audience off-balance. Now we’re back in classic disaster-movie territory, and you’re not sure who’ll actually survive.

I mean, if it was called “Cranston” and not “Godzilla” and they did that, I’d feel bad.

Shallow hal had a great funny trailer but after watching the movie they used pretty much all the good bits in the trailer.

Tree of Life: very intriguing trailer with one of the most beautiful tunes ever (Bedrich Smetana's Vltava). The movie turned out to be a slog. With dinosaurs.

A lot. The one that always comes to mind is Red Eye (2005). The trailer pulled a good switcheroo when I saw the trailer in theaters but the actual movie was meh. Specifically the version where the screen goes dark and Cillian's eye turns red.

The Assistant. Seriously watch the trailer and then just make up a story it'll be better than waiting two hours for a plot.

I'll probably take a hit for this but 2002's Adaptation. (Hell i'm old)

Watch the trailer for yourselves. It's gripping.

https://youtu.be/uougMRq-MSo?si=ZBa641PGN7vRppqT

The movie was not gripping. It was just ok but that trailer was freaking amazing. Maybe what I needed was just a TEDTalk by Brian Cox and more Under Pressure by Queen. Instead I got about 4 times the Nicholas Cage than the recommended dose.

Sisu. Super fun trailer, but most of the good parts of the movie are in there. Majority of the movie outside the trailer is quietly waiting and setting the mood. Still enjoyed the movie overall but expected more over the top hyper violence with a splash of comedy.

2015 Macbeth, I thought it was going to be this dark, intense version of Macbeth and instead it was a weird arthouse piece that changed an important moment in the story.