Sometimes even a huge team of executives, PR agents, and marketers fail to establish a good campaign. In the desperation to attract more and more audience to the theatres, they end up revealing everything in the promotions. The directors and scriptwriters burn the midnight oil for months on the plot twist and the big suspense, only for them to get spoiled by the money-loving promoters. Perhaps, the studio cared less about the fans’ experience and more about the box office outcome. Fair enough! So, here are the 10 times movie spoilers were revealed in promotions.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
In this case, the studios had revealed the plot of the movie four years in advance. Luckily, not everyone watched all the trailers of “Jurassic World: the Fallen Kingdom” as each and every one of them was brimming with spoilers. Its marketing team had given away more about the plot than what most of the fans would have wanted. The trailers revealed the first part of the movie where the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar were being rescued as a volcano was about to swallow the island. It also spilled the climax of the movie by showing a shot of a lion facing the T-Rex. This shot will form the crux of the upcoming “Jurassic World 3” in 2022.
Cast Away
Tom Hanks’ “Cast Away” is a critically-acclaimed classic that was applauded by everyone who saw it. But the trailer wasn’t given much of thought like the movie was. One of the biggest questions and suspense in the beautiful story was whether Tom Hanks would make it out of the deserted island. Those who already saw the trailer before going to the theatres knew that he would eventually make it home. Yep, the trailer had revealed that already.
Captain America: Civil War
Another instance of the studios giving spoilers involves an unexpected name- Marvel Studios. MCU has suffered the consequences of spoilers in the past and also requested viewers to refrain from it. But during Captain America: Civil War, it revealed one of the biggest moments of the war. Ant-Man displaying his latest trick of “Giant-Man” was a hoot-worthy moment at the theatres but the markets had already seen Funko Pop of Giant-Man before the film released.
Friday the 13th
The poor audience who were slapped with the trailer before going for this movie, as it had spilled all the beans. What’s the point of watching a horror-thriller when you know exactly who will be killed and in which order? A trailer of few minutes showed the film in a crash course by revealing who’d die in the same order as they did in the movie. After all, people would go to watch the same thing in slow motion.
The Incredible Hulk
Forget about movie spoilers. How do you feel about post-credit spoilers? It’s shocking that MCU is getting mentioned in this list for the second time. Maybe they should release an open letter for their PR and marketing team and not fans. One of the earliest post-credit scenes of the MCU was in “The Incredible Hulk” where Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark made his cameo appearance. But Tony Stark’s meeting with Thunderbolt Ross was already shown as a TV spot before the movie hit the theatres.
Toy Story 3
The LEGO for Toy Story 3 had released an interesting collection before the movie had hit the theatres. We could see our favorite characters, Woody and the gang being dragged into flames while a teddy (Lotso) was operating the fatal machine. So, whichever poor kid got this as a gift would know the climax and possibly the villain before watching the beloved movie.
Rocky IV
Viewers didn’t have to sit through the whole movie to find out who’d win at the end. After all, the poster clearly showed Rocky wrapped in the American flag with pride. Even a person who doesn’t watch sports, let alone boxing matches, knows what it means when someone stands on the pedestal with the flag-draped on them.
The Avengers
One of the biggest and most tense moments in “The Avengers” was the last scene that saw Iron Man plummeting back on earth after destroying the Chitauri ship. The director’s intention was to leave the fans jaw-dropped and on the edge of their seats. But anyone who had seen the trailer wasn’t worried because they knew that Hulk would end up catching Tony. And as far as the history of MCU fans goes, none of them would have missed the trailers. Way to go MCU!
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Almost everyone has read “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy but the studios should have been considerate of the non-readers. Besides, movies are known for tweaking the source material to maintain the element of surprise for the readers. So no one was 100% sure if Gandalf would be back in the next installment, especially the movie fans. However, fans that were broken by Gandalf’s death were deprived of the plot twist in the next part because of the trailers. It had notoriously shown the great Gandalf’s return.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the bad guy in the original Terminator movie. His villainous T-800 turning into a hero was a profound moment and a big plot twist in the second part of “The Terminator”. But the audience already got enough time to process this twist as the trailers had already shown Terminator teaming up with John Connor.
