The purpose of a movie trailer is obvious; it is to inform viewers of the style, tone and subject matter of any given film, as well as who is starring in and directing it, and also to let audiences know whether it might be something that they want to watch. Some trailers, however, completely go against this notion, misrepresenting the film either to get more butts in cinema seats, or to withhold a surprise from the viewer, so that they're caught off-guard by what
actually happens. Needless to say, with even the best intentions this can annoy some viewers, who feel that they've been duped into seeing a different film from what was advertised. At the worst of times it's a crass commercial practice, and at the best of times, it can be a clever bait-and-switch that makes you appreciate what the film
actually is a little bit more. Most of the time, however, it's for nefarious, shady reasons, and so, here are 10 movie trailers that totally misled audiences...
10. Sweeney Todd
What The Trailer Says: A quirky gothic horror yarn in the vein of everything Tim Burton has ever made prior, starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as a murderous tag-team who murder the locals of Fleet Street and then pack their lovely meat into pies. Sounds right up Tim Burton's street - oh, and there's a little bit of singing in it, too, probably during a surreal aside or something.
The Truth: The film's a musical; there's music everywhere, there's singing everywhere, and the trailers make absolutely no effort to make that fact clear though one brief glimpse of singing. Though Sweeney Todd is a relatively famous musical in its own right, that doesn't really excuse the fact that this trailer is lying to viewers through omission. The producers clearly realise that a musical is going to put
some Johnny Depp fans off, so instead just refuse to tell us, which sounds like it should be sort of illegal, really.