Movie trailers are now more of a hinderance than a benefit. What happened to the old days, where a trailer would just tease a movie - you know, offering up a feeling of what you might expect to see instead of showing you everything? Today, entire films are contained within their trailers; sometimes they tell you so much that you end up feeling like you've already sat through the thing from start to end. This happens for a number of reasons, of course; studios are alternatively convinced that audiences need to see as much of what the film has to offer in order to part with their cash (not true) or because they're not sure about how to market the movie in question, so they just end up telling the whole story, albeit in two and a half minutes (so unnecessary). Clearly, we've reached a ridiculous point in cinematic history when it comes to movie marketing, something made evident by the following eight trailers, all of which have already spoiled - in some capacity - crucial plot aspects, twists and turns, and even jokes for the very movies they're supposed to be selling to audiences this year... It goes without saying, but do note that this article contains potential spoilers (although you have already seen them).
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
