10 Bad Movies With Great Trailers
4. The Phantom Menace
As the single most highly-anticipated movie in history, Star Wars Episode I was never going to be able to live up to the expectations that the fans had set for it. Sixteen years in the making and this was the best that George Lucas could come up with?
People were literally paying full price to go to the movies just to see the trailer, so the least that Lucasfilm could do was make it worth their while. And on that note at least, they succeeded; the familiar music swelling in the background, the returns of familiar characters, the introductions of new ones, mercifully little from Jar Jar Binks and Jake Lloyd, stunning space vistas and epic-looking action. Star Wars was back.
As we all know, The Phantom Menace (outside of the Duel of the Fates and the Podrace) turned out to be one of the most crushingly disappointing blockbusters in recent memory.
It may never have been able to match the ideal scenario that fans had in their heads, but Lucas failed to draw even half-decent performances from most of his actors who were already saddled with having to spout painful dialogue, and reaffirming the fact that it was detrimental to the franchise to let him have such unopposed creative freedom.