10 Misleading Movie Trailers That Scared You Off Amazing Movies

Have you ever been watching a movie advertisement and thought to yourself, "Boy, I can't wait to miss that abomination," only to later have a friend tell you that it's an A+, must-see film?

Well, if you're not lucky enough to have a friend who pushed you to check it out despite your initial hesitation, chances are you're never going to see that movie.

And that's the side of movie marketing people don't think about. Because for every awful movie made to look spectacular by a tightly-edited trailer, there's a fantastic work that will sink to the bottom of everyone's queue because the commercial misled us into believing it was a piece of wet garbage not deserving of our time.

Sometimes trailers are edited to look completely different from the actual film because the marketing team is trying to reach the widest audience possible, and so giving it a more generic sheen is the best way to maximize the number of butts in the seats. But often, this has the dual effect of turning off more, let's say "selective" viewers.

If you've forever branded the following films a "No Thanks" because of their misleading promotional spots, please, we urge you to reconsider.

What The Trailer Sold You:

Like any movie from the plucky-kids-stumble-into-fantasy-adventures genre, Bridge To Terabithia's trailer really hammers home the corny, wide-eyed awesomeness of the strange new world we're being ushered through.

Released in 2007, it seems the director had spent two months locked in a closet watching Chronicles of Narnia and The Fellowship of the Ring on a laptop, and then regurgitated his memories of the binge onto film.

What You Missed:

The above description may sound harsh, but it's only because the trailer does such an incredible disservice to the originality and sincerity expressed by director Gabor Csupo in the actual movie. Bridge To Terabithia isn't quite a fantasy movie in the Narnia sense, but more an emotional escape as seen through the eyes of two lonely, lost children.

One habitually bullied preteen (Josh Hutcherson) finally gains an ally in the new kid at school (AnnaSophia Robb), and the two imagine their way through magical adventures in the woods. It's made clear this is really the only happiness they experience in their lives, so who cares that it's only happening in their heads?

Be forewarned, however, that Terabithia is unbearably heartbreaking at times, and is ultimately what separates it from the pack of similarly-marketed "family adventure" films.