10 Movies That Sold You A Lie
1. Bridge To Terabithia Isn't The Whimsical Fantasy You Thought It Was
For those unfamiliar with Katherine Paterson's novel, watching the big-screen adaptation of Bridge to Terabithia must have come as quite a shock to those drawn in by the marketing campaign. The trailer's dramatic music, myriad of CGI creatures and 'from Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media' proclamation deliberately played up the Narnia connection, but the movie is something else entirely.
The marketing misrepresented the movie so badly that director Gabor Csupo distanced himself from it altogether, saying "We the filmmakers had nothing to do with that promotion. We don't really think that it's an appropriate way of selling the movie. If they are anticipating a Harry Potter movie, then we are in trouble".
Co-writer and producer David Paterson, son of author Katherine, was even more succinct after seeing the first trailer. His reaction? "Well, my mom is going to hate it."
Despite being the main selling point of the movie, the fantasy land of Terabithia only takes up a small amount of screentime and is completely imaginary, serving only as a way for the two young leads to hide from the tribulations of daily life. It takes a bold and probably very cynical person to market a tear-jerking coming-of-age story about heartbreak, escapism and loss as a family-friendly adventure, but that's exactly what they did.