10 Recent Movies Spoiled By Their Trailers

Of the many things modern moviegoers love to complain about, right at the top of the list is the tendency for marketing to be way, way too spoiler-packed.

Even though studies consistently show that casual audiences prefer to know precisely what they're paying to see, there's also a strong sentiment that studios are far too eager to give away their biggest surprises ahead of time.

And it's fair to say that this issue only seems to have gotten worse in recent years, possibly as the industry's post-pandemic struggles drive studios to market their movies as conservatively as possible.

After all, the easiest way to get people's attention to make your trailer a sizzle reel of all the coolest moments, even if it means that there's nothing fresh left for audiences to experience when they're actually in the cinema watching the full movie.

And in that respect, these 10 recent movies all ended up giving far too much away ahead of time, when a more restrained, mysterious marketing campaign probably would've served them better.

If you went into these movies without having seen the trailers at all, you probably had a better time...

The marketing team behind recent horror hit Companion certainly had a tricky job on their hands, because while its big surprise is revealed relatively early on, it also would've been incredible to experience entirely unspoiled.

Though the initial vibes-based teaser trailer was somewhat vague about its premise, Companion's full-length trailer freely revealed that protagonist Iris (Sophie Thatcher) is secretly a robot owned by her "boyfriend" Josh (Jack Quaid).

This is revealed 25 minutes into the movie, so it's not quite an Abigail situation where the marketing spoiled a mid-film twist, but wouldn't it have been so much more fun if the marketing simply focused on The Mystery surrounding Iris, rather than giving it away outright?

Sure, movie studios find vague marketing risky and would rather get butts in seats by focusing on an attention-grabbing premise, but there's also something to be said for the thrill of discovery and a film finding an audience from word-of-mouth about its exciting surprises.

Just last year Longlegs proved that plot-light marketing can be hugely successful, and it's a shame - if not remotely surprising - that Companion didn't go this route too.