Why do Movie Trailers(like action movies) these days show too much of the movie before you see it? (film, theater)

[Blackandgold51]

Okay, back in the day movie trailers such as action movies showed you a little bit of the movie and kept the rest of the movie a mystery untile you see it.

Like take The Mist for example; I first saw the commercial of the Mist and it just showed FEW parts of the movie and I thought it was like a Horror Comedy type movie.

But, when I saw the movie itself I was like "WOW, I didn't expect that in the movie, that's a great film!"

Same goes for the movie Wars Of Worlds in 2005, they didn't show(on the commercials and trailers) the Tripods or anything until I saw it I was amazed

Now, whenever a movie trailer comes up(or on) the trailer shows you everything before you see the movie, and by the time you get to see the movie you're somehow dissappointed becuase you've already saw what's on the movie through the Trailer.

[Time and Space]

Originally Posted by Blackandgold51

Okay, back in the day movie trailers such as action movies showed you a little bit of the movie and kept the rest of the movie a mystery untile you see it.

Like take The Mist for example; I first saw the commercial of the Mist and it just showed FEW parts of the movie and I thought it was like a Horror Comedy type movie.

But, when I saw the movie itself I was like "WOW, I didn't expect that in the movie, that's a great film!"

Same goes for the movie Wars Of Worlds in 2005, they didn't show(on the commercials and trailers) the Tripods or anything until I saw it I was amazed

Now, whenever a movie trailer comes up(or on) the trailer shows you everything before you see the movie, and by the time you get to see the movie you're somehow dissappointed becuase you've already saw what's on the movie through the Trailer.

I totally agree...
If the movie is indeed good, they should be able to 'sell' it without giving away all the pivital scenes...

you can make a bad movie seem very 'good' just by editing scenes for trailers...

I myself have been suckered into many a horrible movie by that tactic...

[quiet walker]

I've noticed many times recently, movie critics asked why they gave a movie a poor review when the trailers looked so good. And the critic would say that if you've seen the trailer, then you've seen all the good parts

[plwhit]

Maybe the movie studio thinks that the viewer will go see the movie expecting to see more than what was shown in the trailer?

[Cida]

I was just thinking this when I saw a trailer for Sanctum that told you just about everything, making it unnecessary to see the movie. I think it's really a result of not trusting the audience.

[Sandhillian]

It is so aggravating because it really spoils seeing the movie. It's Complicated was a good example of this - not only did they show all of the funny parts I went to see it expecting it to be a comedy. I think I would have liked it if I had not gone in with that expectation.

[d-boy-80]

Originally Posted by quiet walker

I've noticed many times recently, movie critics asked why they gave a movie a poor review when the trailers looked so good. And the critic would say that if you've seen the trailer, then you've seen all the good parts

That is the thing. Most movie studios understand that what they are making is crap. So people have no choice but to watch crap. Its the way things work in Hollywood.

[TJenkins602]

It gets worse, a lot of trailers show scenes that are not in the final movie. In some cases, you are shown all of the good parts plus some extra good parts that will not be in the movie when you see it in the theater.

This often makes me feel cheated.

Examples

Soldier (1998) Trailer shows a battle involving spaceships
Driver (2010) A big scene is shown that is not included in the movie
Tropic Thunder (2008) One big extra scene that is full of dialogue is in the trailer that was not in the theatrical release (it apparantly was restored in the director's cut.

There are others. I wasn't talking about mere extra tiny bits or alternate takes. I'm talking about big scenes that you see in the trailer but you won't find in the movie.

[Brill]

Originally Posted by TJenkins602

It gets worse, a lot of trailers show scenes that are not in the final movie. In some cases, you are shown all of the good parts plus some extra good parts that will not be in the movie when you see it in the theater.

This often makes me feel cheated.

Examples

Soldier (1998) Trailer shows a battle involving spaceships
Driver (2010) A big scene is shown that is not included in the movie
Tropic Thunder (2008) One big extra scene that is full of dialogue is in the trailer that was not in the theatrical release (it apparantly was restored in the director's cut.

There are others. I wasn't talking about mere extra tiny bits or alternate takes. I'm talking about big scenes that you see in the trailer but you won't find in the movie.

I don't think thats intentional. The problem is trailers are often made before the movie reaches the final draft, so sometimes there are some scenes dropped between the trailer and the final release.

[skel1977]

Because the movies lack content and therefore the trailer must contain the only content in the movie.