Movie studios can be sued under false advertising laws if they release deceptive movie trailers

[Analyzer]

Movie Studios Can Now be Sued for Deceptive Trailers - IGN

A district judge ruled on Tuesday that movie studios can be sued under false advertising laws if they release deceptive movie trailers.

www.ign.com

“Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” Wilson wrote. “At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with a preview of the movie.”

This opens up a whole can of worms, especially for teaser type trailers

For example the Rogue One trailer I remember scene with Jyn facing down a Tie Fighter and watching for that, but it never made it into the movie

Same with some scenes from The Force Awakens trailer

Countless other movies also where there are shots specifically created for the trailers

 

[Bigdaddy]

Awesome! Just what our society needs, more pointless litigation to line the pockets of crappy lawyers!
You can sue for anything, winning is a whole different story.

 

[cboath]

This is specifically targeted at featuring someone in a trailer who gets cut from the movie.

I agree it's a lame lawsuit, but, the alternative is studio's are allowed to lie out the #$^ to get you to buy a ticket. The very definition of false advertising.

In the end, all this is going to do is get legalese slapped on trailers amounting to 'may not reflect final product'.

Not that they would do it, but it would be akin to Marvel doing a trailer for the next Avengers movie showing RDJ giving orders in an Iron Man suit - giving everyone the impression he's back and getting people to show up to see him - and then not having him in the movie at all.

There does need to be a line on what they can/can't do. Otherwise, it's pretty clear they'll lie with impunity to get you to buy a ticket.

Now, what's worse about these idiots starting the case is that they didn't even buy a ticket, they rented it for 5 bucks. For 5 bucks, who cares. But the point remains, they shouldn't be able to lie with impunity either, though that isn't the case here. Here, they showed someone in the trailer then cut the person's tiny part before the film was released. I chalk it up to @$%( happens, not a lie. Though, studio's do tread that line.

 

[Cephus]

You couldn't even really sue over that, at least not successfully. Now if the studio was advertising someone being in the movie and they weren't there, maybe. That's out-and-out deception. Just showing someone in a trailer in the background and then they get cut out, I don't think that would stand up in court.

 

[Bigdaddy]

This is specifically targeted at featuring someone in a trailer who gets cut from the movie.

I agree it's a lame lawsuit, but, the alternative is studio's are allowed to lie out the #$^ to get you to buy a ticket. The very definition of false advertising.

In the end, all this is going to do is get legalese slapped on trailers amounting to 'may not reflect final product'.

Not that they would do it, but it would be akin to Marvel doing a trailer for the next Avengers movie showing RDJ giving orders in an Iron Man suit - giving everyone the impression he's back and getting people to show up to see him - and then not having him in the movie at all.

There does need to be a line on what they can/can't do. Otherwise, it's pretty clear they'll lie with impunity to get you to buy a ticket.

Now, what's worse about these idiots starting the case is that they didn't even buy a ticket, they rented it for 5 bucks. For 5 bucks, who cares. But the point remains, they shouldn't be able to lie with impunity either, though that isn't the case here. Here, they showed someone in the trailer then cut the person's tiny part before the film was released. I chalk it up to @$%( happens, not a lie. Though, studio's do tread that line.

It's all about intent, I'm not putting it above someone in the decision process at a studio intentionally misleading their customer but it seems like more trouble than it would be worth. I've done it myself, made a trailer for a fan film and in the final edit ended up removing a shot that was in my trailer. It's just part of the process, much more so in an actual movie.
Outside of a company defrauding investors by suggesting they have a particular actor under contract (like the above RDJ example) or something along those lines, this just seems frivolous and wasteful all the way around. Clogging up the courts or paying government agencies to investigate this because someone is disappointed with a movie trailer is snowflakery of the highest order.

 

[Keycube]

It’s tempting to find grey with this (main characters vs background characters, etc), but regardless of intent, fraudulence is fraudulence; it either has to be “Let the trailer be a totally different movie”, or “Trailers have to be made exclusively from the final cut”. For there to be middle ground would be to define what a viewer should tolerate from each individual viewing experience, which is absurd.

The Rogue One example is a good one in this respect; the shot of the TIE fighter and of Jyn in Imperial garb heightened my own expectations. To not get that (and the potentially different movie that went with it) was disappointing. Lawsuit-worthy? No. But what if there were a few more scenes? Half the trailer? I don’t think it’s ridiculous to hold the studios accountable to showing exclusively on-screen content. I assume the only reason they don’t/“can’t” is because they want to get the hype machine running (too) quickly.

The notion of a “lawsuit” regarding such things always elicits eyerolls (and deservedly so), but on a smaller scale, should one at least get a refund if they didn’t get what was advertised? It’s not a situation where one is interpreting a vague description or some such thing; you’re literally being shown what’s assumed to be “The Product”.

The irony of this being that trailers typically show too much information to begin with. :-/

 

[Analyzer]

12 Scenes From Trailers That Didn't Make It Into the Movie

These movie trailers were just a tiny bit misleading.

screencrush.com

 

[JediMichael]

If its just over a side character that could be cut, I guess studios will have to only use footage of the main stars, just incase.
Now if the main star is totally cut, they probably are having bigger issues going on.

 

[ALLEY]

Movie Studios Can Now be Sued for Deceptive Trailers - IGN

A district judge ruled on Tuesday that movie studios can be sued under false advertising laws if they release deceptive movie trailers.

www.ign.com

“Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” Wilson wrote. “At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with a preview of the movie.”

This opens up a whole can of worms, especially for teaser type trailers

For example the Rogue One trailer I remember scene with Jyn facing down a Tie Fighter and watching for that, but it never made it into the movie

Same with some scenes from The Force Awakens trailer

Countless other movies also where there are shots specifically created for the trailers

Can I sue if they advertise it as a good movie and it actually sucks when I see it??

I have a list of titles I have assembled for just such an opportunity.

You see? Dreams really do come true…

 

[drusselmeyer]

It's still a win. They pull so much crap that there should finally be limits on it. All other industries are held to some kind of standard. "The Industry" is totally self- regulating because they are totally and completely with out malice or error. Shyeah.

 

[drusselmeyer]

Now I can sue every movie that is NOT beyond my imagination!

 

[JPH]

Twister ever add the tractor wheel?

This would have been great for My Girl and I think it was Ghoulies, which came out the same time as Goonies.

What the world needs now,
are suits law suits,
Its the only thing, that there's just too little of
What the world needs now,
are suits, law suits,
No, not just for some, but for everyone

 

[cboath]

Mark it down, every trailer from here on out will have text at the bottom or the end:

"The people, places, and scenes depicted in this trailer are not guaranteed to be in the final production."

or something to that effect. The lawyers will tag on something to protect studios. As I said, i get stuff gets cut between trailer and production. There's zero excuse if it's stuff that comes out AFTER the movie is released - which happens. They will cut new trailers post release to try and get more people to go. At that point, they should know better.

I'm also 99.9% positive this is not the first case of someone being in a trailer and getting cut. It happens. Not sure why people want to make a literal court case out of it. Was it deceptive? Ana de Armas wasn't a huge start at the time of Yesterday so it was hardly bait and switch. However, i'd say there's some merit if the trailer was being used after release when they knew she wasn't in it. But, i'll again stress the $5 aspect. If you can't afford to lose $5, you should have bigger problems that who isn't in a movie.

 

[drusselmeyer]

$5 barely pays for gas to see the movie. When was the last time you went to a theater?

 

[dascoyne]

Thor Ragnarok trailer had Thor with two eyes, but that is not what we got in the film.
I paid for a two-eyed Norse superhero.
This is not right.

 

[Cephus]

$5 barely pays for gas to see the movie. When was the last time you went to a theater?

2007. Never again.

 

[Bloop]

$5 barely pays for gas to see the movie. When was the last time you went to a theater?

Cboath was referring to a rental cost, as the lawsuit in the ign article was brought by two fans of Ana de Armas who rented the 2019 movie 'Yesterday' just because she was in the trailer, but was cut from the film.
But you can get a movie ticket for $5. A lot of theaters run a discount day on Tuesdays in the U.S. where all tickets are $5.

 

[Bloop]

I swear I remember seeing Denis Quaid wielding a lightsaber in the trailer (or possibly tv commercial) for the 1984 movie 'Dreamscape,' but when I finally saw the movie (much) later (on tv), the scene wasn't in it. I've searched the internet for evidence of this, but I can't find any, so I don't know if it really happened or I'm misremembering it somehow. But as a big Star Wars fan, I swear I saw it, as it was pretty much the only reason I wanted to see the movie. I think the scene took place on a train too, but again, I could be misremembering the whole thing.
If it really did exist, I assume that maybe the scene was in the trailer but Lucasfilm sued to get it removed from the movie.

 

[cboath]

$5 barely pays for gas to see the movie. When was the last time you went to a theater?

They rented a DVD

 

[Bigdaddy]

I got mental whiplash from trying to follow the plot of Rise of Palpatine. I have a full medical report from Dr Nick, somebody get me Lionel Hutz on the phone!!