Never Trust a Trailer/Film: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

* Fans of the book will know ''[[Bridge to Terabithia]]'' is not a fantasy adventure story, as depicted in the trailers for the movie, but more of a tale about bonding between two friends. The screenwriters have stated that they are not pleased with the way the film was marketed, and the actual movie is much more faithful to the book.

* The trailer for the 2006 version of ''[[Black Christmas]]'' was full of interesting scenes, like a girl getting dragged by Christmas lights, or another one being trapped under the ice... scenes shot '''[[Missing Trailer Scene|just for the trailer]]''' to make the movie look scarier. The [[Executive Meddling|studio went behind the director's back to make those scenes]]; he was pissed when he found out.

* Much to the bafflement of fans, an airing of [[The Sixth Sense]] on ABC had an ad campaign making it look like a tragic love story between Dr. Malcom Crowe and his widow Anna. While there is a love story in the film, it's actually a horror movie about a doctor trying to help a boy who is traumatized by visitations of troubled spirits, as those of us who have seen the movie already knew. One would wonder the reaction of people who were watching the airing based on the ad's lie.

* The trailer for the movie version of ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'' made it look like a goofy comedy about a family and their robot. All clips were taken from either the first fifteen minutes or so or a single 4-5 minute comedic sequence later on in the two-hour romantic drama.

* Disney's film ''Snow Dogs'' was marketed with scenes of the title animals talking and joking, cartoon style - which occurs only during a [[Dream Sequence]] had by Cuba Gooding Jr.'s main character.

** Also spawned a serious case of [[Did Not Do the Research]] in amateur film critics, many of whom blasted the film as "another kid movie about talking animals." Anyone who saw the movie can tell you it is neither kid-friendly nor about talking animals.

** Ironically, there was a direct-to-video animated spinoff where the kangaroo ''did'' talk, by means of a magic spell.

*** Some of the dialog was redubbed to be more kid-friendly, too. There's a running gag where everyone keeps calling the main character "chickenshit." In the final film, this was changed to "chicken blood."

*** The film was also originally called ''Down Under'', that got changed to the somewhat misleading title we all know.

* The trailer for the 1986 Troma film ''Combat Shock'' toted it as being a Rambo-style bloodbath, though the film itself was more of a psychological horror.

** Troma likes to do this on all of their movies. Mostly because they want to the biggest audience possible but also because [[Lloyd Kaufman]] likes to play jokes on the viewers.

* While trailers for ''[[Funny People]]'' keep the tone of a dramedy intact, they make the Leslie Mann relationship seem all too perfect for Adam Sandler and make Eric Bana seem like a total douche. This ''isn't'' true. They also exaggerate the romantic aspect with Mann's character, who is in about a third of the movie and somewhat downplay the relationship between Sandler and Rogen which makes up the bulk of the film.

** A far more grievous example from the trailer of ''Funny People'' was the implication that Adam Sandler's cancer would only take up the first half hour or so and be a device to set up his "new lease on life" pursuit of Leslie Mann. Instead, his battle with cancer is long enough to constitute an entire film on its own.

* From watching the trailers or paying attention to any of the marketing for ''[[Shrek]] the Third'', one would think that the movie was about Shrek and Fiona having a ton of babies and Shrek having to learn to be a father. Wrong. The movie is about Shrek trying to find the only remaining heir to Fiona's parents' kingdom, and the baby thing is a minor reason behind it. All in all, about a minute and a half of the movie involves ogre babies- one [[Nightmare Sequence]] about halfway through (which shows dozens of babies, which is what most of the marketing drew its material from) and a short sequence at the very end of the movie where Shrek and Fiona have three children. That's all. But when you look at all of the promo merchandise, from fast-food toys to collectible glasses with pictures of ogre babies pasted all over them, that'd be a bit hard to deduce.

** Shrek 2 did this too. The trailers made it look like the "Happily Ever After Potion" was entirely [[Played for Laughs]]. While the part with Donkey turning into a stallion (which was the only part shown in the trailer) certainly was, that's only half of it: its effects on {{spoiler|Shrek and Fiona}} were very much [[Played for Drama]]. Not to mention Donkey's "Gimmie that bottle!" line was taken ''way'' out of context.

** Obviously meant for someone not familiar with [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s original novel.

* The trailer for ''Cry Wolf'' is almost entirely comprised of footage that isn't in the film itself, in an apparent attempt to market it as a PG-13 slasher film. The mild rating is actually justified in the film itself, as it's more murder mystery than slasher and one of the biggest questions is whether or not anyone has been killed at all.

** This particular variant was parodied by Samsung in a fake trailer promoting smartphone. "No Guns", "No Romance", "No Plot", "Just Phone". "The Greatest Product Placement Movie of All Time".

*** So he's the jerk to blame for giving the ad execs the "bright" idea of those smarmy, annoying commercials we got flooded with at the theaters over the last couple years!

* The trailer for ''The Negotiator'' featured Kevin Spacey saying something akin to "Now you have to deal with both of us", a line that would have indicated the movie taking a much different route than it actually did.

* Rare example of this being done for a movie that doesn't exist: One of the fake trailers in ''[[Grindhouse]]'', entitled "Don't!", is filmed so that you never hear the characters talking, and wouldn't know they were British. Many horror films of the '70s were marketed to Americans in this way.

** And apparently [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|the R rating didn't stop people thinking that either]].

* [[Defendor]] was marketed as a family-friendly comedy in the trailers, but the actual movie dealt with the [[Reality Ensues|implications of heroism]], drug abuse, and prostitutes.

** Hero is later dubbed in English, with [[Jet Li]] voicing his own character.

* In order to explain what one of the characters does later, in the film ''Used Cars'', there is a scene where it tells how honest they are, [[Kurt Russell]] says to a woman, "I want you to get up on that stand, and lie." While she does in fact do this, that scene never appears in the film.

* The trailer for ''[[Lord of War]]'' made it out to be more of an action comedy than the super-depressing drama with some [[Black Comedy]] it ended up being.

** And then they flipped it for another of [[Nicolas Cage]]'s movies, ''Bangkok Dangerous'', which the trailers made look like a slow, thoughtful examination of the assassination trade, when it was actually a pretty standard shoot 'em up action movie. Clearly, the promotional firms for the two movies should have been switched... as it is, they should just be fired.

* When the film ''No Reservations'' was coming out in theaters, there were two trailers for it. One hyped up the "romantic comedy" angle, leaving the plot of the main female character having to care for her newly orphaned niece completely out, as if she didn't exist; another trailer, oddly enough usually shown much later at night, mostly did the reverse, focusing on the niece and including only a few shots of her tension with the guy as if he were just a minor complication to the whole thing. Now that it's coming out on DVD, the trailers used are for the "all romantic comedy" version, and the other side has been completely omitted.

* There's the 1954 animated movie version of Orwell's ''[[Animal Farm]]'' which faithfully followed the novel... and then there's the 1999 made-for-TV version after a teleplay by some guy named Alan Janes, with talking animatronic animals, voiced by actors. And, um, it's apparently marketed for children, because you know... cute animals. [http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi498532633/ this trailer] implies that it's a family friendly ''[[Babe]]''-type movie. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksnwIUyspps This trailer], however, gets the tone of the story much more accurately.

** ''Spider-Man 3'' had a TV spot/trailer for it made which made it seem like Spidey had the black suit for about half an hour before Venom came in and became the film's major villain. Clips of police officers shooting upwards and Symbiote Spider-Man swinging about were cut together with clips of Peter being smashed through buildings and dodging debris, giving the impression that Venom and Spider-Man would have epic, city-wide battles. Of course, {{spoiler|Venom was a very minor character, in comparison to New Goblin and Sandman, and even Gwen Stacey had more screen time. He appeared only at the very end of the film, and was killed off after a short appearance. The character didn't survive even one night within the film's universe, and was completely annihilated in an explosion}}. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yulxywCKu6o&feature=relmfu Here it is].

** And lest we forget, a trailer for the first ''Spider-Man'' had a scene never shown in theaters, in which Spidey's web ensnares a helicopter. That one didn't even make it onto the ''small'' screen, as the giant web had been strung [[Too Soon|between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers]].

** As to not alienate anyone who isn't a fan of football, most of the TV ads in the US solely focused on portraying it as a wacky period rom-com. Unfortunately, that meant football fans were not enticed by the romantic angle, the ladies were not enticed by the early-1900s football setting, and the film flopped.

* Similarly to ''Leatherheads'' (above), UK trailers for ''[[The Blind Side]]'' contain nary a hint of a sporting connection. Now that takes some doing.

* The trailers for ''In Bruges'' make it sound like a harmless little comedy about fugitives. [[Tear Jerker|It really, really isn't.]] Some trailers for the film refer to it as an action-comedy. What does that say?

* The film ''[[Syriana]]'' was marketed as though it were an almost ''[[Mad Max]]''-esque thriller set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], and was full of stuff blowing up. In fact, the film was a ensemble piece on the effects of oil politics on a whole swath of people from totally divergent backgrounds.

* ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'' had one particularly bad ad that made it look like some sort of madcap comedy starring [[Jim Carrey]] (which is not entirely surprising).

* The trailer for ''[[Man of the Year]],'' a film starring [[Robin Williams]], makes the film look like a comedy. It is actually mostly a drama about a comedic talkshow host who runs for president... {{spoiler|and gets elected half an hour in.}} The trailer also hides that it ''isn't only'' about him; it gives no hint of a more critical and dramatic plot in the film.

** If you made it all the way from the first press releases to opening day without ever deducing that it was a film about the story of Moses: frankly, you deserved to be let down.

** At least one newspaper claimed it was the most violent animated movie of the decade, and that [[Animation Age Ghetto|young children]] would be turned off by the blood and the violence. (True to the original text, then.)

* The trailer for ''[[The Proposition]]'' has David Wenham's quote "If you're going to kill one, make sure you bloody well kill them all," placed in such a way as to trick the viewer into thinking that the quote has some relevance to the main plot, regarding the Burns Gang. In the film, it's just a [[Kick the Dog|dog-kick]] regarding his character's views on Aborigine uprisings.

* ''Sorcerer'' was marketed as a supernatural thriller since it was produced just after ''The Exorcist'' (which shared William Friedkin as director). In fact, it's a non-supernatural action thriller. To be fair, the title itself is already very misleading.

* Minor example: The trailer to ''[[Be Kind Rewind]]'' has [[Jack Black]] saying "I've got another idea, follow me" placed after Mos Def realizing that his tapes have been wiped. Since Jack's character is crazy, it sounds sensible to think he comes up with the [[Zany Scheme]]... {{spoiler|until you watch the film and find that it's Mos who comes up with the idea. Jack's line is in there... just before he drags a [[Hollywood Homely]] into their scheme so he doesn't have to awkwardly kiss his mechanic.}}

** Heck, for that matter, the fact that the trail concentrates solely on the [[Stylistic Suck|sweding]], {{spoiler|and not at all on the Fats Waller and community spirit angles.}}

*** In fact, the trailer made it appear that the major plotline of the movie was an idiot comedy about Jack Black and Mos Def trying to keep their neighbors from figuring out that the sweded films aren't the originals.

** More so it makes Rorschach look like the villain, ending the trailer with the line: ''the world will look up and shout "saves us" and I'll whisper "no"'' . Also every trailer and summary for the movie features the whole "superheroes are being killed off" bit when in fact the Comedian is the only one who is killed by an assassin, the rest all being retired (or dead already).

*** Might be interpreted as a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in the case of Rorschach: For people who haven't read the original graphic novel, it attempts (intentionally or not) to derail the whole [[Misaimed Fandom]] thing from the start.

** The trailers were very action oriented. It seems like every action shot in the movie made it into the trailer, making the movie seem more action packed than it was, which pissed off a fair few filmgoers.

* A TV spot for ''[[Fight Club]]'' portrayed it as a romantic comedy.

** Most ads for ''Fight Club'' made it look like an action movie all about fighting (and the name certainly seems to back it up). Many theatergoers likely skipped it because of this, and were probably miffed when they realized it was something they might have liked.

** Ironically, the author of the book stated in the foreword of a republishing of ''Fight Club'' that absolutely ''nobody'' noted that the novel was a romance; which in a really twisted way, it is.

* The preview for ''[[Anger Management]]'' looked like [[Jack Nicholson]] would have clever lines. Actually, any preview with Jack Nicholson looks like it would have clever lines. He just has to smile in front of the camera and it's implied there will be some cleverness. Unfortunately, the person who makes the preview knows this as well. Jack Nicholson should be considered false advertising.

* ''[[Hancock]]'' is either the saddest comedy ever or ''not a comedy at all''.

** While it has definite comedic moments, it is not nearly the action comedy that the trailers implied it would be, thanks to the [[Halfway Plot Switch]]. Which the DVD art (giving an additional billing that wasn't there in the theatrical run) and later TV spots blatantly give away.

* The trailer for ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]'' totally omitted the [[Trapped in Another World|basic premise]] and ''[[Mighty Whitey|main character]]'' of the film in order to sell it as a typical [[Wuxia]] film but with Jackie Chan and Jet Li. It's not.

* ''[[Reign of Fire]]'' advertised with an image of dragons attacking London, with helicopters flying to defend. The real movie wasn't nearly as exciting.

** Multiple commercials for ''[[Reign of Fire]]'' ended with Matthew McConaughey's character leaping off a tower straight at the dragon with an ax [[Screaming Warrior]] at the top of his lungs. Just see what happens in the movie.

* Parodied in ''[[Smokin Aces]]''. The trailer begins by suggesting it would be some sort of sappy romance, then abruptly switches to a frenetic action montage more fitting for a movie about competing assassins. The film itself was much slower paced and dramatic than the trailers suggested.

** However, Smokin' Aces had the single most honest trailer [[Temporary Life|I]] have ever seen in my life:

* The dark comedy ''The Matador'' was billed as an action movie, which it is not. As a result, the film did very poorly in theaters even though critics generally liked it.

* ''Water Horse'' trailers suggested it would be a kiddy film about a boy and his cute little water dragon, in the tone of ''[[Babe]]''. One trailer even showed the bulldog saying it was the titular horse's "best friend". Sure, the movie starts out this way, but for the most part it's a lot more gritty than that, especially when the water horse grows up. It nearly kills the boy, and devours all the lake's wildlife. Towards the end, [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] mistakes the water horse for an enemy sub {{spoiler|and nearly kills him and the boy.}} Oh, and remember that bulldog who is supposedly the horse's best friend? {{spoiler|Towards the end, when the water horse goes berserk, he swallows the dog whole and then tries to kill the owner. Make one wonder if the marketing people even watched the movie, there wasn't any hint of friendship between the dog and the water horse. The dog spends the earlier part of the film trying to catch the water horse when it's a baby, and then spend the end of the film in the water horse's belly.}} Combine all that with a boy who is counting down the days when his father will come home from the war, {{spoiler|only to slowly realize his father is never coming back since he's dead}} and it's far from the happy go lucky mood of the trailer. That said, that doesn't make it a depressing film and there are some heartwarming moments.

** Movies based on games having the reputation they do, people who know the game might just think the movie [[Adaptation Decay|completely missed the point]]

** The initial trailers for ''The Half-Blood Prince'' seemed to indicate the entire movie would be only about teenagers falling in love in a wacky romantic comedy, while playing modern techno dance music in the background. Eventually they decided they should mention the fact that I dunno...there's magical battles and investigating the history of Voldemort as they prepare to destroy him?

** David Thewlis, who plays Lupin in the HP movies, put together a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXzdDRnWFqs fake trailer] for Harry Potter as a teen comedy romance.

* The trailer for ''[[The Prestige]]'' gives the viewer the impression that [[Christian Bale]]'s character has ''actual magic powers'' which he uses for his stage magician act. The closest thing to actual wizardry in the movie is {{spoiler|Nikola Tesla's machine, used by [[Hugh Jackman]]}}, but given the movie's theme of stage magic and its heavy reliance on misdirecting the audience, the use of this trope is rather appropriate.

* A trailer for ''[[The Magic Roundabout|Doogal]]'' portrayed the film as being a comedy, specifically a parody of the adventure genre, i.e. ''Lord of the Rings''. The film ended up being filled with more sugary sweetness and life lessons than a Care Bears movie. And the VA that they used for the main character (a dog) in the trailer? It was really the rabbit. [[Hoodwinked|Never Trust A Bunny]].

** Though the misrepresentation of the plot is probably the best you can do while avoiding [[Trailers Always Spoil]] - knowing that {{spoiler|the planet is inhabited by predatory aliens and Riddick ends up as the hero}} would ruin the tension early on when the audience is meant to assume otherwise.

** They couldn't have been that wary of revealing Riddick's [[Heroic Sociopath]] role, as the DVD contains a never-released version of the trailer with the tagline "Fight evil with evil".

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfokH6v4aOM This] trailer for ''[[Gosford Park]]'' makes it look like a comedic whodunit rather than a dramatic movie about the British class system.

* The trailer for the movie ''Risk'' portrays it as being an action-thriller, when it's actually just, well, a thriller with one action scene towards the end.

* ''[[Marley and Me]]'', released during the same Christmas season. Just...''[[Old Yeller|Marley & Me]]''. The trailer basically screams "See the cute puppy! See the cute puppy get into crazy antics!" The movie itself, however, says-"See the cute puppy! See the cute puppy get into crazy antics that get old after the first five minutes! See the cute puppy {{spoiler|[[Dog Dies At the End|grow old and die]].}}" Wasn't that a fun movie, kids? (Cue kids crying.)

* For ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'', the trailer shows, alongside clips from the actual movie, the scene from the [[Show Within a Show|Itchy and Scratchy cartoon short at the beginning]] where hundreds of nuclear missiles are launched. Even the ''newest'' trailers don't explain or show the plot.

* The trailers for the movie ''[[Stranger Than Fiction]]'' made it out to be another wacky [[Will Ferrell]] comedy, when nearly all the humorous scenes were shown in the trailer. The tone of the movie was actually fairly serious.

** Which isn't to say that it's not funny. It's hilarious, but relies more on smart humor then on the slap-stick Ferrell is known for. But the trailer uses music that isn't used in the movie, misrepresents ''many'' scenes that are more serious, and if you didn't know beforehand you'd swear that the trailer was hinting at a romance between Eiffel and Krick.

* You would be absolutely forgiven if you assumed, from the ads, that ''[[Burn After Reading]]'' was a wacky comedy starring [[Brad Pitt]] and [[George Clooney]].

* George Miller's ''[[Happy Feet]]'' was advertised early on as a very Pixar-Dreamworksesque animation, with a very light tone. In fact, the film itself was anything but, instead opting for an approach not at all dissimilar to ''[[Watership Down]]'' or [[Don Bluth]]'s early eighties work, and most of the scenes used in the trailer were either from the first half hour or never appeared in the film, to begin with.

** One of the trailers also has Bo Peep hitting on Woody, followed directly by Buzz saying "Don't even think about it cowboy!" Making it seem as though they fight over Bo.

** The trailer also made a small change in the dialogue:

'''Movie Woody:''' My name is Woody, and this is Andy's room. }}

* The trailer for ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' makes it look like a happy love-and-success story, using ''only'' the shot of the kid with his girl to the tune of "The Sun Always Shines On TV". It completely fails to touch on how hellish his life is to that point. A poster also advertises the movie as "Two hours of unbelievable happiness!".

* A television commercial for ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]'' attempted to appeal to female audiences by playing [[Nickelback]]'s "Someday" over shots of Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes looking at each other longingly. Not only did the TV spot spoil one of the climactic scenes of the movie (revealing that {{spoiler|Wayne Manor had burnt down}}), but it played up the expectation that the entire film was a love story with a bit of action on the side. Also, while not terribly misleading, a trailer for ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'' made it look as though the Joker had caused a truck to flip just by firing a machine gun. The two moments are not connected.

*** This was parodied in one of the [[TBS]] promos for the trilogy, which intentionally takes scenes out of context to make it look like the film is [[Ho Yay|a love story between Frodo and Sam]].

*** Another TBS promo was all about Gandalf on his white horse.

* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]'' (2004). [[Angelina Jolie]] is in the movie for all of 15 minutes, but you'd think she was the star.

* The theatrical trailer for ''[[Gattaca]]'' depicts it as a fast-paced action-thriller by constantly recycling a shot from the single moment of violence in the film, when Jerome punches a policeman while fleeing; it also includes virtually no footage of the film's third star, Jude Law, who is roughly as important to the plot as Ethan Hawke's character. There is no indication that the film is actually a slow, meditative exploration of bioethics and genetic cloning.

** The original teaser did flat-out state, "No self-gratification" and even "no kissing". Maybe it was the only one.

* The trailers for the movie version of ''[[Hitman]]'' heavily implied a religious angle that is completely absent from the film itself. The trailer narrator even blatantly lied with a claim that the protagonist was "raised by an exiled brotherhood of the Church" while showing what turns out to be a perfectly normal funeral service in a Russian Orthodox Church.

* ''[[Stuart Little]]'' is a criminal offender. Several commercials show Stuart flying a plane or fighting the cat and other cool things, but none of that happens in the film. But it does happen in the ending credits as a montage for what happens ''after'' the story is over.

** It also features a scene where all three of the witches are young when only one of them was in the movie.

* ''Seven Pounds'' - the trailers gave only a small part of the plot: Will Smith's character is being [[The Atoner]] and helping seven people (drama ensues). The ads also imply this, adding that Smith's character is an IRS agent; his atonement could be monetary. Imagine my surprise when the critics described the film as a ''romantic comedy'' {{spoiler|and Smith's atonement is donating his organs to seven people (the title refers to his heart, which is going to his love interest).}} Never trust a trailer, ads, or critics.

** Lines are used out of context as well (for example, the splicing of the villain's lines "James T. Kirk was a great man" and "but that was another life!). The scene where Kirk takes the captain's chair looks like a dramatic moment in the trailer, but it's actually [[Played for Laughs]] in the film, as the crew are in disbelief that the annoying, brash kid is now in command, since they were unaware that Pike had promoted him moments earlier in case of capture.

* A ''[[Back to The Future|Back To The Future 3]]'' trailer included what appeared to be Marty shooting at Doc Brown, knocking his hat off, which turns out to be two unrelated bits of the film.

** The first film was released at a time where the most successful comedies were raunchy R-rated affairs. Thus, many trailers featured the line "You mean my mom has the hots for me?!" to make it seem like such a film with a science fiction element, when the film is much more of a sci-fi comedy for all audiences with that mom thing being a subplot. [[Robert Zemeckis]] and Bob Gale have spoken negatively about this in interviews.

** The second disc of the 3-Disc Special Edition DVD features the deleted scenes with Samson.

* The trailer for ''Rachel Getting Married'' makes the film appear to be a quirky indie comedy ala ''[[Juno]]'' or ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]]''. Sucks for anyone who saw it expecting that and discovering it's actually a very heavy and heartwrenching drama, with many of the humorous scenes in the trailer actually not funny AT ALL in context.

* ''The International's'' trailer basically marketed it as a fast-paced action movie. It's neither fast-paced or an action movie, though there is one notable and very acclaimed action sequence. The final line in the trailer is also grossly taken out of context.

* Trailers for ''[[Donnie Darko]]'' made it seem like the film was about an insane, homicidal teenager. Though the film teases the possibility that Donnie is crazy, it's a minor undercurrent.

* The trailers make ''[[Drag Me to Hell]]'' look like a straight horror film when it is really a horror-comedy in the vein of the ''[[Evil Dead]]'' movies. The fact that it's directed by [[Sam Raimi]], however, might be a tip-off....

** Ditto with ''[[Fred]] 2: Night of the Living Fred''. Aside from a brief clip of Fred trick-or-treating and getting eggs dumped on him by Kevin (which was a flashback), [[Nickelodeon]]'s commercials for it were just made out of Fred's imagination sequences, making it seem like it was a [[Big Damn Movie]] about Fred battling vampires. It was actually {{spoiler|a cliched plot about Fred thinking his new music teacher is a vampire}}, thoroughly disappointing 99% of the people who watched it the night it premiered.

* The trailer for ''[[Spaced Invaders]]'', while indeed marketing the film for what it was (a silly family action/comedy), featured '''''completely different dialogue''''' from what was in the film.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc8XXv3pl10 trailer] for ''Nothing'' makes it out to be a psychological thriller/horror/sci-fi much in the same vein as Vincenzo Natali's earlier film, [[Cube]], when in actuality it is a lighthearted buddy comedy that is almost nothing like that.

* Trailers for ''[[The Fountain]]'' make it look like an epic fantasy/sci-fi adventure, when in fact it is the tragic story of a man whose wife is dying of cancer. Anything supernatural that occurs is strongly implied to have taken place inside the heads of either the protagonist or his wife.

** ''Alexander'' (which depicts Alexander the Great as being not exactly gay but as swinging ''both'' ways, as it seems the real Alexander did)

** ''A Single Man''

* The trailer for ''[[District 9]]'' implies that the aliens just want to go home, and the humans won't let them. Sure, in the film the aliens are shoved into a slum, but the 'going home' sentiment just isn't there among most of them. Plus, the scene featuring an alien being interrogated isn't in the film and was fabricated totally for the trailer.

** Cleese reportedly complained to the producers about this out-of-context use of the shot.

* The trailer for the made for TV film ''Disaster on the Coastliner'' shows {{spoiler|two trains colliding head on. The collision does not occur in the actual film}}.

* ''[[The History Boys]]'' is primarily about a group of working-class boys trying for Oxford and Cambridge, and their teachers' struggle between different schools of teaching. The trailer treated this as a shiny, happy coming-of-age story. To be fair, all this is important, but it ALSO leaves out a major chunk of the film dealing with homosexuality, which is what most viewers actually take from it.

* The film ''The Family Stone'' was advertised as a romantic comedy. It really isn't, being instead a family drama with a rather bittersweet angle. And while there's romance involved, it's not between the characters advertised in the trailer.

* ''[[Film/Whiteout|Whiteout]]'' is insinuated in the trailer to be a sci-fi style horror film. {{spoiler|It's more along the lines of a slasher/thriller film.}}

* ''Sunshine Cleaning'''s trailer makes the film look a bit more light-hearted and comedic than it actually is. It also splices together dialogue from different parts of the film to make it look like they're part of one scene, though this is something even more honest trailers do frequently.

* The trailer for the film version of ''[[Where the Wild Things Are]]'' makes it look like it'd be a fun, cute kid's adventure movie about a little boy who befriends a bunch of monsters. The actual film, however, is pretty depressing.

* The trailer for the 1945 film ''The Body Snatcher'' emphasizes that it stars both famed horror actors [[Boris Karloff]] and [[Bela Lugosi]]. While Karloff does have a prominent role, Lugosi has a minor part as a janitor.

** Another thing is the cutting together of scenes. The theatrical trailer for the first film showed Lennox panicking whilst saying 'No, no, no, no, no, MOVE!!' The trailer made it look like he was shouting at Sam because [[The Starscream|Starscream]] was about to land right on top of him. In the actual film, his concern is still over Starscream, only it's because he's making a missile attack run on Ironhide and Bumblebee.

*** Similarly, in a TV spot for the sequel, it showed Lennox hiding behind cover whilst saying 'Look who showed up!' and then cutting to a shot of Starscream angrily smashing a hut. In the film, he was referring to Sam and Mikaela, who had just reached the same area of cover.

** The trailers for the second film showed Starscream looming over Sam in an abandoned factory, then cutting to a shot of him being pinned down by a mechanical hand. Some assumed the hand belonged to Starscream. It didn't. It was Megatron's.

*** Though this was probably because this is back when they were still trying to cover up that Megatron was coming back (which later trailers didn't bother with).

*** The appearance of Grindor in that shot in the trailer also misled many fans to believe that Blackout (who had a very similar physical appearance and had died during the first film) had also returned. Unfortunately, the actual film made no effort to specify that they are separate characters.

** The trailers for both of the first two films also featured shots of Decepticons causing gratuitous property damage (Bonecrusher ripping a bus in half, Sideways crashing through a building, Demolisher running through a bridge) in a way that made it seem like these guys would be major participants in the films. In the films, all three of them were relatively minor characters who showed up and [[Curb Stomp Battle|were almost immediately killed by the nearest Autobot]] without doing anything notable beyond their one shot from the trailer.

* Some TV spots for ''[[Gran Torino]]'' make you think it's about a [[Grumpy Old Man]] becoming a vigilante, as aggressive as [[Dirty Harry|another]] [[Clint Eastwood]] role. If you don't count "saving" a girl from assaulting gangsters, only in the final minutes he does [[For Great Justice]] acts.

* The ''[[Wanted]]'' movie trailer has the male and female leads kissing. It looked like they were going to be romantically involved but it was just a fake kiss to show up his ex-girlfriend, and their only kiss in the movie. There is also no indication whatsoever that the film is based on a graphic novel, nor is there any mention of it: a relatively easy thing to gloss over, given the film's [[Not Wearing Tights|omission of the costumes worn in the source material.]] And of course the movie actually had almost nothing to do with the book.

* The trailer for the Pixar movie ''[[WALL-E]]'' made the movie look like an action adventure movie in which the last robot on Earth must save the planet. Actually the movie is a love story about two robots who find love. Oh yeah, and the trailer also advertised Captain McCrea as a villain, as a made-for-trailer quote in his voice says, "Arrest that robot!"

** On a smaller scale, there's a scene in the trailer of him kissing Irene Adler and later being naked and handcuffed to a bed, insinuating that there will be a romance between them. While there's some small romantic tension, {{spoiler|she's actually kissing him as he passes out from the drugs she put in the wine. After he's unconscious she strips and handcuffs him, presumably to keep him from chasing her immediately when he wakes up. None of it is consensual on Holmes' side.}}

* The trailers for the 2009 adaptation of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' made it look like a goofy, kiddy version of the story. The actual movie however, was surprisingly [[Adaptation Distillation|faithful]] and kept most of the original's story intact, including the [[Nightmare Fuel]].

** Some reviews actually complained that it was oddly dark for a Christmas movie. You have to wonder if they were familiar with the story at all.

** {{spoiler|Apparently Clooney's character is ''both'': He makes money by being a life coach on the side.}}

*** Neither of these are particularly inaccurate.

* ''[[The Road]].'' Where do we begin? Tons of disaster footage in the beginning that does not appear in the film, which even deliberately avoids showing what caused the apocalypse. A great emphasis on Charlize Theron, who appears only in flashbacks and whose role could only be described as a cameo. And an attempt to sell the film as an action movie, which it is very far from, rather just a very sad and somber look at the dying world and humanity in it.

* ''Annapolis'' is implied to be a ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' style film about a U.S. Navy trainee that struggles in the face of a vicious, brutal academy, before being deployed to on his first mission. The "difficult training" aspect is actually in the film... for about the first 20 minutes. Then the remainder is actually about a boxing tournament at the academy.

* ''[[Gigli]]'' was made out to be a light-hearted rom-com when it's really a very dark comedy.

** This has happened with other characters like Deadpool as well. Some comments have been made about the TV Spots saying how ridiculous it is that a whole 30 seconds said more about the characters than their screen time throughout the entire film.

* The trailers for ''Jarhead'' make it out to be a fast-paced, gritty war movie full of explosions and heroics. This is an [[Egregious]] example as the entire point of ''Jarhead'' is that the platoon ''never'' sees direct action, and nobody dies. The most dramatic scene in the movie is a standoff with a handful of nomads... and it ends peacefully.

* The trailer for ''[[The Invisible]]'' makes it seem like a dead boy is solving his own murder, according to what the other dead guy says. ''Strangely enough'', the other dead guy isn't even in the movie.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukRdEVthmWM trailer] for the Matthew McConaughey/Kate Beckinsale disaster ''Tiptoes'' plays up the notion that the whole film is a quirky comedy about a woman realizing that her boyfriend's family is comprised of dwarves, the wacky misadventures that follow and the couple's realization that she's pregnant. This, coupled with an out-of-character turn by [[Gary Oldman]] as the man's wisecracking brother, would lead you to believe that this would be (at the very least) funny. (You would also be forgiven if you thought the film was made in the mid '90s, judging by the trailer. It's not: it was made in ''2003''.) In actuality, ''Tiptoes'' involves Beckinsale's character {{spoiler|not only working to further the rights of "the little people," but also deciding to start a relationship with her lover's brother near the end of the film because he has rejected his dwarf child}}. There are also plot threads that go nowhere (Peter Dinklage, who's seen in the trailer, is given very little screen time, and exists merely to hammer home the fact that dwarves can have relationships with normal-sized people).

** That line was taken from a deleted scene (which can be found on the DVD). So it might possibly have been an innocent mistake, depending on when the scene was deleted.

* ''Casshern'' is a slow, plodding [[Deconstruction]] of the [[Toku]] genre and carries a [[Anvilicious|strong message]] about the pointlessness of violence. The trailer features about 50% of the film's action however, so one might watch it expecting 90 minutes of crazy robot killing.

* The trailers for ''[[Shutter Island]]'' latched on to two moments of the movie to make it look like Martin Scorsese had decided to make a supernatural mystery, completely ignoring most everything that happens in the last 85% of the film.

* While it does accurately convey the basic plot and tone of the movie, the trailer for ''[[The Specials]]'' has a couple of misleading elements: Melissa Joan Hart is prominently featured and listed among the main cast: she has a one-scene cameo with about five lines of dialogue. Also, it shows a sequence where each of the main characters comes out of the base poised for action, including some special effect shots. While this ''does'' happen in the movie, it's not until the very end, and we never actually see any of the superheroes fight any crime in the film itself.

* The trailer to ''Vulgar'' somehow managed to make the films seem ''lighthearted''.

* The trailer to ''Lymelife'' greatly overemphasized the comedic elements. The film is barely a comedy at all. Furthermore it also made Jill Hennessy's character look like an overprotective bitch. While far from perfect, Hennessy is probably [[Adults Are Useless|the most sympathetic adult in the entire movie]].

* The trailer for ''Green Zone'' implies a Bourne-style thriller, with the government trying to take Matt Damon's character out as part of a cover-up. This is done through changing the context of lines: "I know what you did" is actually {{spoiler|a line at the end of the movie}} and the line "Take that son of a bitch out!" is actually referring to someone else.

* Pretty much ''every'' trailer for ''[[Alpha and Omega]]'' lied about something.

** The [[Bring My Brown Pants]] mentioned above was supposed to happen when they ran into the bears. It actually happened several minutes beforehand.

** The moose [[Ass Shove]] [[Subverted Trope|scene]].

** On the whole, Pixar teaser trailers are best viewed as little self-contained skits, since they usually consist of footage which doesn't actually feature in the film itself, whilst revealing very little about the plot.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgTGPJtvmS8 trailer] for the documentary ''Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa'' is filled with ominous music and repeated shots of guns and destruction. In reality, the confrontation depicted is a single subplot amongst many and was soon resolved peacefully off-camera. The film is actually a fascinating study of a tiny rural community cut off from the rest of society and the wide range of interesting characters who choose to live there.

* One of the 1977 taglines of the original ''[[Star Wars]]'', now known as ''[[A New Hope]]'', was "No legendary adventure of the past could be as exciting as this romance of the future." Ironically, ''Star Wars'' actually ''is'' set in the past: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

** Much of the 1977 advertising implied or outright stated that Luke and Leia get together. Not that you could blame the marketers of the time for not knowing how ''that'' would work out. There's a 1977 TV spot included on the DVD, labeled "Forbidden Love," which focuses entirely on this. ("[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ALruZJOuE Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. In Danger! In Love! In ''Star Wars''!]")

* The trailer for ''[[Lexx|I Worship His Shadow]]'' also claimed it was set in the future. It even gave a specific year: 4004 AD.

** And now they advertise it entirely with scenes from when he's a fawn, causing some people to think he's a female. This perception of Bambi as an innocent fawn is no doubt helped by the fact that [[Signature Scene|the death of his mother is the one scene from the film everyone knows.]]

** On a related note, the 1981 horror-comedy ''Saturday the 14th'' was titled and marketed to make it sound like a parody of the above film series, but was a [[Monster Mash]] parody of [[Hammer Horror]] tropes.

** If not badly influenced by [[Tyke Bomb|Hit-Girl]].

** The alternate opening with that scene appears on the DVD... with unfinished effects, showing they quickly dismissed that scene.

* The trailer for ''The Losers'' made the film look like the titular group spends the movie fighting back against the CIA, especially with the line "We're declaring war on the Central Intelligence Agency." However, aside from one or two references early in the movie, the main villain has absolutely nothing to do with the government agency.

* The trailer(s) for ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' give the impression it's an action movie with lots of guns and explosions. It isn't, as it is a parody of those movies, meaning this could probably count as a subversion.

** Well, they at least made it clear that the film was heavy on comedy.

* ''[[Diary of a Mad Black Woman]]'' does this. The entire trailer portrays the antics of a crazy, elderly black woman, so the movie's title makes it seem like they're talking about a ''crazy'' black woman. Couldn't be farther from the truth; the only way those clips have any plot relevance is that the black woman seen in the trailer has a minor part in the plot. The movie is actually about a black woman who's angry (aka, "mad") at her husband for cheating on her and throwing her out of the house, and her schemes at getting back at him.

** To elaborate, the majority of the trailer shows the Tyler Perry character Madea, and her typical smart-ass comments. However, the actual story involved her ''granddaughter'' Helen. In fact, all of Madea's scenes in the trailer were almost all of her scenes ''in the movie.''

** The message of the movie isn't revealed until right towards the very end, so the trailer isn't really lying.

* ''[[National Treasure]]'' featured a very overwrought use of the line 'Do you trust me?' followed by the typical 'yes', *lets go of the hand.* This scene means bugger all in the movie. The drop is less than a foot, and the scene takes in all about three seconds, but it made centre stage for the trailer. The rest of the trailer is pretty faithful though.

* The trailer for ''Desperate Measures'' made Michael Keaton's character out to be, literally, Satan himself. His statements, "I cannot be killed; I am immortal," and, "What are you going to do, ''shoot'' me, Frank...?" were taken viciously out of context to this end, with the trailer-makers even going so far as to use an electronic distortion effect to make the latter line sound like it was spoken in a suddenly deep and clearly inhuman voice. In actual fact the Keaton character is just a brilliantly devious human sociopath and the film has absolutely no supernatural angle whatsoever, even in subtext. A second trailer portrayed the film properly as the cat-and-mouse between the cop with a sick son and the criminal he has to keep alive in order to save him (since he's a match for a bone marrow transplant).

* The trailer for ''[[Arachnophobia]]'' used light-hearted music and put major focus on John Goodman's role as a quirky exterminator, making it look to be a light-hearted comedy. Turns out that while there are comedic scenes, the film is basically nightmare fuel (or considering the film is about spiders, would that be nightmare venom?)

** There is a scene in the trailer where dozens of triple laser sights pop up on Royce. This scene is in the film, but there is only one.

* ''[[Splice]].'' The trailer promises two hours of a demon homunculus eating people and wreaking havoc. Actual movie? {{spoiler|An introspective on bad parenting.}}

* The trailer for ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'' faithfully showed lots of action scenes, which was, after all, what the movie was about. Of course, it did show those scenes to the song "Ballroom Blitz" and never allowed a line of dialogue to be heard, meaning that not till you've bought your ticket and were in the seat did you find out that the movie is in Chinese.

** They later dubbed the movie.

* For whatever reason the trailer for ''[[Mean Girls]]'' switches Gretchen and Regina's descriptions. In the movie itself Gretchen is described as "knowing everything about everyone", "that's why her hair is so big -- it's full of secrets," and Regina is rumored to have two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus. The trailer switches this around, probably to make Regina seem like more of an [[Alpha Bitch]].

* The trailer for ''[[Boogie Nights]]'' made it look like a constantly fun, largely dance-oriented romp with lots of sex thrown in for good measure. The film is a very great deal more dark and downbeat than that and there isn't all that much dancing.

* The controversial drama ''[[Mysterious Skin]]'' needed to omit the references to sexual abuse, homosexuality, and [[Cluster F-Bomb|extremely heavy]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|cursing]] to make their trailers suitable for general TV. This naturally put too much emphasis on the "alien abduction" aspect, so it looks like a family-friendly sci-fi movie with dramatic moments here and there. ''[[Tear Jerker|It]] [[Awful Truth|is]] '''[[Break the Cutie|not]]''' [[Harmful to Minors|family]]-[[Bittersweet Ending|friendly.]]'' {{spoiler|Brian only thinks he got abducted by aliens because he repressed the ''real'' memories of getting molested by his Little League baseball coach.}} While the movie is regarded positively by those who were prepared for its content, people who saw only the trailers may have been surprised after the first twenty minutes.

** On top of this, one trailer implied that the toys were being involuntarily donated by Andy, and that Woody was trying to calm them down when actually the toys chose to be donated against Andy's wishes and Woody was trying to convince them it was a bad idea. Another trailer implied that the reason they had to reset Buzz was because he crashed on his dangerous attempt to escape from the caterpillar room when actually that attempt was successful, and there was a... [[Brainwashed and Crazy|more sinister reason.]]

** Some trailers also used the Fisher-Price phone's line "You and your friends ain't ever getting out of here now" in a completely different context, to make it seem as though he was a villain or at least trying to discourage Woody. In the actual film, the phone is a heroic character and helps the toys escape from Sunnyside.

* The movie ''Failure to Launch'' had one trailer that aired on male-centric channels such as Comedy Central, in which the entire trailer consisted of several guys getting attacked by animals in the woods. Anyone who saw only this trailer would never figure out by it that the movie is actually a romantic comedy, and that the forest scene barely takes up five minutes of the movie.

* The ''Deconstructing Harry'' trailer made the film out to be about [[Woody Allen]] dying and going to a Hell run by Billy Crystal as Satan. The film is about no such thing and the one (1) Hell scene is a ''fantasy sequence'' showing you an idea for a novel that Woody's character Harry is describing to other people. Billy Crystal plays Satan in this scene because his actual character in the film is someone Harry hates.

* As [[William Goldman]] tells it, this happened to him with ''Invitation to Happiness''. Trailer: A tough boxing match - fifteen to twenty seconds. Something every action fan would love. Movie: Lots and lots of smooching. Twenty-three kisses, he counted 'em. Yes, the boxing bit also was in it - but no more than in the trailer.

* The trailer for ''Cyrus'' makes it seem like much more of a laugh out loud comedy than it really is. The actual movie, while not devoid of humour, is more of a low key, downbeat drama about lonely damaged people.

* In the final frame of one trailer for ''[[Paranormal Activity]] 2'', you can see the family dog in Hunter's room barking at something unseen in the doorway. The crib is empty, however creepily enough in the mirror's reflection you can see baby Hunter standing in it. This never happens in the film.

* The trailer for ''Bronco Billy'' made it look like a pure comedy, adding silly music and cartoon sound effects, as did the rest of the marketing. But the IMDB doesn't list it as a comedy, and they're right. With [[Clint Eastwood]] starring and directing, it's so much more serious than it looks.

* The trailer for ''[[Unstoppable]]'' would have you believe that the runaway train was carrying not only hazardous material, but also two passenger cars full of schoolchildren, who are in constant danger of being either blown to bits or crushed to death. In reality, the kids are on a different train and are safe and sound 15 minutes into the film.

** Also, the trailers make the film seem more thrilling than it actually is. The real film is more of a drama with a few action elements.

* The trailer for the 1998 Todd Solondz film ''Happiness'' makes it look like a quirky romantic comedy. The film is anything BUT.

** Given how inappropriate the trailer is, it's likely this was intentional.

* Trailers for the [[Coen Brothers]] remake of ''[[True Grit]]'' make it looks like a, well, [[Darker and Edgier|Gritty Reboot]] of the Western genre ''a la [[No Country for Old Men]]''. According to people who've seen it, it's actually more of a comedy (which makes its absence in that category for the Golden Globes and its replacement by ''[[The Tourist]]'', which was also marketed as an action movie, all the more galling).

** {{spoiler|The trailers also greatly exaggerated Josh Brolin's role, even billing him above the title and making it seem he and Mattie have a dramatic confrontation. In reality, he only shows up in the last fifteen or twenty minutes, and spends most of that time whining before Mattie shoots him.}}

** Trailers and commercials included [[Missing Trailer Scene|jokes and scenes not seen in the movie]]. Some added completely new voiceovers that made it seem as if the plot of the film was that Rapunzel had escaped, and guards were attempting to put her back in the tower.

** Like the ''Sweeney Todd'' example above, ads and trailers made no indication to the film being a [[Musical]].

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOyBVXDJ9Q&feature=related One trailer] showed Rapunzel with [[Prehensile Hair]] that could grab and attack a character on its own. Other trailers showed her using the hair to close doors and windows. In the film, the hair has none of these properties, and actually has to be carried by characters throughout, as it is liable to getting caught on objects as it drags across the ground.

** One [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESMMMIViQdMpA web-exclusive trailer] parodies the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI "Double Rainbow" viral video], and though it is cut together mostly from scenes in the film, the voiceover is only in the trailer.

* Due to the overwhelming success of ''[[Dirty Dancing]]'', a lot of trailers for ''[[Road House]]'', which also starred Patrick Swayze, targeted women audiences. One wonders how stunned they were when they saw Swayze {{spoiler|rip out a guy's throat with his bare hands}}.

** Additionally, the trailers makes Picard's line "The line must be drawn '''HERE!!!'''" look like a [[Badass Boast]], when, actually, it's part of Picard's [[Sanity Slippage]]. And they played up the prospect of an all-out Federation invasion by the Borg, when, in fact, there's only one ship targeting Earth.

* The 2006 movie ''[[The Good Shepherd]]'' pined the movie as a deep look into the history of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, better known as the [[CIA]], including scenes of supposed espionage underway. Really much of the movie is about the personal life of Edward Wilson ([[Matt Damon]] [[The Bourne Identity|of all people]]) his various affairs with women and his struggling marriage. And he just happened to find a secretive agency that spends most of its time trying to decipher a mysterious video. [[Ending Fatigue|The movie is well over two hours long!]]

* The trailer for ''Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' featured a prominent clip of one of the club kids talking about the rumors that initially surrounded the disappearance of Angel Melendez, including that his "head was cut off and was in someone's freezer in Brooklyn." Its placement in the trailer makes it seem like this was fact.

* The trailer for ''Youth in Revolt'' made it look like Nick's family is living in a trailer home, when really, they were only staying in the trailer during the summer.

* The trailer for ''[[Kingdom of Heaven]]'' shows a long clip of a sex scene with Orlando Bloom, no doubt luring some female fans into the cinemas expecting a longer version of the scene. In actual fact, the couple of seconds we see in the trailer are probably even longer than what actually appears in the movie.

* The trailers for the [[All CGI Cartoon]] movie ''[[Battle for Terra]]'' shows things from the humans' side and barely shows the alien characters, which misleads the public about the fact that {{spoiler|the humans are the invaders.}}

* The trailer for ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' make it looks like a happy, sappy movie about a dog taking care of an orphan. If you ever saw the movie [[Nightmare Fuel|you would know it's anything but that.]]

** The comedy was all still there, not made up, but spaced out and used as comic relief to lighten the tension. Which means people coming to the film solely for Jack Black comedy were probably disappointed, and those who might have enjoyed the action never got a chance to see it because they were driven away by the trailers.

*** The trailers for the sequel appear to be giving it the same treatment, probably to keep from spoiling how awesome it will really be. Still, fans should be more [[Genre Savvy|savvy]] this time to look past them.

*** With the movie's release, we can safely say that this trope was in full force as the trailers were high on zaniness, fat jokes and anachronistic music, but somewhat lacking in genocide, stabbings and mental traumas.

* Similar to the ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' example, Dreamworks' ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'' made it out to be far zanier than it really was, and obscured Susan's status as the main character and instead played her condition for far more humor than in the movie itself.

* Early trailers for ''[[Megamind]]'' do this as well, obscuring the fact that Mega-Mind defeats Metro Man in the first act, with the rest of the movie pretty much having him question [[And Then What?|what he'll do next.]] All of them make out the most part of the movie is about Mega-Mind vs Metro Man, but it's more a romantic action-comedy with Mega-Mind vs himself. It also kind of makes Metro Man look like more of a glory-hound jerk than he really is.

* ''[[Sucker Punch]]''. It is not a lighthearted film at all.

* The trailer for ''[[Secret Window]]'' painted the movie as a horror film with the main character haunted by a ghost by emphasizing scenes that were hallucinations. The film is actually a psychological thriller.

* Rarely does the leading pig in ''[[Gordy]]'' actually speak, but the trailer makes it seem [[Talking Animal|like he speaks throughout the movie]].

* The earliest trailer for ''[[Hop]]'' featured nothing more than a rabbit playing the drums. There was no indication of the plot, the character's identity, or ''anything else'' about the film. The only slight hint came in the form of the title image, the word "hop" inside of an egg shape, which thinly suggested an Easter theme

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn69ZyQU9JI&feature=channel_video_title They had] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUcOmgYEhY&feature=relmfu a lot of] [http://www.youtube.com/user/MuppetsStudio?blend=1&ob=4#p/c/1F1BE18087BDFDA1/1/QHqLcEtt368 Fun with this], to the point they got to [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshading it]]

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsPz51_M3fI&feature=channel_video_title And then...] They parodied ''themselves''

* The trailer for ''[[Bridesmaids]]'' makes it look like a typical raunchy comedy with the same two jokes used over and over: Kristen Wiig is single and Kristen Wiig is an alcoholic. The actual film is much deeper and quite depressing at times but still manages to be funny (there is also more of a variety in humor).

* In the trailer for ''[[The Social Network]]'', the soundbite of Mark Zuckerberg being read his charges ("You are being accused of intentionally breaching security, violating copyrights, violating individual privacy...") gives the impression that he's being accused of doing all of this by making Facebook. It's actually the Harvard Ad Board referring to Facemash, an unrelated website that he created in college.

* In the trailer for ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'', it showed an epic moment where three predators were fighting off a handful of aliens. But as the camera moved back that handful turned to thousands of aliens. While this is in the movie, it is only shown in a flashback as one of the main character theorizes that's what had happened in ancient times.

** The movies also made the plot go along the lines of badass hunter vs badass creature, with poor humans thrown in the middle. {{spoiler|The first Predator dies without any real screen time against an Alien. And the third gets impregnated by a facehugger, setting up the plot for the second movie. The only time Aliens and Predators fought was with the second Predator, but that fight was one of the most amazing fights in cinematic history.}}

* Neil Simon's ''California Suite'' combines comedy and drama as it tracks several sets of characters, one of which is a couple whose marriage is going down in flames. The film was advertised as a straight comedy, focusing on the funnier storylines with none of the anguish even mentioned.

* All of the trailers for ''[[Dazed and Confused]]'' depict it as a [[Stoner Flick]]. In the actual film, only one character (a supporting character) is actually a stoner and instead the film is a coming of age film about different types of people in different cliques (much of it told from the point of view of a 15 year old).

* The trailers for ''[[The Cable Guy]]'' made it look like another light-hearted comedy romp with Jim Carrey (this was 1996, before his career diversified). It's actually a black comedy verging on psychological horror. To be fair, [[Mood Whiplash|the movie itself didn't seem sure what genre it was]].

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKesRqocYTU trailer] for the [[Kurt Russell]] cop thriller ''Dark Blue'' does it in a twofold manner. First by making the movie seem like a non-stop urban action movie, while it's a character study of an [[Dirty Cop|incredibly dirty]] [[Cowboy Cop]] (Russell) with a deteriorating private life and investigations into his professional conduct who slowly comes to see the error of his ways, and how his lifestyle and those of others like him had a helping hand in shaping the social climate in Los Angeles prior to the 1992 riots. Second by [[Billing Displacement|significantly overstating]] [[Ving Rhames]]' role and presenting him as the main antagonist. Funny enough, [http://www.impawards.com/2003/dark_blue.html the poster] gives a much better indication of the film's content.

* The trailer for ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' shows a bunch of short clips of battle scenes with a man providing an update on the war, and a few other random scenes of soldiers walking around implying that this is simply another Vietnam War film (and not even a terribly good one at that). If you'd never heard of Stanley Kubrick before seeing his name in the trailer, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a crappy b-movie trying to cash in on the success of [[Apocalypse Now]] or [[Platoon]] instead of an in-depth character study of how war causes people to gradually lose their humanity

** The trailers also show nothing but men on the field. The whole first half of the movie involving R. Lee Ermey as a drill instructor turning a group of recruits into marines is completely absent. It's even more ironic when you consider the fact that the half of the film which the trailer ignores ended up being ''more'' famous than the later battlefield sequences.

* The trailer for ''[[Killer Elite]]'' depicts the film as a violent action film where [[Jason Statham]] and [[Clive Owen]] are trying to kill each other to get to [[Robert De Niro]]'s character (with the tagline "May the best man win"). Though the actual film is still rather violent, it is actually an espionage thriller about a retired hitman having to kill three SAS agents as part of a revenge plot planned by a sheik. Owen's character is a government agent whose job is to watch him and his associates every move.

* The latest Sherwood Pictures release ''Courageous'' features a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9VT_NBIVfs brief montage of scenes at the end of the trailer] following a speech by Adam Mitchell (part of Albany's Sheriff's Department) calling on the men to be strong fathers (the crux of the movie). One of the clips involves another officer, Shane Fuller, hanging with his son. In the actual movie, by the time the speech is made, Shane is [[Dirty Cop|in prison for stealing drugs from the evidence room to be sold in exchange for cash]].

** That claim would be plausible except for the fact that Paramount also owns the pay cable rights (which is set for Epix instead of Starz, who airs all Disney titles).

** This now extends to the film itself, as the [[Walt Disney Pictures]] logo is nowhere to be seen during the opening credits.

* Many of the scenes in the ''[[Paranormal Activity]] 3'' trailer [[Missing Trailer Scene|were not in the movie]], and are likely being saved for the director's cut DVD.

** The trailers built up the Station Inspector as a [[Complete Monster]]. In actuality, while he is the closest thing in the movie to an antagonist and and does cause quite a bit of trouble for Hugo, the film does at least make it clear that he's just doing his job. He even gets a romantic sub-plot and {{spoiler|[[Earn Your Happy Ending|earns his happy ending]]}}.

* The film ''[[Something Borrowed]]'' has a great deal of comic elements in the previews, making it seem like a comedy. In fact, these seem to be the ''only'' upbeat parts of the film.

* The trailer for ''[[Racing Stripes]]'' added a lot of new dialogue to make it seem like comedy all over, when it wasn't entirely that.

* The trailer for the 1981 film ''Game of Death II'' is another really egregious example. It makes it look like Bruce Lee is the protagonist of the entire movie. In reality Bruce Lee appears only in the beginning of the film in the form of stock footage (he had died well before this movie even started production), and his character dies quickly. The rest of the film has no Bruce Lee whatsoever.

* ''[[The Way of the Gun]]'''s misleading trailer made it look as though it was going to be a farcical comedy, when in fact the movie itself is a fairly sullen action flick.

* A TV spot for ''[[Megamind]]'' added a fart joke to Minion, but there wasn't a single toilet joke in the film.

** The old lady is Thatcher and those scenes depict her life after her run as Prime Minister ended.

* The trailers for ''[[Piranha]] 3-DD'' depict it as being your standard horror-comedy, similar to the first film. The final result is actually a parody in the vein of The Wayans Brothers' ''[[Scary Movie]]''.