Most people would agree that a trailer plays a major role in whether or not they decide to see a movie. Designed to give viewers a taste of what to expect without giving away too much, trailers are one of the best ways to market an upcoming movie. Needless to say, it’s important for trailers to get it right. That said, you can’t always judge a movie by its trailer. Not only are there plenty of great movies that had awful trailers, but there are plenty of terrible movies that had really good trailers. Keep reading to see our list of 10 movies that flopped despite having promising trailers
1. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released more than 10 years after the original. The 2003 trailer showed the world’s demise at the hands of Skynet. Unfortunately, the third installment to the Terminator franchise ended up essentially being a remake of Terminator 2. It had better special effects but failed to bring anything new to the table. Plus, the sad ending didn’t make things any better.
2. Avatar: The Last Airbender
The 2010 live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender film, directed by M.Night Shyamalan, seemed like a good idea. The film’s trailer was epic and featured all the memorable scenes from Book 1 of the animated Avatar series. However, fans of the lovable franchise were disappointed to find the film was a shell of what the trailer promised. The power-bending scenes everyone was waiting to see had poor filming with cheap visual effects. It made the entire film a disappointing mess.
3. Battle: Los Angeles
From the Battle: Los Angeles trailer, you could tell it was a war-themed sci-fi film about humanity’s survival. The movie was being promoted as a mix between a typical war film and Will Smith’s Independence Day. But it turned into a tedious and noisy movie. Instead of an epic war between humanity and aliens, the two-hour film was all about the soldiers. Some people were disappointed that there weren’t any aliens in the movie.
4. Spider-Man 3
The trailer for 2007’s Spider-Man 3 left a lot of people excited to head to theaters and watch the movie. Sadly, the film turned out to be too long and crowded with too many villains. Venom, Sandman, and Harry Osborn’s Goblin were crammed into one movie when they deserved a stand-alone film. To date, the third installment of Toby Mcguire’s Spiderman is considered the weakest of his three films. Plus, who can forget Peter Parker’s cringy emo dancing scene?
5. Tron Legacy
At Tron: Legacy’s release in 2010, Disney marketed it as the next Avatar movie. Tron: Legacy was a flop with fans despite being a sequel to 1982’s Tron and having a large fanbase. The film was more focused on the visual effects than developing the character’s storylines. It only made $400 million worldwide when the expectation was to surpass its $170 million budget by far more. It was so bad that Disney put Tron 3 on the backburner.
6. Watchmen
2009’s Watchmen was the first-ever film adaptation based on the popular comic by DC. The trailer promised an original sci-fi film packed with all of the crime-fighting superheroes fans had only read about. What Zack Snyder delivered instead was a depressing and dark movie that many considered too long. The only thing the movie did get right was the detailed costumes. Many comic book fans did not understand the film and considered it an expensive fail.
7. Bridge To Terabithia
Bridge To Terabithia is a 2007 film about two children who create a fantasy world called Terabithia to cope with bullying. The film’s trailer represented it as a fantasy film from Disney. But this was far from the truth. After watching the movie, most people called out the film’s promoters for releasing such a misleading trailer. The movie ended up being a realistic drama about how love and loss affect children’s lives and not another Chronicles of Narnia movie.
8. John Carter
Another Disney film that had a kickass trailer was 2012’s, John Carter. It promised a thrilling story of a man who gets transported to Mars with superhuman abilities. However, what fans got was a completely different and tame kids’ film. It was nothing like the fascinating novel by Burroughs. John Carter only brought in $30 million during its opening weekend, a huge miss by Disney, who spent $250 million to make the Mars film.
9. Super 8
When the trailer for Super 8 was released in 2010, it got lots of attention almost instantly. J.J Abram’s creator made this film about Area 51, and it promised a heap of sci-fi gold in terms of the mysterious alien from the trailers. However, when the movie hit theatres, it was a shell of the initial promise. Fans didn’t get to see the monster until the movie’s last scenes. Despite making $260 million at the box office, it was a flop with critics who tore it down for its boring storyline.
10. The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow had a thrilling trailer about the deadly effects of climate change. It promised destruction on a mega scale that would usher in an ice age across the US. However, the 2004 film had countable disaster scenes during the first half. However, for the rest of the 2-hour movie, we see the cast hiking on ice. According to critics, only the visual effects saved Day After Tomorrow from being a total movie mess.considered the weakest
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