Misleading Movie Trailers

[Miss Chicken]

I went to the cinema yesterday to see "The Happening" and one of the trailers shown before the movie was for "The Orphanage".

Some teenage boys in front of us were quite impressed by the trailer and one said to the others that they should come and see it as they liked horror movies. I learned forward and asked them if they realised that the movie was subtitled. They seemed surprised as nothing in the trailer suggested it was. I told them that it definitely was the subtitled Spanish film "El Orfanato". The boys actually thanked me for telling them and said they wouldn't go as they don't like subtitles.

I think it is wrong for the trailer not to show that a film isn't in English. In fact it seems that this trailer actually hid the fact as at no point in the trailer did you hear any speech beyond the mother calling her son's name. The trailer seemed to be aimed at trying to get teenage boys to come and watch the movie despite the fact that the average teenage boy probably wouldn't like the movie.

It sort of reminds me of how the trailer for "The Village" was misleading and aimed at the wrong crowd.

Anyone think of any other examples?

 

[Eric Cheung]

I think I was under the impression that when the first version of Persepolis came out it would be dubbed but I wasn't at all bothered by the fact that it was subtitled.

Maybe more teenagers should watch subtitled movies. Horror may be a good way to get them used to subtitles so they can watch early John Woo or Bruce Lee or stuff like Time and Tide and they'll get to see it closer to how it was originally intended.

I saw the dubbed and subtitled versions of A Better Tomorrow and the subtitled version was way better.

But yeah, otherwise, marketing departments don't usually know what to do with movies. Even when the movie's marketed to the right audience they'll give away half the movie.

My favorite trailer of all time is the one Erinie Kovacs did for the movie Operation Mad Ball. He filmed special footage in what looked like a mansion library telling the audience about the movie and only showing a few clips.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Of my three adult sons, only one would watch a subtitled movie at the cinema. One of the others doesn't mind subtitled DVDs, he is a slow reader and has to often rewind to read the subtitles again. The third son (who is the eldest and the best reader of the three) won't look at subtitled movies at all.

My sister and my mother both hate subtitles though both are excellent readers. They say they go to the cinema for relaxation and they say reading subtitles detracts from their enjoyment of a movie.

Whereas I look at subtitled movies so much that I am not that aware that I am reading at all.

But my gripe with this trailer isn't that it is subtitled but rather that it hides the fact that it is subtitled.

I plan to see "El Orfanato" tomorrow.

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

The Incredible Hulk trailer looked like a good movie.

 

[Agent Richard07]

The trailer for The Fountain was misleading. I was in the theatre watching the movie when I realized that it wasn't the story of two immortals over a one-thousand year time period.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The trailer for The Fountain was misleading. I was in the theatre watching the movie when I realized that it wasn't the story of two immortals over a one-thousand year time period.

Good example. I also got the same wrong impression from that trailer.

BTW this is the trailer I saw for "The Orphanage"

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I think you should have kept your mouth shut and let them go see it. I hate it when people ignore movies just becuase they're in another language. It might have been good for them.

 

[Aragorn]

The TV commercials for "Good Luck Chuck" ignored the entire R-rated premise and instead made it look like a guy who was attempting to date a total klutz and dingbat, and the voiceover guy read the title as "Good Luck, Chuck."

I wouldn't say Fox had misleading trailers of Solaris, per se, but it was obvious they had no idea how the hell to market the movie.

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

Well, Serenity comes to mind. Uh, yeah, let's not promote Nathan Fillion, or the ship, or the unique setting. But, let's just show the title.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think you should have kept your mouth shut and let them go see it. I hate it when people ignore movies just becuase they're in another language. It might have been good for them.

Maybe so but then I might have had to put up with them sitting in front of me moaning about it being in Spanish when I went and saw the movie. That has happened to me on more than one occasion before. For example I went and saw "The White Countess" which was partially subtitled and had to put up with an old lady behind being told what was happening by her friend because the old lady hadn't bought her glasses with her because she didn't realise the movie would have any subtitles.

 

[Small White Car]

I told them that it definitely was the subtitled Spanish film "El Orfanato". The boys actually thanked me for telling them and said they wouldn't go as they don't like subtitles.

This, to me, feels like telling a child to not try eating vegetables because "they won't like them anyway."

Yes, there's a good chance they won't, but it sure feels wrong to not give them the chance. Maybe I'm getting cranky in my old age, but telling kids NOT to expand their minds just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I've seen numerous trailers which reloop dialog to make a scene more easily understood and dramatic. In the trailer for Wanted, the character said his father died when he was a child, but in the film he says his father walked out on him. Likewise, jokes were changed for The Love Guru to make them PG enough for a TV commercial.

I'll agree with the assessment of The Fountain trailer. I liked the movie, but it had little to do with the story I was promised.

The trailer for Serenity said the characters were "rebels" implying they were Star Wars style idealists waging war rather than criminals on the run.

 

[suarezguy]

Freedomland was very different from its more exciting trailer that promised a dark mystery, the house wasn't even a big part of the film.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

After seeing Hancock, I have to say it has a misleading trailer. All of the scenes in the trailers come from the first third of the movie. That plotline gets done with pretty quick.

 

[auntiehill]

Well, when I went to see "The Orphanage," I was very excited to see it, as I'd read the reviews and was all geared up. As soon as the movie starts, two couples got up and walked out--one older, and one teenagers.

I mean, the movie JUST STARTED!

Then Hubby leans over and says, "Subtitles. Stupid people don't like them."

So, yes, maybe they should have advertised that it was in subtitles, or as "foreign language film," because some people will leave all in a huff and demand their money back, as I'm sure those two couples did.

 

[Aragorn]

I knew someone who liked foreign films that were dubbed but couldn't stand them if he had to read subtitles. Not trying to be an intellectual snob here, but damn, if that isn't telling I don't know what is.

 

[Roshi]

I was misled by the trailer of the Green Mile. In that trailer we could see John Coffee (sp?) outside, in the nature, happy with the sun setting. I had that picture in mind all along the movie. And when came the time of the execution, I was not at all involved emotionally speaking in John's death, because of that specific scene outside! And no, I hadn't previously read the King novel beforehand!

 

[John Picard]

The trailer for The Fountain was misleading. I was in the theatre watching the movie when I realized that it wasn't the story of two immortals over a one-thousand year time period.

Good example. I also got the same wrong impression from that trailer.

BTW this is the trailer I saw for "The Orphanage"

I thought that as well until I read the reviews here. Pity, because it looked very interesting but now I don't think I want to watch it.

 

[Hermiod]

IIRC, the trailer I saw for [REC] had the same problem. The movie is in Spanish, yet the trailer gives no indication of that.

Personally, I have absolutely no problem with subtitles. For people who can't read, however, it's being remade, shot for shot, in English.

 

[Smiley]

Pan's Labyrinth also gave no indication in the trailer that it was in Spanish.