Why does every movie trailer give away the whole movie now?
By @hankforsure · Hot Takes
I took my son to the new summer blockbuster, and the trailer they showed right before our movie started laid out every single plot point, twist, and the final battle. I feel like there's no point in even watching the actual film anymore.
The full story
I don't get to the movie theater as much as I used to, so when I go, it's a real treat. My son and I were both excited for this big sci-fi epic that's been hyped up for months. We got our popcorn, sat down, and the lights went down for the trailers. One of the first trailers was for *another* big movie coming out this fall. And I swear to you, in two minutes and thirty seconds, they showed us everything. You see the main character's happy life, you see the inciting incident, you see them meet the side characters, you see the shocking midpoint twist where their mentor is revealed to be a bad guy, and they even showed clips from what is obviously the final fight. My son just shrugged when I pointed it out, but it drove me nuts. I remember when trailers were an art form. You'd get a booming voiceover, a few cool shots, the title, and a release date. It was all about creating mystery and excitement, not giving you a visual summary of the Wikipedia plot summary before the movie's even out. I remember the trailer for 'Alien' back in '79—it told you nothing and everything all at once. It was terrifying and made you need to see the movie to understand what was happening. My son's take is that it's just marketing. they says with ticket prices so high, people want to know exactly what they're getting and the trailers are like a promise to the audience that they won't be wasting their money. I get that in principle, but it just feels like the magic is gone. The joy of discovering a story as it unfolds in a dark theater is being replaced by a checklist of scenes you recognize from the commercial. Am I just an old man yelling at a cloud here, or has the art of the movie trailer been completely lost?
How people voted
- Valid Take — 38% (51 votes)
- I’m Torn — 34% (45 votes)
- Bad Take — 28% (37 votes)
Readers are split: “Valid Take” leads with 38% — 133 votes and 9 comments so far.
What people are saying
@didieven — nah your son is right i wanna know exactly what im getting for that price
@reeseyk — I feel the exact same way! It's so disappointing when all the surprises are spoiled before you even get to watch it. You're not yelling at a cloud, you're just pointing out something that's genuinely changed for the worse.
@sagehm — A good movie doesn't need a trailer to get people to see it.
@anywayyy — Couldn't you just close your eyes when the trailer starts?
@notreallybut — It's a trauma response from studios after losing millions on movies that bombed.
@plottwistlol — Great. Now I can save three hours and twenty dollars.
@sashakk — Are you sure it gave away *everything* or did it just show you a lot of exciting moments to get you hyped?
@reese — My gf showed me a tiktok that spoiled the big character death in the season finale of that space show and I'm still not over it. People have no respect for the viewing experience anymore.
@codyliterally — It's just a symptom of studios having absolutely no confidence in their own movies anymore.
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