10 Movies Ruined by Terrible Marketing

The Big Picture

• Marketing misleads horror fans: ‘Crimson Peak’ trailer marketed as a ghostly horror flick, but it was actually a gothic romance.
• Hyped-up scene missing: ‘The Grey’ marketed Liam Neeson fighting wolves, but the anticipated wolf fight never happened.
• Tricky release timing: ‘Tenet’ had a theaters-only release during the COVID-19 pandemic, making viewers hesitant to watch it in crowded theaters.

Marketing is an essential part of any blockbuster movie release. This is usually accomplished by airing trailers on TV or putting up posters in public. It doesn’t seem too hard at first glance. But sometimes, the marketing team gets it all wrong. Whether this is because the trailers in question just don’t represent the movie well at all or set up the viewer for disappointment, something wasn’t really right about the way these films were marketed.

This doesn’t mean the movies in question are bad, of course. In fact, the movies might be perfectly fine, or even masterful. But in these cases, they certainly didn’t live up to the expectations that the marketing team set.

10 ‘Crimson Peak’ (2015)

The Issue: Catering to the wrong audience

Crimson Peak is a gothic romance film created by Guillermo del Toro, who has created many masterful flicks over the years. While this movie is also a quality film, many of its initial mixed reviews came from disappointed horror fans. The film’s trailer marketed the movie as a ghostly horror flick, featuring a collection of creepy ghouls and paranormal activity. So, when horror fans came in droves to have the pants scared off of them, many were disgruntled to find they were tricked into watching a dark romance movie.

Sure, you could consider it a horror movie if you really wanted to, albeit one that’s not all that scary. The reason for its low fear factor is the spooky happenings that filled nearly every second of the trailer rarely happen. In fact, the trailer used pretty much all the scary parts.

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9 ‘The Grey’ (2011)

The Issue: Hyping up a scene that didn’t even happen

At the time of The Grey‘s release, nearly every poster and trailer showed main actor Liam Neeson sporting a set of improvised knuckle dusters fashioned out of shards of glass. Neeson had recently starred in Taken, and was starting to cement himself as an action hero. Posters and trailers showed him with his makeshift weapons, poised and ready to fight a pack of hungry wolves. Everything pointed to this film being a great survival-action movie where Liam Neeson fights off a bunch of wolves by himself.

Then came the ending and boy, were people upset. Imagine yourself sitting in the theater, hyped to watch Liam Neeson take down a bunch of wolves, and the moment you’ve been waiting for finally arrives after two hours. There’s Neeson, locking eyes with a wolf in the frigid Alaskan tundra. They’re both ready for battle. Then Neeson charges at the camera, and it cuts to black and the credits roll. That’s right: the wolf fight the posters and trailers teased doesn’t even happen on screen.

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8 ‘Tenet’ (2020)

The Issue: Terrible timing

A theaters-only release is normal for movies, especially blockbusters. This provides viewers with a fun opportunity for the viewers to experience the movie in a unique way. It works best for horror or sci-fi action movies like Tenet. The problem is, the theaters-only release was kind of in poor taste given the events going on in the world at the time.

The movie came out in 2020. You know, that year when the COVID-19 pandemic really started to ravage its way across the planet? Aside from the fact that a lot of movie theaters weren’t even open at the time due to lockdowns, others were anxious about going to see a movie in a room full of people when there was a virus going around that, at the time, so little was known about. While the movie delivers the signature mind-bending narrative that Christopher Nolan usually produces, you wouldn’t be blamed if you wanted to skip this one at the time of its release.

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7 ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (2014)

The Issue: Way too vague marketing

While Edge of Tomorrow is an excellent sci-fi movie, the trailers and title made the terrible mistake of not giving away enough information. People who watched the trailers could barely tell what the movie was really about. In fact, it didn’t look like anything more than a standard sci-fi action flick featuring Tom Cruise, a common action movie actor. Plus, the title didn’t really reflect the movie at all, and it most certainly tells you nothing about it.

While the movie is considered a masterpiece by many, it definitely suffered from just being too vague in its marketing. It eventually tried to change its title to Live. Die. Repeat. in order to try and give the audience a better idea of its storyline, but this may have been too little, too late.

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6 ‘The Lorax’ (2012)

The Issue: Poor product placement

The original The Lorax book and animated short film captivated the hearts of many with its environmentalist message. Dr. Seuss seemed to be way ahead of his time when he wrote the children’s book way back in the 70s. Then, Illumination Studios, the same animation company responsible for Despicable Me took the reins on producing a full-length animated feature film based on the book. This should have been good news.

It’s not that it’s a bad movie. In fact, it was enjoyed by many kids. No, the problem with the movie was its brand deals, which definitely raised some eyebrows. The movie decided to make a partnership with Mazda to promote on of the company’s new cars. Repeat: a movie that was supposed to have an environmental message promoted a car. It’s hypocritical to say the least, and gives the impression that the filmmakers really didn’t give a darn about Dr. Seuss’ original narrative.

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5 ‘Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan’ (1989)

The Issue: Wrong place, wrong time

Everything about this movie’s promotion made horror fans think it was going to take place in New York City. People were hyped about this. We mean, Jason was taking his murder-binge to the big city for a change. Who wouldn’t be hyped up for that? Meanwhile, the filmmakers were laughing their heads off, because as much as this movie’s marketing screams “Big Apple,” the movie barely even showed the city until the very end.

The majority of the movie takes place on a boat that is heading towards the city, which is nothing short of a disappointment. To be frank, the movie didn’t receive good reviews anyway and is widely considered one of the weakest in the Friday the 13th franchise; and its poor marketing undoubtedly wasn’t doing its reputation any favors. In short: Jason failed to take Manhattan, and revive its sagging fortunes at the box office.

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4 ‘Annihilation’ (2018)

The Issue: Not the next monster movie

Annihilation is based on a sci-fi novel and was met with favourable reviews. But it suffered a little in its promotional campaigns. See, what it tried to do was appeal to fans of giant monster movies like Godzilla, which makes zero sense because said giant monsters don’t exist in the movie. The trailers tried to get by only showing scenes without the creatures in it, which made audiences think it was some sort of giant beast the characters were trying to outrun, when it was just a bunch of regular animals that had been mutated.

Monster movie fans, needless to say, weren’t pleased. But it is a wonderful movie for horror fans, sci-fi fans, and psychological thriller fans alike, with decently creepy moments, stellar action, and an ambiguous narrative that warrants a rewatch or two.

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3 ‘John Carter’ (2012)

The Issue: Bad marketing

The first problem with this movie’s marketing is its title: John Carter. Whoopee. It doesn’t say anything about what kind of movie it is. It could be a romance movie for all the audience knows. Heck, you’ve probably walked past a few people named John Carter in your life. It definitely doesn’t sound like the sci-fi epic that the movie actually is. Furthermore, the trailers were incredibly vague, only showing a few brief snippets of action, and not saying a thing about what the story was actually about.

It failed to show any of the lighthearted visuals that Disney movies are typically associated with (such as the Martians in the movie), and it presented itself as nothing more than a generic science-fiction flick. It took a long time for people to get over its marketing and appreciate the movie a little more.

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2 ‘Lone Survivor’ (2013)

The Issue: Trailers spoiling the movie

Lone Survivor is a military action movie based on true events. Taking place in the War in Afghanistan, it follows a small group of Navy SEALs who embark on a simple reconnaissance mission only for it to go horribly wrong. Now, if the title wasn’t a dead giveaway, only one of them survives. But this isn’t too much of a spoiler if you’re familiar with the actual event.

The problem was that the movie’s marketing team chose to mostly ignore the majority of the main cast. The movie stars four main actors, yet the movie kept emphasizing one in particular for his star power: Mark Wahlberg. They pushed Wahlberg so much in advertisements, in fact, that audiences could correctly guess who was going to be the titular lone survivor, and they didn’t need to be Nostradamus to do it.

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1 ‘It Comes at Night’ (2017)

The Issue: A (somewhat) misleading title

With movies like It Follows receiving excellent reviews, It Comes at Night left audiences asking the same question as the former: what exactly is “it?” In the case of It Follows, “it” turned out to be a pretty creepy monster that would assume the shape of a person and follow its victim at a consistent pace. So it’s only natural to assume that the “it” in It Comes at Night is also some sort of monster… right? Wrong.

Not only was “it” not a monster, but it also did not, in fact, come at night. “It” turns out to be a virus, which makes zero sense considering the movie’s tagline: “Fear makes men into monsters.” A lot of people who saw this movie were hoping for a monster-based horror flick, and instead got a movie about a family turning on each other as they struggle to survive amidst a devastating pandemic. Make no mistake, it’s still a great movie, albeit one that had no right to lead people on like that.

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KEEP READING: 10 Movies With The Best Marketing Campaigns, According to Reddit