With half of the planet using the internet and many of those being trolls, it can be insanely hard to dodge spoilers for movies if fans aren’t seeing them on their opening weekends. But sometimes trolls don’t have to do anything, as the studio manages to spoil the movie all by itself.
Whether something’s revealed in the trailer, a poster that was slapped together in photoshop, or merchandise that’s released before the movie, there have been some supremely dumbfounding ways in which the marketing team inadvertently destroyed fans’ excitement.
Terminator: Genisys (2015)
The Terminator franchise has been butchered time and time again, but the lore hasn’t been ruined any more than it was in the fifth entry in the series, Terminator Genisys.
Besides there being no reason for the name’s intentional misspelling, the plot twist reveals that this version of the hero, John Connor, is actually a terminator, and destroying fan favorite characters is one of the reasons the movie’s as bad as people say it is. But what’s worse is that the big twist of the movie, though as terrible as it is, was in the very first trailer.
Cast Away (2000)
Cast Away is one of the greatest performances from Tom Hanks and one of the best Robert Zemeckis movies. It’s a character piece more than anything, as Tom Hanks’ character gets stranded on a deserted island with no hope of ever seeing mankind again.
But the Cast Away trailer provides some unforgiving spoilers, as it shows the character back on land, revealing the very end of the movie.
Free Willy (1993)
The visual of Free Willy escaping has become one of the most iconic sights in cinema history, and though it’s a huge spoiler and is the cover of the DVD, this is long after millions of people had seen it.
However, the spoilerific image was even shown in the trailer leading up to its release. No, the movie doesn’t have any huge twist, and being a children’s movie, it’s pretty easy to deduce that Willy will in fact be freed, but by giving away the ending, it erases whatever small stakes the movie might have.
Terminator 2 (1991)
Genisys isn’t the only movie in the Terminator franchise that was ruined by its marketing, as the trailer for Terminator 2: Judgement Day ruined a huge spoiler that fans otherwise wouldn’t have seen coming.
As Arnie was the titular character in the original movie, playing the antagonist whose only objective was to murder Sarah Connor, it came as a huge surprise when he was revealed to be the savior in the sequel, or at least it was to those who hadn’t seen the trailer. However, ruining that huge twist in the trailer hasn’t stopped Judgement Day from being one of the best sci-fi movies according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Phone Booth (2002)
Phone Booth, one of the best Joel Schumacher movies, follows Colin Farrell’s character who gets a call from a mystery man at a public pay phone.
The man on the other end taunts him and threatens to murder him if he hangs up, and for the whole movie, viewers are trying to figure out who the mystery caller is. Unfortunately, a poster for the movie clearly revealed the antagonist’s identity.
Lone Survivor (2013)
With Lone Survivor following four soldiers who hunt down a terrorist in Afghanistan, there’s no telling how the end will turn out.
However, all of the posters for the movie featured only Mark Wahlberg, and it wasn’t just because he’s a bankable star. At the end of the movie, Wahlberg’s character is the last surviving member of the team. Even the title of the movie is a dead giveaway of the movie’s finale.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse doesn’t have any returning characters from the old movies and instead continues the narrative that started with First Class, and it even forces some newer characters on audiences. So when they spoiled a cameo from Hugh Jackman in the trailer, it seemed like a cheap trick.
To be fair, the studio probably knew what they were working with and given that Apocalypse is the worst X-Men movie according to Metacritic, they had to get butts in seats somehow, and Wolverine always does the trick.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
The bland looking action might be one of the things Captain America: Civil War got wrong, but the movie gets a lot more exciting when it unveils Ant-Man’s insane new abilities.
During the infamous airport scene, Scott Lang turns in to Giant Man, and it’s one of the most fun moments of not just Captain America: Civil War, but the MCU at large. It would have been even more exciting if the character wasn’t spoiled by a toy promoting the movie that was released weeks before.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
One of the best things about 10 Cloverfield Lane is how it makes audiences wonder if John Goodman’s character is telling the truth about the outside world or if he’s just lying in order to keep Michelle in the bunker. The movie is one of the best thrillers of the 21st century because of this mystery.
However, though the movie had one of the best trailers of the decade, the monster that features in the finale of the movie appears on the poster!
Toy Story 3 (2010)
The climax of Toy Story 3 is one of the reasons it’s the perfect finale, as it’s one of the few children’s movies that can make grown adults cry. As all of the toys are inside a trash compactor with seemingly no escape, they all hold hands and await their deaths.
But right before the movie’s release, a Lego set called “Trash Compactor Escape” revealed the whole finale, and it even included the aliens with the crane, which is how the toys were saved in the movie.