A good movie trailer is meant to tease the audience and get them excited about the movie by revealing just enough. However, people often complain modern movie trailers give away too much. Especially with the big blockbusters, a single movie could have several trailers, making the audience feel as if they've seen most of the movie already.
Unfortunately, movie trailers that show too much are not just a modern issue. For decades, there have been those previews that, whether through unconfident marketing or poor decision-making, reveal some huge plot points, ruining the experience for audiences.
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
This is a rare example of a movie trailer spoiling plot details in another movie. While Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man was one of the victims of the "blip" in Avengers: Infinity War, he mysteriously had a sequel coming out just after Avengers: Endgame.
Likely due to Sony controlling the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the trailer came out before Endgame hit theaters, making it pretty clear to audiences that Spider-Man, and likely the other vanished heroes, were going to return.
Speed (1994)
Though it is sometimes dismissed as a Die Hard rip-off, Speed is a fantastic action movie in its own right. It manages to make a thrilling and edge-of-the-seat ride while setting pretty much all of the action on a moving bus.
While fans could probably have guessed that Keanu Reeves was going to save the day, the trailer relieved a lot of the tension. Not only did they immediately show the villain holding Sandra Bullock hostage, confirming she got off the bus, but they even show the scene of the bus exploding.
The Double (2011)
The Double is a very forgettable spy thriller that very few people actually saw. But the reason for that could be because watching the trailer gives away the main twist. It stars Richard Gere as a CIA agent brought out of retirement to track down an assassin.
The trailer seemed as if they were afraid the movie would look too much like a run-of-the-mill spy movie, so they threw in the enticing twist. The trailer blatantly confirms Gere's character is actually the assassin all along.
Funny People (2009)
Adam Sandler teamed with his old friend Judd Apatow to make one of the more serious comedies of their respective careers. In Funny People, Sandler plays a comedian who learns he is dying of a terminal disease and has to revaluate his life.
The first half of the trailer shows a movie that will be dealing with death in a funny yet real way which is intriguing. Then the trailer has its own twist, revealing that Sandler actually gets cured of his disease which happens at the beginning of the movie's final act.
Soylent Green (1973)
Soylent Green is one of those movies with a plot twist more famous than the movie itself. It is an ending that has been referenced and parodied so many times that audiences likely know it even if they aren't aware which movie it belongs to.
But it seems it would have been hard to remain unspoiled even when it was released, as the preview straight-up tells the audience the twist. Despite it being revealed in the final scene of the movie, the trailer thought it wise to tell everyone Soylent Green is made of people.
Carrie (1976)
Based on the Stephen King story, Carrie is a brilliant horror movie with one of the most iconic final acts of all time. Whenever the movie is discussed, it is always about the prom massacre seen when Carrie turns murderous.
To be fair to the marketing team, this whole bloody sequence is the real selling point of the movie. But given the slow build-up and the sympathy the audience feels for Carrie, it's a shame everyone knows what's coming.
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Though Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 might be the most iconic character of the Terminator franchise, John Connor is the true hero. He is the one who will save humanity, so it is an interesting idea to turn him into the villain in Terminator Genisys.
However, that decision gets a lot less interesting when it is revealed in the trailer. This seems like a classic case of a movie studio losing faith in its big blockbuster and attempting to lure viewers in with a big spoiler. Terminator Genisys may have been a mess, but showing the movie's big twist in a preview was still a mistake.
Cast Away (2000)
For some movies that hinge on a very specific concept, it seems like there are very obvious things that the trailers wouldn't want to give away. In the case of Cast Away, the large majority of the movie finds Tom Hanks stranded on an island by himself with no sign of rescue.
Therefore, it is quite perplexing for the trailer to include the confirmation that Hanks gets off the island at the end of the movie. It really hurts the tension of a survival story if everyone already knows he's going to survive.
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)
Fans had waited years to see Superman and Batman share the big screen and the fact that Batman V Superman would have these icons fighting each other was an even more exciting prospect. But before fans could start taking bets on which hero would win, the whole thing was spoiled.
Not only did the subtitle Dawn of Justice hint that things would end amicably, but the final trailer revealed that Batman and Superman would put aside their differences and team with Wonder Woman to take down Doomsday. It spoiled the outcome of the fight and suggested the movie might be trying to do too much.
Quarantine (2008)
Quarantine is a remake of the Spanish found-footage horror movie, REC. It follows a documentary crew who gets caught in the middle of a quarantine event to prevent a deadly virus from spreading.
Given how iconic the ending of the original is as the main character is dragged away from the camera and into the shadows, it's not surprising the remake recreated the same ending. What is surprising is that the trailer included that shot, the final shot of the movie, and even used it as the movie's poster.