Are movie trailers too spoiler-y?

Bradley Burgess
November 8, 2011
Filed under Reviews

Obviously, movie trailers are the only way to get an audience interested in an upcoming movie. But perhaps they’re not doing their job very well.

Some movie trailers are showing too much of the movie and spoiling the entire movie in doing so. Some trailers will show the final scene of the movie (“30 Minutes or Less”; “The Princess and the Frog”) or give away the entire twist (“The Double”; “Dream House”).

The trailer for “In Time” shows the death scene of one of the main characters, removing tension from the film.

But by far the worst offense is the trailer for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.”

MAJOR TWILIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!

Back when the book, “Breaking Dawn,” came out, the entire Twilight fan community was shocked when it was revealed that Bella was pregnant. Now, the film is giving away the twist in every trailer for the film.

The same thing happened in the trailers for “New Moon.” The plot point was kept a secret from the world until the book came out, and even then you had to read the book to find out what it was. Now, I know what you’re thinking: Twilight fans know what’s going to happen so it’s okay to spoil the movie for them. That’s fine, but what about the rest of the world? Not only that, but they actually show the scene where Bella gives birth! Non-fans now have no incentive to see the movie because the trailer gives them the whole thing on a platter.

Some trailers manage to keep secrets, but most of them are just showing the entire movie to get you to see it. The only problem is that the plan makes no sense. If you show audiences the entire film, they are less likely to see it themselves.