To leave, or not to leave: that is the question

We have all done it.We may not care to admit it, but we all have been duped at at least once.  I'm talking about seeing a bad movie thinking it was going to be great.  Once you realize your mistake you feel like you have been betrayed. The trailer looked good, the actors talked highly of their roles even the posters were appealing! You are in the theater and you feel stuck. Some would leave, but others stick with it to remind themselves to never make the same mistake again.

This situation that many of us have experienced can be attributed to the fine work of advertising and marketing teams contracted to work with the respective film.  They are given a piece that may or may not be any good regardless they are still getting paid and it is their reputation on the line. These agencies are tasked with bringing viewers to the box office at all costs, so mild deception is not out of the question when putting together a media campaign.

Let's look at a movie that was recently released and gave us that sense of betrayal once the lights dimmed, "Movie 43". This movie was heavily advertised in a variety of markets and the buzz surrounding it was beginning to grow prior to release. It had an all-star cast which gave people a chance to connect with a number of performers. But, the thing that pulled in more viewers than anything else was the funny trailer that was used.  Take a look at the trailer below.

Movie 43 Trailer

It looks funny, right? Unfortunately it wasn't.  A number of my friends attended a showing and failed to laugh at parts not shown in the trailer. Were they disappointed, yes! But we need to take a step back and look at the success that communications experts were able to achieve despite having a poor product to work with.   Taking the most appealing aspects of the movie and combining them into two minutes gave the movie an appearance as a potential blockbuster.  A trailer can portray a movie in a way that is totally different than it actually is.

Here is a perfect example:

Willy Wonka

For those who have seen the actual movie this trailer leads us far away from the heartfelt movie that is "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".  This trailer was created out of jest, but it shows how far from reality a trailer can be from the feature it is promoting.

As you prepare for the next trip to the theater take a few seconds to checkout a review online or see how the movie is doing on Rotten Tomatoes.  These open forms of critique will help prevent further deceptions that will lead you into a bad movie experience.