Misleading Trailer For YESTERDAY Will Help Make Movie Studios Accountable for Fair Marketing Techniques

Judge Rules That Movie Studios Need to Advertise Fairly

A trailer for the 2019 movie, Yesterday, showed Ana de Armas in it but she wasn’t in the finished film and now a judge has ruled that that was a deceptive practice.

Two Ana de Armas fans who paid a few bucks to watch Yesterday on Amazon Prime were disappointed to learn, after watching the movie, that she wasn’t in it. They decided to proceed with a lawsuit seeking $5 million in damages for the disappointing revelation that de Armas’ part was left on the cutting room floor. And, a judge has decided that the trailer would have led one to actually believe that de Armas was in the 2019 picture.

Movie studios can be sued if they present a product to the audience that is not delivered accordingly. It would be pretty easy for a viewer to believe Ana de Armas would have been in Yesterday since she was featured in the trailer. Richard Curtis, screenwriter of Yesterday, may have had a good reason for the filmmakers snipping de Armas out of the finished movie but they should have tinkered the trailer for the film to reflect that particular change.

Yesterday is one of my all-time favorite movies placing in the top 100 pictures I have ever seen. As a film watcher, it’s easy to await scenes that one sees in a trailer to come onto the screen when viewing the actual picture. This particular movie happened to be a great film so, for me, it was easy to overlook what was seen by the people who initiated the lawsuit as a bait-and-switch.

However, Yesterday is not the first movie to promise something that wasn’t delivered exactly the same way audiences may have thought. Certain movies use music from other pictures to advertise but this wasn’t the problem with Yesterday‘s trailer. The problem was promising a subplot that was completely absent from the picture with an actress who simply wasn’t in the movie. Curtis thought de Armas’ character would throw off the love story between the main characters but, instead, some movie watchers were understandably frustrated.

While the federal judge’s ruling that movies shouldn’t show scenes that aren’t in the film is reasonable, it would also be considered fair that filmmakers help change their trailers if they make cuts to a movie that alter the premise of the picture. While Yesterday is subjectively a fabulous movie directed by an Oscar winner (Danny Boyle), not every customer will agree if they’re watching the movie to see a particular star or promised scene.

Basically, the de Armas fans have the last laugh here as even though it was clear (even from the trailer) that the actress wasn’t a major player in the movie, Universal Pictures, the film’s studio, subjectively didn’t do the right thing. The trailer should have been restructured accordingly and the court decision reflects this thought.

Leave your thoughts on the court’s decision regarding the truth in movie advertising and the Yesterday trailer below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, and our Movie News Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, and Flipboard. This news was brought to our attention by Variety.