5 Movie Trailers That Were Better Than the Movie!

Movie trailers have been a crucial deciding component for movie watchers. Sometimes they watch them in movie theaters, sometimes it’s an advertisement online, sometimes we re-watch them (by choice or not), and sometimes, the trailer becomes the defining memory they take away from the film. Trailers have the luxury of not needing 90+ minutes and a full, developed story.

Trailers are trying to deliver clean, emotional little 2-minute promises on what the film will be. They’re perfectly edited and expertly paced, delivering emotional arcs and showcasing great music and visuals, but all the while, the challenge is not giving too much away.

Sometimes trailers over-promise, sometimes they confuse, and sometimes they are better than the actual movie itself! So, here is our list of trailers that were better than the actual movie.

1. Suicide Squad (2016)

With the top two comments revolving around "This trailer > the actual movie", we figured this movie was a good starting point. This trailer has 99M views, and the caption is "Worst. Heroes. Ever." Which is eerily close to "Worst. Heroes. Movie. Ever." And many fans unfortunately agree.

Suicide Squad’s trailer is expertly done with Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody" playing in the background, and we see stars such as Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, and Jared Leto. We get distinct, exciting characters, large personalities, stunts, and a lot of comedy, but in the actual movie, the critical reception was widely negative (around 26% on Rotten Tomatoes).

The trailer told a simple story, of bad guys having fun together, but the director, David Ayer, actually said that the direction for the movie turned from "dark and soulful" into a comedy. All of this put together made for a thrilling trailer but a lackluster movie.

2. Godzilla (2014)

Another example (like most of these on the list) of YouTube commenters discussing how great this trailer was and how flat the movie fell is 2014's Godzilla reboot. The trailer is ominous, intense, and beautiful, with great moments throughout. It leaves viewers with a chilling feeling of "Woah, that looks really good." It shows vivid nuclear disaster imagery and it seems to be setting it up to be presented as a human tragedy.

Bryan Cranston even makes an appearance in the trailer, seemingly showing that he will play a big part, but his character exits the movie shortly (about 40 minutes) after it begins. And the complete emotional arc we saw in the trailer -- full of fear, awe, catastrophe, and then hope? -- was not found in the movie. It didn’t maintain much of this intensity for 20 minutes let alone the full 2 hours. Godzilla 2014 is one of the most classic examples of a trailer delivering on emotions through a highlight reel but not actually delivering in the movie.

3. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

The montage set to Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" in this trailer creates an instant head-bopping, exciting feeling. It makes viewers feel childhood wonder, growing up, and nostalgia, all wrapped in a beautifully, fast-paced trailer with bright lights, a central character focus, giant "wild things", and adventure all over the place. The movie looked set to be a coming-of-age film, one that felt alive and heightened.

The movie, though, is quieter, slower, and more introspective. It explores childhood rather than highlighting a fun adventure story, and people who read the book seemed to have connected with the trailer, as the trailer felt a lot like the book, while the movie itself takes a softer, at times sadder, interpretation route.

4. Sucker Punch (2011)

This trailer showcases how style can overpower a story. With the feel of the trailer acting almost like a Summer blockbuster or a music video, there was a lot of hope for this movie. Besides the strong cast, this movie also had giant samurais, dragons, fire, armies, and war-like trenches. The shots were giant spectacles, and the excitement was palpable.

However, the movie was widely criticized, and it largely confused audiences. The movie needed plot, layers of reality, and symbolism past the imagination and action that the trailer delivered on. With a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 23% and a fan score at 47%, one can easily see that, although fun and inventive, this movie struggled to get past its exciting trailer.

5. The Purge (2013)

What a concept. This movie had a fantastic idea -- it took it, and it ran with it one night of the year, every year: "If all crime were legal for one night…" The concept dominates the conversations around all of The Purge movies, because, unfortunately, the concept is the strongest part.

In particular, in the first trailer for the first movie, we see a suggested nationwide chaos thriller where people take to the streets and pandemonium ensues. But in really, the story is a home-invasion. This trailer sold us a giant idea, but the film told us a story inside the idea. People wanted to watch a movie about this tremendous, radical story that only cinema could truly tell. However, people still only talk about this idea, and they mostly forget the plot. 

Trailers are promises, and at times, very exciting, musically-driven, cinematic promises of what a full-length version would be. Movies then are the real deal, fully formed trailers, accompanied by structure, plot, and believable circumstances, among many other things. So although there are many, these selections are our picks for the top trailers that were better than the movies!