They Blew It: Trailers That Showed Us Their Film’s Climax (SPOILERS)

Published by Interrobang Staff at July 2, 2014

The movie trailer used to be a work of art. It used to make you want to watch a movie. Now there are trailers, teasers for those trailers, and teasers for the teasers to the trailers. Red band trailers, G rated trailers, trailers geared towards woman, trailers geared toward men, international trailers– it’s just too much.

And with so many different renditions of the trailer, editors inexplicably splice in scenes from all parts of the film– including the ending! Why show us the whole movie before we’ve even paid for a ticket? Massive spoilers alert. Stop reading now if you haven’t seen these films.

1. 300 (2007)

At 1:30 you see Leonidas staring into the sun. This is the second right before he dies. You can tell everyone around him is dead. After this we get some more voice over as we watch his dead body but there’s only about 4 minutes of movie left.

2. Ender’s Game (2013)

Book readers would have caught this one immediately. Between 1:35 and 1:45 in the trailer we get to hear what Ender’s strategy is and actually fire the kill shot on the alien race he thought he was destroying in a video game. The tag line of the film might as well have been “He Thinks He’s In A Video Game But It’s All Actually Real”.

3. The Grey (2011)

The most powerful image this trailer leaves us with is Liam Neeson, with broken bottles taped to his hands, about to fight a pack of wolves. This occurs at 1:59 in the trailer. This scene put people in movie theaters. And it was literally the last scene of the film, occurring roughly a minute before fading to black.

4. Free Willy (1993)

The most iconic still of Free Willy is the very end which we get to see in the theatrical trailer at 1:35 in. They could have at least given us a little suspense on whether or not this whale was gonna get out alive. Sure, kids are dumb and will watch things over and over but parents are the ones who have to take these kids to the movies.

5. Cast Away (2000)

Thanks for including the scene where we’re told he got found and was gone for four years at 1:55 in. Lucky for the viewer – they don’t have to imagine at all what happens, this trailer will give you the whole movie. On top of that we get to see Tom Hanks at the crossroads, moments before the actual film ends.

6. Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End (2007)

It happens fast, but at 2:00 minutes in, when the trailer is telling us all the great stars that are in the last Pirates movie, we see an image of Orlando Bloom with a giant scar on his chest at the helm of the bad guys boat. Did any of the Pirates movies make sense? No. But they could have used any other image from Orlando Bloom in the movie.

7. Chinatown (1974)

They give away the last piece of dialogue in the film. There wasn’t anything else they can throw in? THIS is what would of made people go see Chinatown? “Hey, they said the name of the movie in the movie, gotta go see this!” 1970’s Jack Nicholson should have been enough. Any decade Jack Nicholson should be enough for a trailer. Go to 3:05 in.