A recent court judgement issued on Wednesday clarifies that Marvel Studios, along with all other Hollywood film studios, may now be held liable for false or misleading trailers.
Movie trailers are now employed not only as promotional tools but also as standalone goods that generate buzz and enthusiasm. The MCU is no exception, as its trailers spark intense fan speculation and receive a tremendous amount of fan reaction. More than 24 million people have watched the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailer since it first debuted, which was less than a month ago.
Marvel trailers haven't always been purposefully deceptive, but they have occasionally featured footage that wasn't included in the final edit of the movie or that was altered to remove spoilers.
The Battle of Wakanda was prominently featured in the Avengers: Infinity War teaser, even though the Hulk never fully changed in the film beyond the opening scene. In the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, a scene containing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield was modified to remove the actors' appearances.
This practise now has the potential to cause Marvel problems in the future.
The End of Misleading Trailers
According to Variety, a decision on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson makes it legal to sue film studios if they give false information about an actor's appearance in a trailer.
The decision was made in the midst of a lawsuit against Universal over the Yesterday teaser from 2019, which starred Ana de Armas despite her exclusion from the film's final cut.
Movie trailers are commercial communication because, at their core, they are "intended to sell a movie," hence Judge Wilson rejected Universal's claim that they are "artistic, expressive work" that should be regarded as "non-commercial" speech.
The decision only applies to trailers that deceive "a significant portion" of "reasonable consumers," so just because a trailer includes some scenes that aren't included in the finished film doesn't automatically make it deceptive advertising.
More Precise Marvel Trailers?
One of the biggest studios in the world, Marvel Studios, will not be an exception to this rule. Consumers who feel deceived or duped to may sue the company if MCU trailers continue to include doctored or underused content, like in Infinity War or No Way Home.
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Maybe this will make MCU trailers more realistic, so fans won't have to wonder if that really is the Hulk in that scene or if Marvel is concealing a surprise appearance of a character that was cut out of a scene in the trailer.
However, the trailers for the upcoming MCU films are already available to view online, including those for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May.
Source: Variety