In an era of empty movie theatres and increasingly popular streaming services, movie marketers are desperate to entice viewers back to cinemas. According to the Motion Pictures Association’s annual theme report, the United States and Canada’s box office market decreased by 81 per cent between 2019 and 2020. At the same time, subscriptions to home entertainment in the United States, including streaming services, rose by 33 per cent. Although the popularization of streaming services may seem encouraging to the film industry, most of this subscription money goes to the service rather than the filmmakers and actors. To put the importance of physical cinemas into perspective: Without movie theatres, the cast and production crew of Avengers: Endgame (2019) would have missed out on nearly $2.8 billion dollars of box office revenue.
In order to combat the rise of Netflix, HBO, and Disney+, some movie marketers have opted to grab potential viewers’ attention by packing in as much plot information as possible into their film trailers. This strategy has worked in the past—in an interview with Insider, Jason Blum, the producer of Get Out (2017) and The Invisible Man (2020), revealed that it is typical practice for movie producers to market trailers toward those who are indecisive about watching a particular film. By revealing plot points and spoilers, the marketers hope the audience will gain a better idea of what to expect and thus be encouraged to go see the film.
The debate about whether a movie trailer should include spoilers or not was reignited this September with the release of British psychological horror film Last Night in Soho’s trailer. The trailer is essentially a three-minute summary of the film—director Edgar Wright even made sure to warn his Twitter audience about the spoilers. He tweeted, “If you are already sold and would prefer to know NOTHING more of the secrets within, avert your eyes now.” Although it was thoughtful of Edgar Wright to caution his Twitter audience, the lack of warning in the trailer itself destroys potentially surprises which await the viewer in the film.
Many infamous movie trailers have opted to use spoilers as advertising in the past. Tom Hanks’ film Cast Away (2000) follows Hanks’ character as he attempts to survive on a deserted island for the majority of the film. However, the trailer reveals that he ultimately survives, much to some viewers’ disappointment. Similarly, the trailer for Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), the sequel to the wildly popular Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), exposes that a character presumed dead in the first film is still alive, divulging information solely for the purpose of a shock reveal.
Though movie marketing teams may believe that all press is good press, spoiling the movies without warning removes the novelty of seeing the film for the first time. If someone wants to read spoilers before going to the theatre, there are plenty of blogs and websites that can help. Revealing important information within a trailer completely eradicates any agency over how and when an excited viewer learns the plot. However, as Edgar Wright proves, at least Twitter is a surefire way to discover trailer spoilers—unless it spoils the movie itself.
