On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that movie studios can now be sued under false advertising laws if they release misleading trailers, diverse mentioned. And if you thought the decision came from years of exclusive trailer shots at Marvel movies, think again. The lawsuit came to fruition because of two Ana de Armas fans who hired Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis” yesterday After seeing De Armas in the trailer – only to find out it was cut from the final version of the movie.
These fans, who each paid $3.99 in rent yesterday Through Amazon Prime Video, it is seeking $5 million in damages as part of a proposed class action lawsuit.
yesterday It follows a man played by Himesh Patel, who somehow ends up in a world where the Beatles don’t exist. The trailer for the movie contains a brief shot of De Armas, who would have played a love rival to Lily James’ character. But her character and plan were said to have been left out of the game yesterday Because she didn’t play well with the fans.
Attorneys for Universal Pictures, which distributed the 2019 film, argued that trailers have a long history of using footage that does not make it into the film’s theatrical release. They cited the trailer for Jurassic Park in 1993, which did not include any footage of the film because it was a prequel to the film. The studio’s lawyers have argued that the trailers fall under free speech laws, while US District Judge Stephen Wilson has asserted that they are advertisements in nature and therefore should be subject to the same standards. This could open the door to false advertising lawsuits, Universal’s team said, but Wilson noted that these lawsuits only hold up when a significant percentage of customers feel misled.
“The court’s ruling was limited to whether it was an actress or a scene in the film, and nothing else,” the judge wrote.
This decision could affect how companies like Marvel Studios release their trailers. This studio is notorious for including scenes in its trailers that do not appear in the final film, sometimes as a result of incomplete visual effects or reshoot sequences. But some of the famous Marvel trailers, Avengers: Infinity War – It has footage that does not appear in the movie that moviegoers see in theaters at all, which some viewers found misleading.
Video game trailers have received similar scrutiny over the past two decades, which has led to regulators such as the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority sending complaints and taking action on promotional trailers for games like No Man’s Sky And the Exotic marine colonies. Game trailers, which are highly scrutinized by fans for their graphical fidelity and promises of gameplay, often carry disclaimers stating that they consist of “game engine footage”, if not gameplay footage, or that cinematic trailers do not represent actual gameplay. .
It’s possible that movie trailers will end up bearing a similar disclaimer, if movie studios are spooked by the prospect of similar future lawsuits for yesterday‘s. But this suit is about a specific movie and a specific actress. Studios may not stop including unnecessary footage in trailers, but with the door open from yesterday They might be more careful about teasing the cameo if the courts were watching.
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