Ana de Armas fans win lawsuit over deceptive movie trailers, false advertising

Variety reports that a federal judge has ruled movie studios are now liable under false advertising laws for releasing misleading trailers. Variety first reported the ruling. You might be mistaken if this decision was based on years of exclusive trailer footage from Marvel films. The lawsuit came to fruition because of two slighted Ana de Armas fans, who rented Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis’ Yesterday after seeing de Armas in the trailer — only to discover she was cut from the final version of the movie.

These were the fans who paid $3.99 each to rent YesterdayAmazon Prime Video users are seeking damages of $5 million as part of a class-action lawsuit.

Yesterday follows a man played by Himesh Patel, who somehow ends up in a world where The Beatles don’t exist. The movie’s trailer had a brief shot of de Armas, who would’ve played a rival love interest to Lily James’ character. However, her plot line and character were apparently dropped. Yesterday because it didn’t play well with audiences.

Lawyers for Universal Pictures, which distributed the 2019 movie, argued that trailers have a long history of using shots that don’t make it into the theatrical release of a movie. The trailer was cited by them. Jurassic Park back in 1993, which didn’t include any footage of the movie as it functioned as a prologue for the premise. The studio’s lawyers argued that trailers fall under free speech laws, whereas U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson maintained that they are inherently advertisements, thus must be held up to the same standards. Universal’s team said that this could open the door to false-advertising lawsuits, but Wilson pointed out that those lawsuits only hold water when a significant percentage of customers feel misled.

“The Court’s holding is limited to representations as to whether an actress or scene is in the movie, and nothing else,” the judge wrote.

This decision may have an impact on how Marvel Studios releases their trailers. This studio is famous for including scenes in trailers that are not in the film. Sometimes this happens because of incomplete visual effects or reshots. But some Marvel trailers — famously, Avengers: Infinity War — have shots that do not appear in the film that moviegoers see in theaters at all, which some viewers have found misleading.

Video game trailers have received similar scrutiny over the past two decades, leading to regulators like the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority fielding complaints taking action on promotional trailers for games like No Man’s Sky and Colonial Marines and Aliens. Game trailers, which are highly scrutinized by fans for their graphical fidelity and gameplay promises, often carry disclaimers explaining that they’re composed of “game engine footage,” if not gameplay footage, or that cinematic trailers are not representative of actual gameplay.

It’s possible that movie trailers may wind up carrying similar disclaimers, if movie studios get spooked by the prospect of future lawsuits similar to Yesterday’s. This lawsuit concerns one movie and one actress. While studios may continue to include superfluous footage trailers, they should keep the doors open for the possibility of removing it. YesterdayIf the court is watching, then they may be less careful when making tease cameos.