10 Movie Trailers That Received Major Fan Backlash (2024)

One of the best parts of film marketing today is the movie trailer. Fans get excited about what is going to come to theaters soon. However, a film's trailer can also lead to fan backlash, outrage and criticism, whether warranted or not.

Some trailers have genuine problems that lead to a film's downfall, while others are simply hated by extremely opinionated fans right from the start. There have been many disappointing trailers in the past, but recently, a lot of trailers have been garnering major hate for one reason or another.

10 Batman v Superman Spoiled Everything in the Trailer

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

The reviews for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were the first sign of trouble for the falling-apart DC Extended Universe. Trying to catch up to Marvel, the epic confrontation of the biggest superheroes of all time was muddied down by multiple attempts to jump-start a cinematic universe.

The trailer spoiled a majority of the film's biggest moments, from the arrival of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman to the reveal that Doomsday would be involved in the climax. And using context clues from the comics that inspired the film, fans were able to surmise that Superman did not make it to the end of Batman v Superman. The film's disappointing trailer and subpar reviews would unfortunately lead to a multi-year downfall of the DCEU.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

PG-13

superheroes

Batman is manipulated by Lex Luthor to fear Superman. Superman´s existence is meanwhile dividing the world and he is framed for murder during an international crisis. The heroes clash and force the neutral Wonder Woman to reemerge.

Director

Zack Snyder

Release Date

March 24, 2016

Cast

Ben Affleck , Henry Cavill , Amy Adams , Jesse Eisenberg , Gal Gadot

Writers

Bob Kane , Bill Finger

Runtime

2 hours 31 minutes

Production Company

Warner Bros, Atlas Entertainment, RatPac-Dune Entertainment.

9 Disney Cannot Catch a Break With Its Snow White Reboot

Snow White (2025)

Disney has been creating many live-action remakes of their classic animated features, much to the criticism of audiences. Some fans feel that many of the studio's live-action adaptations aren't necessary, such as the new live-action Moana film arriving in 2026. Another film fans feel to be unnecessary is the new adaptation of Snow White.

Fans have already written off the live-action Snow White before its release, most citing the film's lackluster trailer as the reason. Another problem fans cite is the casting of Rachel Zegler as the titular character, even though she is incredibly talented and the hate for her seems baseless, to say the least. Even though Snow White hasn't even been given a chance, fans have already decided their feelings about the film.

Snow White

Adventure

Drama

Fantasy

Director

Marc Webb

Release Date

May 22, 2024

Cast

Gal Gadot , Rachel Zegler , Andrew Burnap , Ansu Kabia

Writers

Greta Gerwig , Erin Cressida Wilson

Main Genre

Adventure

8 The Fifth Terminator Movie Uses the Same Plot Twist and Spoils It in the Trailer

Terminator Genysis (2015)

Ever since the release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991, the following Terminator films haven’t lived up to either of the original two. So when the franchise took its time to release the fifth entry in the franchise, Terminator Genysis, fans were already hesitant, to say the least. And when the trailer debuted, fans felt they were proven right to be skeptical.

The Terminator Genysis trailer, while not disappointing or offensive in itself, did have one major flaw: the movie’s major plot twist was spoiled. John Connor has become a Terminator and is now the villain of the film. The movie was met with major criticism from fans of the franchise, but like the Terminator, it came back with Terminator: Dark Fate in 2019.

Terminator Genisys

PG-13

Sci-Fi

Action

Adventure

When John Connor, leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline.

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Director

Alan Taylor

Release Date

July 1, 2015

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger , Jason Clarke , Emilia Clarke , Jai Courtney , J.K. Simmons , Dayo Okeniyi

Writers

Laeta Kalogridis , Patrick Lussier , James Cameron , Gale Anne Hurd

Runtime

126 minutes

Main Genre

Sci-Fi

7 Madame Web Was Supposed to Be the Last Straw for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe

Madame Web (2024)

Fans of Spider-Man have been desperate to see his character and his massive rogues' gallery, return to the MCU once and for all. But for better and for worse, Sony retains the film rights. So, while Spider-Man can appear in the MCU, Sony can make films based on his villains at their leisure. But with movies like the Venom trilogy, or especially Morbius, fans have been extremely disappointed, to say the least. And the writing was on the wall when Sony debuted the trailer for the almost unknown Marvel character, Madame Web.

Madame Web is based on a very small character from the comics, making fans feel like Sony is grasping at straws at this point. Madame Web’s trailer, much like its movie, was panned, to say the least, leading to a disappointing debut. However, the most recent Spider-Man villain movie, Venom: The Last Dance, made big at the box office. And with Kraven the Hunter on the way, Sony doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

8

10

Madame Web

Superhero

Action

Adventure

Sci-Fi

Cassandra Webb is a New York City paramedic who starts to show signs of clairvoyance. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she must protect three young women from a mysterious adversary who wants them dead.

Director

S.J. Clarkson

Release Date

February 14, 2024

Cast

Sydney Sweeney , Isabela Merced , Dakota Johnson , Emma Roberts

Writers

Kerem Sanga , Matt Sazama , Burk Sharpless

Main Genre

Superhero

6 Fans of the Original Game Are Already Concerned About the Minecraft Movie

A Minecraft Movie (2025)

After many years of trying to create a Minecraft-based film, Jared Hess, director of classic comedies like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, finally did the impossible in developing A Minecraft Movie. However, oddly enough, the Minecraft community is not excited about the film but rather ripped the trailer apart online. With films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sonic the Hedgehog, the reputation of film adaptations of video games has become much more positive. So why did Minecraft get such a bad rap?

To start, fans thought the film looked bad with its entirely CGI-created environments and characters. On top of that, Jack Black had recently faced a small political controversy around the time of the trailer’s release, leading to fans writing the movie off before giving it a chance. To be fair, this trailer does have a similar feel to movies in the past that have let down audiences. With that said, the backlash to this trailer can feel somewhat overzealous as the movie hasn’t even been given a chance yet.

Minecraft

TBD

Adventure

Action

Family

The malevolent Ender Dragon sets out on a path of destruction, prompting a young girl and her group of unlikely adventurers to set out to save the Overworld.

Director

Jared Hess

Release Date

April 4, 2025

Cast

Jason Momoa , Jack Black , Emma Myers , Danielle Brooks

Writers

Chris Bowman , Hubbel Palmer , Markus Persson

Runtime

TBD

Main Genre

Adventure

5 The Mummy Released the Wrong Trailer First

The Mummy (2017)

Universal Pictures attempted to jump-start what they called the ‘Dark Universe’ in 2017 with their first big film starring Tom Cruise, The Mummy. Despite how eager fans of the original monster movies were to see their favorites return to the big screen, it seemed fans had to wait a bit longer. The Mummy bombed at the box office and was ripped apart critically, leading to the universe’s quiet cancelation.

The trailer was the first sign of trouble, as the first release didn’t have all the audio tracks included. The wrong file was posted online for the first The Mummy trailer, damaging the reputation of the film. Unfortunately, the audience's suspicions were right, as The Mummy failed to live up to expectations.

The Mummy

PG-13

Fantasy

Adventure

An ancient Egyptian princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Director

Alex Kurtzman

Release Date

June 9, 2017

Cast

Tom Cruise , Sofia Boutella , Russell Crowe , Annabelle Wallis , Jake Johnson

Writers

David Koepp , Christopher McQuarrie , Dylan Kussman , Alex Kurtzman , Jon Spaihts , Jenny Lumet

Runtime

110 minutes

Main Genre

Action

Producer

Sarah Bradshaw, Sean Daniel, Chris Morgan, Alex Kurtzman

Production Company

Universal Pictures, Dark Universe, Perfect World Pictures, Secret Hideout, Conspiracy Factory, Hivemind, Dentsu, Fuji Television Network

4 Megalopolis Used AI to Interest Audiences

Megalopolis (2024)

Megalopolis felt doomed from the beginning with negative reviews and reports of an unsafe set. Francis Ford Coppola had been attempting to make his passion project for over twenty-five years, which finally was accomplished in late 2024. However, reviews were not positive, to say the least. And the first trailer was one of the main signs of trouble. At first, the trailer seemed unique and intriguing. But on further inspection, audiences grew to hate the Megalopolis trailer as it was assumed that it was made partially with AI.

The trailer tries to placate audience concerns upon hearing the initial negative reviews, showing examples of how critics were wrong in the past about Coppola’s early works like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. However, viewers quickly figured out that none of those reviews were real, even despite the true claim that those films had negative reviews. So, many assumed that Coppola’s trailer used AI to find and come up with these examples. AI is an incredibly hot topic in Hollywood, as in 2023, the actors' and writers' guilds went on strike to protest those very practices. So to see a major motion picture use AI so blatantly was incredibly disappointing.

Megalopolis

Drama

Sci-Fi

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Release Date

September 27, 2024

Cast

Adam Driver , Forest Whitaker , Nathalie Emmanuel , Jon Voight , Laurence Fishburne , Aubrey Plaza , Shia LaBeouf , Jason Schwartzman , Grace VanderWaal , Kathryn Hunter , Talia Shire , Dustin Hoffman , D. B. Sweeney , Giancarlo Esposito

Writers

Francis Ford Coppola

Runtime

138 Minutes

Main Genre

Drama

3 Cats Should Never Have Been Adapted to Screen

Cats (2019)

Adapting movie musicals is an incredibly difficult thing to pull off, especially as the movie has to make the original fans happy and introduce new fans to the show. Cats did neither. Directed by Tom Hooper, who created the award-winning and positively received Les Misérables in 2012, the film took on the epic Andrew Lloyd Webber tale of Cats. But much like the famous line in Jurassic Park, the studio was so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

With slim odds, Cats could work on screen. Steven Spielberg was initially interested in adapting the musical into an animated feature in the 90s, which could have been incredible. However, things fell apart in the development stage after disagreements arose, leading that version of Cats to be canned. Now, audiences have a film that’s difficult to understand, as the story goes against the typical structure and is instead built around vignettes. Cats bombed critically and at the box office, and the first sign was the reaction to the first trailer.

Cats

PG

Comedy

Drama

Family

Musical

Fantasy

A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.

Director

Tom Hooper

Release Date

December 20, 2019

Cast

James Corden , judi dench , Jason DeRulo , Idris Elba , Robbie Fairchild , Mette Towley

Writers

Lee Hall , Tom Hooper , Andrew Lloyd Webber

Runtime

110 minutes

Main Genre

Musical

2 Sonic Was Originally Going to Look Hideous

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

In a rare moment of successful internet bullying, the Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise was saved when the first trailer was met with horrible reviews. Fans of the games were cautiously optimistic to see where Paramount Studios would run with the blue blur. And in the first trailer, those fans saw one of the worst live-action adapted redesigns for a character ever put on screen. It was truly remarkable how unintentionally terrifying the original look for Sonic was, and fans were definitely voicing their opinions.

However, amazingly enough, director Jeff Fowler announced that Sonic's design was going to be altered from the initial more 'real-world look'. So the release date was pushed back to account for the extra work, and fans were delighted to get a trailer with a much more accurate Sonic. And now, Sonic the Hedgehog has an entire franchise that is still growing today. But for fans who liked the original look of the character, they can catch him in the 2022 Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers film played by the hilarious Tim Robinson.

Sonic the Hedgehog

PG

Animation

Adventure

Comedy

Sonic, a speedy blue hedgehog from another world, is forced to flee to Earth to escape evil forces seeking his unique abilities. He settles in the quiet town of Green Hills, where he lives in secret until his powers accidentally trigger a massive power outage. This catches the attention of Dr. Robotnik, a mad scientist obsessed with capturing Sonic and harnessing his power.

Where to Watch

• stream
• rent
• buy

*Availability in US

Director

Jeff Fowler

Release Date

February 12, 2020

Cast

Jim Carrey , James Marsden , Neal McDonough , Tika Sumpter , Ben Schwartz , Adam Pally

Writers

Worm Miller , Patrick Casey , Oren Uziel , Yuji Naka , Naoto Ohshima , Hirokazu Yasuhara

Runtime

99 minutes

Main Genre

Animation

Website

https://www.sonicthehedgehogmovie.com/

Franchise

Sonic the Hedgehog

Cinematographer

Stephen F. Windon

Producer

Toru Nakahara, Takeshi Ito, Neal H. Moritz

Production Company

Sega, Paramount Pictures, DJ2 Entertainment, Original Film, Marza Animation Planet, Paramount Animation, Stories International, Blur Studio, Sega Sammy Group

Sfx Supervisor

Alessandro Cioffi, Ged Wright, Michael Wortmann, Lindsay Adams, Chris Uyede, David Nelson

Budget

$95 million

1 The 2016 Ghostbusters Was Unfairly Judged

Ghostbusters (2016)

It’s one thing to dislike a film after giving it a fair chance, but it’s a completely different thing when fans have already begun hating a movie before it’s even released. The 2016 Ghostbusters is a prime example, garnering the most "dislikes" for a movie trailer in the history of YouTube. To put it lightly, fans of the original films did not react well when the news broke that the Ghostbusters would be returning to theaters in 2016, but with an all-female cast.

Disregarding the unwarranted hate for this movie, Ghostbusters still wasn’t received positively by people who hadn’t already made up their minds. The idea of simply gender-swapping fan-favorite characters and setting them within a weak story couldn’t keep the movie from falling short. It even had the talented director, Paul Feig, and an all-star comedy cast including Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. The 2016 Ghostbusters couldn’t live up to the original classics, but it certainly did not deserve to receive the excessive and extremely inappropriate backlash that it got.

Ghostbusters

PG-13

Action

Fantasy

Comedy

Director

Paul Feig

Release Date

July 14, 2016

Cast

Melissa McCarthy , Kristen Wiig , Kate McKinnon , Leslie Jones , Chris Hemsworth , Neil Casey , Charles Dance , Michael Kenneth Williams , Cecily Strong , Andy García , Matt Walsh , Ed Begley Jr. , Steve Higgins , Michael McDonald , Karan Soni , Zach Woods , Nate Corddry , Toby Huss , Katie Dippold , Jessica Chaffin , Jamie Denbo , Steve Bannos , Adam Ray , Bill Murray , Dan Aykroyd

Writers

Katie Dippold

Runtime

117 minutes

Main Genre

Comedy

YouTube Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5YUUVKfVh4

Producers

Ivan Reitman , Joe Medjuck , Michele Imperato Stabile , Tom Pollock , Ali Bell , Amy Pascal

Character(s)

Abby “Wonton” Yates , Erin Gilbert , Jillian Holtzmann , Patty Tolan , Kevin , Rowan North , Harold Fillmore , Agent Hawkins , Jennifer Lynch , Mayor Bradley , Agent Rorke , Ed Mulgrave , Dean Jones , Jonathan , Benny , Tour Guide , Graffiti Artist , Officer Stevenson , Rental Agent , Waitress , Flasher Ghost , Lead Singer / Slimer (voice) , Martin Heiss , Cabbie

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