Not every movie delivers on what audiences thought would be its premise or tone. Sometimes, a movie’s press tour and marketing campaign will tell audiences exactly what they have to know before they go to the cinema. However, it is also often the case that these campaigns can shape audience expectations in a way that doesn’t align with what the movie itself provides. Sometimes this can be deliberate in an attempt to shock audiences with a twist, while other times it feels as if the marketing didn’t quite match the tone of the project.
Whether that is through unexpected plot twists, subversions of a genre, or dramatic shifts in tone, many movies have come to defy what audiences expected. These marketing campaigns concealed the true nature of the movie, often with mixed results. Sometimes these tonal changes pay off, but other times audiences may feel disappointed by what they thought they were going to see.
10 The Cabin In The Woods (2012)
Not Your Average Slasher
On the surface, The Cabin in the Woods just looks like a regular slasher horror movie. A group of college students spend a weekend in a cabin in the woods, where mysterious and violent things start happening to them. However, the audience’s expectations are subverted when the origins of said supernatural occurrences are explored. It turns out that the group is being manipulated by a shadowy organization to sacrifice themselves to ancient gods.
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Now, while the trailer does tease the existence of the organization and is full of red herrings about “expecting the unexpected”, this nevertheless defies the typical tropes that have defined the slasher genre. The Cabin in the Woods, far from just being another slasher, ends up as a self-aware reimagining of what horror movies could be, with a compelling storyline amplified by excellent performances. The movie itself was a deliberate attempt to mislead audiences, and in that regard, it certainly succeeded.
9 Pig (2021)
A Surprisingly Intimate Portrayal
Pig is a movie centered around a reclusive truffle hunter, Rob Feld (Nicolas Cage) who lives in the forests of Oregon with his pet pig. When Rob’s pig is kidnapped, he embarks on a journey to rescue it. From the trailer, which showed Rob constantly battered and bruised, audiences probably expected Pig to be a gritty revenge thriller similar to John Wick.
However, the movie itself is an introspective look at love, loss, and grief. Rather than Rob leaving a trail of violence in his wake, Pig takes audiences on a journey, exploring the importance of those we hold dear to us. It’s not a movie about vengeance in any way, it’s a tale of how to heal yourself in the face of sudden loss. Cage’s performance is outstanding and helps make Pig one of the best examples of a movie that nobody was expecting.
8 Fight Club (1999)
A Manifesto Against Toxic Masculinity
Fight Club is another example of a movie that deliberately misled audiences to truly hammer home its messaging. From the trailer, David Fincher’s masterpiece simply appears to be a hypermasculine story about men using the titular club to express their dissatisfaction with their lives. Men blowing off steam by beating each other senselessly appeared to be what Fight Club was going to be all about, and to some extent, these expectations were correct.
Men blowing off steam by beating each other senselessly appeared to be what
Fight Club
was going to be all about, and to some extent, these expectations were correct.
Naturally, those familiar with the source material knew what to expect. Those who weren’t, however, might have assumed Fight Club to be an action flick. However, Fight Club is far more than that. While it does deliver some excellent hand-to-hand combat scenes, its primary story is one about the dangers of toxic masculinity, and the consequences of excessive violence to solve problems. Fight Club is not an action flick, it is a groundbreaking portrayal of disillusionment and consumerism. Indeed, it is a movie that is still misinterpreted to this day.
7 Iron Man 3 (2013)
A Bad Twist Villain
Perhaps one of the most infamous examples of a movie that wasn’t at all what audiences expected is Iron Man 3. The final installment in the Iron Man trilogy was marketed as a long-awaited showdown between Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and his archenemy in the comics, the Mandarin (apparently played by Ben Kingsley). However, in one of the MCU’s most divisive twists, this Mandarin is revealed to not truly exist, he is just played by an actor.
Marvel would later retcon
Iron Man 3
‘s Mandarin twist, with
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
introducing the real Mandarin.
The true villain is the far less intimidating Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a scientist with a vendetta against Tony. While it is a twist that may have its value, it nevertheless feels like a cheap way to cheat the audience into expecting a showdown between Iron Man and the Mandarin. It was a subversion of expectations that undercut the tension that had been building in the movie up to that point, and indeed the tension that played such a key role in Iron Man 3‘s marketing strategy.
6 Suicide Squad (2016)
The Movie Didn’t Live Up To The Trailers
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The promotional material for the DCEU’s Suicide Squad marketed the movie as an edgy and dark take on the superhero genre. It was to tell the story of the titular group of villains as they embarked on a deadly mission on the orders of the US government. However, the final product was a bitter letdown considering the expectations of its audiences, for several key reasons. The first trailer teased a rather dark movie, whereas the second one indicated it would be a Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired film.
Additionally, some people felt misled by the heavy presence of the Joker (Jared Leto) in the trailers and promotional material. The expectation was that the Joker would play a crucial role in the story when in reality, the Clown Prince of Crime features very little. Suicide Squad‘s expectations were also let down by messy cuts and reshoots, which led to the movie feeling more like a case of tonal whiplash and less like the edgy take on the genre it was marketed to be.
5 Bridge To Terabithia (2007)
Unexpectedly Poignant And Somber
The marketing and trailers for Bridge to Terabithia had audiences believing that it would be a family-friendly fantasy tale akin to the Chronicles of Narnia. The reality was anything but that. It tells the story of Jess (Josh Hutcherson) and Leslie (AnnaSophia Robb), two 11-year-olds who create the fantasy kingdom of Terabithia in their imagination as a means of escape from the troubles of their daily lives.
Bridge to Terabithia is undeniably a great movie, but its widespread cultural appeal was held back by this apparent miscommunication in the marketing. The content of its storyline could be perceived as too mature for kids who went to see it expecting a fantasy adventure, and its unexpected emotional depth likely caught a lot of older audiences off guard as well. In particular, the tragic death of Leslie made Bridge to Terabithia a far more somber viewing experience than many viewers were anticipating.
4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Blew Expectations Away
Audiences largely expected Captain America: The Winter Soldier to produce more of what they had come to expect from the MCU up until that point. Trailers promised large-scale action sequences, car chases, and intense fight scenes. It was therefore a breath of fresh air when The Winter Soldier ended up being a surprisingly intimate and gritty political espionage thriller about the dangers of surveillance, power, and control.
Of course, there are plenty of action sequences as well, but these are not what made The Winter Soldier such an incredible subversion of expectations. It is a movie that felt surprisingly mature compared to the previous MCU installments, breaking the mold of formulaic superhero movies, and delivering one of the best films the genre has to offer. The Winter Soldier wasn’t necessarily what audiences expected, but it was undoubtedly what audiences needed.
3 Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
Took Star Wars In A Controversial Direction
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is probably the most divisive movie in the franchise. Much of this controversy stems from audiences feeling cheated by what fans were expecting Luke’s return in The Last Jedi to be, with director Rian Johnson subverting numerous expectations. Many were expecting answers to burning questions from the previous movies, as well as the heroic return of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
However, these expectations would be disappointed by The Last Jedi. Luke had become a remote hermit like Obi-Wan and initially refused to train Rey (Daisy Ridley) in the ways of Jedi, while Rey’s parentage also wasn’t explored. Johnson’s decision to delve more into the mythos and lore of the Jedi rather than provide a more straightforward Star Wars movie means that many audiences were disappointed by The Last Jedi, and it remains controversial to this day.
2 Knives Out (2019)
Not Your Average Whodunnit
In fairness, the trailers for Knives Out marketed Rian Johnson’s murder mystery as a whodunnit like no other, but this didn’t stop the movie from being far from what audiences expected. The marketing pitched Knives Out as a movie that follows detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) attempting to solve the murder of writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). However, Knives Out is far from your average murder mystery.
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For starters, audiences were not expecting that the mystery of who “killed” Harlan would be revealed to them so early on in the movie. By revealing this so early on, Knives Out takes a completely different direction from what viewers would be expecting, becoming a game of cat-and-mouse between Benoit and Harlan’s nurse, Marta (Ana DeArmas). Johnson was able to blend comedy, drama, and social commentary into this whodunnit, making it one of the most memorable subversions of audience expectations of the last decade.
1 La La Land (2016)
A Different Take On Love
Damien Chazelle’s La La Land was a seminal moment in musical movie history. From the trailers and other promotional material, La La Land just appeared to be a typical romcom, albeit with a slight twist of romanticizing the nostalgia of jazz and Classic Hollywood. Audiences went into this movie expecting a feel-good movie about the wonders of music and the true magic of love between Seb (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone).
Subverting audience expectations here by no means makes
La La Land
a bad movie.
While La La Land certainly delivers on the musical elements and is full of feel-good moments, its true message is one of sacrifice and lost love. Seb and Mia break up by the end of the movie, and while a brief montage shows an idealized life where they were able to stay together, the final shots of them both giving each other a knowing look of love at Seb’s jazz bar confirm the bittersweet ending. Subverting audience expectations here by no means makes La La Land a bad movie. It enhances the viewing experience, with La La Land‘s sad ending blending both romanticized and realistic elements very effectively.