The case over Yesterday that could change things tomorrow

If deceptive movie trailers are your sworn enemy, you’ll probably like this story. According to a recent ruling by a federal judge in California, movie studios can be sued under existing false advertising laws for releasing misleading trailers.

🍿 The story: In January 2022, two fans of actress Ana de Armas filed a class-action lawsuit against Universal, accusing the studio of false advertising. The pair said they each paid $3.99 to rent Yesterday on Amazon Prime after seeing de Armas in the trailer – only to find out she never actually appeared in the final film.

• Universal sought to have the lawsuit thrown out like a Christmas tree at the end of January, arguing that movie trailers should be considered “artistic, expressive work” entitled to broad First Amendment protections.
• But the judge rejected this argument, ruling that studios are liable for false advertising in movie trailers when a “significant portion [of] reasonable consumers” could be misled into believing a person or scene is in the film.

⚖️ Zoom out: This suit isn’t the first one brought against studios for using “deceptive advertising” in a trailer – but like almost everything else in Hollywood, the subject appears to be getting a reboot.

• In 2011, a Michigan woman filed a suit against the Ryan Gosling-led film Drive, arguing that the trailer made it appear the film would be a “high speed action driving film,” and she was unprepared for its slow-paced interpersonal drama. An appeals court ended up dismissing that case on several grounds, including that the trailer wasn’t deceptive.