Ana de Armas fans leave Hollywood in trouble: studios could be sued for false advertising in trailers

A US federal court judge ruled on Tuesday that movie studios can be sued for false advertising because of their trailers.

In January 2022, two fans filed a class-action complaint and demanded at least five million dollars in damages, alleging they were conned into renting the 2019 movie “Yesterday” because actress Ana de Armas appeared in the teaser.

In a lawsuit in which de Armas has been portrayed as a “talented, successful and famous actress” from films such as “Blade Runner 2049,” “Knives Out” and “No Time to Die,” Connor Wolfe of Maryland and Peter Michael Rosa of California claimed They both paid $3.99 [cerca de 3,76 euros, à cotação do dia] To rent the movie on amazon prime and discovered it wasn’t in the final version.

According to Variety magazineStudio Universal Pictures sought to have the suit dismissed, arguing that movie trailers deserve broad First Amendment protection. [liderdade de expressão]🇧🇷

The lawyers also argued that the trailer is a “work of art and expressiveness” that tells a three-minute story, conveys the theme of the film, and therefore should be considered “non-commercial” speech.

It has also been pointed out that trailers have long included outtakes that do not appear in the final version of the films. A referenced example was the movie “Jurassic Park” (1993), from the same studio, which only had a trailer with images that did not appear in the film.

The studio has also argued that it could open the door to a wave of lawsuits from viewers who could make a personal claim that the movie didn’t live up to the expectations created by the trailer.

But Judge Stephen Wilson ruled the case and disagreed, after the lawsuit, that the trailer is commercial speech and is subject to California’s Misleading Advertising Act and Unfair Competition Act.

“Universal is correct that the trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but that creativity doesn’t overcome the commercial nature of the trailer,” Wilson wrote.

He continued, “At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with anticipation of the movie.”

In the romantic comedy directed by Danny Boyle, Himesh Patel plays Jack Malik, a musician who is fighting for his survival when he suddenly realizes that he is the only person on the entire planet who remembers the Beatles and their music.

The Cuban-born actress was supposed to appear as Roxanne who falls in love with Malick during a James Corden show and after a sing-along to the song “Something,” but it was cut from the film and about ten seconds of dialogue survived in some of the trailers. .

at the time of the premiereScreenwriter Richard Curtis explained that audiences at the film’s audition sessions weren’t happy to see Malek walk away from his potential girlfriend, played by Lily James: “It was a pretty painful cut because she was so amazing in the movie. She was really sparkly. She’s one of those.” Situations where it’s some of our favorite scenes from the movie, but we had to cut it out for the whole.”

Trailer “Yesterday”.