If you grew up in the early 2000s, you probably saw a trailer for Kangaroo Jack. The trailer gives the impression that the movie is a screwball road trip comedy about two friends and their wacky, talking Kangaroo sidekick. Except it’s not that. It’s an extremely unfunny movie about two idiots escaping the mob. There’s a random kangaroo in it for like 5 minutes and he only talks during a hallucination scene that lasts less than a minute. Turns out, the producers knew that they had a stinker on their hands so they cut the movie to be PG and focus the marketing on the one positive aspect that test audiences responded to, the talking kangaroo, tricking a bunch of families into buying tickets.

What other movies had similar, deceitfully malicious marketing campaigns?

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      22 days ago

      They were “Look at the story we could tell and the wondrous adventure we’re embarking on together”

      And then pod-racing, and puppets, and a jibber-jabber secret sith, and toys.

    • vxx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      23 days ago

      The movie was pod racing and Jar Jar binks. I can’t recall the trailer.

      Edit: Well, the trailer is Pod racing and Jar Jar binks.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      23 days ago

      i remember the posters had giant shadows of darth vader, but the movie had none of him.

      • UKFilmNerd@feddit.ukM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        23 days ago

        The poster was implying that the young boy would grow up to be Darth Vader, if that’s what you mean?