10 years ago the trailer for a science fiction movie was released that angered millions of people. One of the biggest marketing mistakes in film history

I haven’t heard it as much lately, but there was a time when it was very common for movie lovers to complain that the trailers show more than necessary. One of the high points happened 10 years ago with the premiere of the second preview of a science fiction film that angered millions of people. I am referring to the case of ‘Terminator Genesis’.

“They felt they had to do something revolutionary”

Conceived as the beginning of a trilogy that would also have a television series, ‘Terminator Genesis’ was one of Hollywood’s great hopes for 2015. Everything became irremediably complicated on April 13 that same year with the release of a trailer that shamelessly revealed that the version of John Connor that we were going to see in the film was a Terminator.

The anger online was monumental, making it secondary whether the film was worse or better. Alan Taylorthe director of the film, had no problem explaining what he believed the marketing team’s motivation had been in an interview with Uproxx in which he stated the following:

I know that those who were in charge of promoting this did a complex analysis to decide if it was the right thing to do. I think they felt the need to convey a strong message to a very skeptical audience: that there was something new, that they were entering uncharted territory. They were worried that people would misinterpret it as some kind of reboot, and none of us wanted to reboot two perfect James Cameron movies. I think they felt they had to do something revolutionary in the perception of the film.

To be fair, the plot twist was similar to that of his own James Cameron had been used in ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, but on that occasion it was to make a hero of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then it was kept a top secret until its premiere, but in ‘Terminator Genesis’ they opted for a different strategy and completely screwed up.

Taylor was also openly against that decision, stating that “I received some warnings and had some unpleasant conversations where I complained“, and it was not at all his intention for the public to know that before the premiere:

I certainly directed those scenes with the intention that no one would know. One of my favorite moments—and I think Jason Clarke did a great job—is when he walks into the hospital in 2017 and everything that happens from there, even the plot twist, is supposed to make you think, “Wow, this is great!”

The reality was that the public went to the cinema already predisposed against the filmsomething especially evident in the United States, where ‘Terminator Genesis’ hit and barely managed to raise $89.7 million. It is true that its worldwide income went up to 440 million – a more than respectable figure for a production that cost about 160 – but all that dismantled the future plans of the saga.

Yet, ‘Terminator Genesis’ is the second highest-grossing film in the saga -number 1 still belongs to ‘The Last Judgement’ and its 520 million-. To that we must add the tremendous setback that ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ hit a few years later, thus leaving the saga mortally wounded on the big screen.

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