Filmmakers spend months, even years, coming up with that perfect plot twist that will make the viewers gasp in shock and immediately want to rewatch the whole thing like a detective with a popcorn addiction. But before the movie comes out, the studio’s marketing team is supposed to “sell” it to us using things like promo images, trailers, toys, and other merchandise, and sometimes, intentionally or not, they spoil the whole movie.
1. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Most fans already suspected that Palpatine and Darth Sidious were the same guy, but the prequels still tried to play it like a big, dramatic reveal. Regrettably, a toy line prematurely released a figure featuring interchangeable Palpatine and Sidious heads. Nothing says “mystery” like a product that’s basically a spoiler with packaging.
2. Maleficent
Classic fairy tale villains reimagined sounds like an awesome idea with some potential twists and turns along the way. That is, until the merch treats the main “villain” (in this case, Maleficent) like she’s the inspirational hero of the year. When your collectible figurines and branding scream “She’s actually not evil at all!” the surprise twist becomes a straight line that everyone saw coming from a mile away.
3. Planet of the Apes (1968)
Planet of the Apes has one of cinema’s most famous plot twists: the planet the astronauts landed on was actually Earth all along. But leave it to the official poster to be extremely helpful and feature an iconic Earth-related monument. If you stare at it for more than five seconds, your brain starts doing the math and connecting the dots. Even though the plot twist got spoiled, the movie is still a 10/10.
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
This franchise already had enough going on with all the repeating characters and concepts, but then the merch department took things to a whole different level. Credence’s identity and family lineage were set up perfectly for a huge reveal, except character descriptions and merch materials spelled out the twist before people could put 2 and 2 together by themselves. Imagine being spoiled by a random collectible card. That has to feel awful.
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Frankly, this one’s both big and insignificant at the same time. When it comes to trailers, it’s all about teasing the audience and making them want to see your movie. But this one trailer showed a little bit too much, even though it was just a couple of seconds. We saw Harry surrounded by his dead loved ones, including Remus Lupin, who was still alive in the previous movie. It’s the kind of spoiler that reveals a lot, but only if you don’t miss it in the trailer.
6. Cast Away
If you came in blind, you’d definitely be on the edge of your seat the whole time. Will he survive? Will he ever get home? You wouldn’t know. But thanks to the trailer, Cast Away’s most critical scenes turned into “Meh, he’ll be fine in the end,” making you feel like you’re just watching the process.
7. Sweeney Todd
Yes, some fans already knew the deal, as goth musical fans tend to arrive pre-spoiled. But the story is designed to reveal the meat-pie horror gradually, with creeping realization and dread. Sadly, the trailer leaned so hard into “winking” at what the secret was, it went blind. Oh, the irony.
8. 10 Cloverfield Lane
This movie thrives on one delicious question: Is the alien threat outside real, or is this man just being super paranoid? This uncertainty drives the narrative forward. Then, BAM!, the studio releases the full trailer and, as it often happens, shows way too much, and preppy much confirms that the truth is out there and it’s not friendly. It’s hard to have a mind-blowing twist when you’re being spoon-fed the smallest details.
9. The Sixth Sense
Remember this one? Of course you do. Everyone knows the “I see dead people” line. The twist is legendary, to say the least, the kind that became pop culture shorthand for “Holy smokes! I need to rewatch this immediately!” But before people could enjoy that succulent turn of events, the soundtrack tracklist rolled up with a title along the lines of “Malcolm is Dead.” Thankfully, not many people read track names back then. In fact, most tracks back then looked like this: “Unknown Artist—Track01.wav” Still, if you paid attention, you’d be spoiled.
10. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
After watching the first Terminator movie, you’d assume Arnold is the threat again. The movie could have delivered a great “Hold on, is Arnie protecting John this time around?” moment. But instead, the trailer made everything so abundantly clear that the surprise element was no longer salvageable. Still a fantastic movie, though, so that’s great.
