If you don’t like a movie after seeing the trailer, you might be able to sue.
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that movie studios can be slapped with a lawsuit under false advertising laws for misleading movie trailers.
This all stemmed from a case involving a couple of Ana de Armas fans who filed a lawsuit against Universal in January. They say they rented the 2019 film “Yesterday” to see the actress, only to watch the movie and see that her scene was cut out completely.
The plaintiffs, Conor Woulfe of Maryland and Peter Michael Rosza of San Diego County, California, each paid $3.99 to rent “Yesterday” on Amazon Prime. They sued the studio in a class action lawsuit for $5 million, according to Variety.
Universal Studios wanted to throw out the lawsuit citing trailers are protected under the First Amendment, but U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson ruled the fans could proceed.
“Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” wrote Judge Wilson in the Dec. 20.
De Armas’ scene on the cutting room floor showed her as the love interest of Himesh Patel’s character. They were set to have met on James Corden’s talk show, where he would have wooed her by singing the famous Beatles song “Yesterday.”
However, screenwriter Richard Curtis explained to Cinemablend that her scene was nixed because he thought “the audience did not like the fact that his eyes even strayed” from love interest Lily.
Experts say the judge’s decision means that this could possibly open the door to all kinds of legal issues for the studios when it comes to false advertising.
The case can now reportedly move forward into the discovery phase and a motion for class certification.