5 Movies That Shamelessly Baited Fans with A-Listers but Barely Featured Them
Although the promotional materials focused on certain big-name stars, these films ended up only showing them for a few minutes at best.
Has it ever happened to you that when you see promos for a movie that rely heavily on a famous actor or actress, you go to the movie eager to see them on the big screen, only to be sorely disappointed by how little of them is shown?
Well, these five movies did just that, flashing A-list actors in their marketing campaigns only to actually show them for mere minutes.
1. G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) — Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum's Conrad "Duke" Hauser was the main character of the previous movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so many fans expected him to be the protagonist of the sequel.
But even though he was on the posters, Duke is killed off at the beginning of the movie, and Dwayne Johnson 's Roadblock takes his place.
2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) — Mark Hamill
When it was announced that Star Wars would return to the big screen after a decade-long hiatus with Mark Hamill reprising his role as Luke Skywalker, fans of the franchise felt like they were in heaven.
Unfortunately, the creators shamelessly tricked them, as the entire movie revolved around finding Luke, and he only appeared for a brief moment before the credits rolled.
3. Dune ( 2021) — Zendaya
Trailers and posters for this 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert's iconic novel made it look like Chani, played by Zendaya Coleman, would be a big part of the story.
Little did they know that the movie would only cover half of the book, meaning Chani would only appear in the flesh at the very end, aside from a few brief appearances in Paul Atreides' visions.
4. Scream ( 1996) — Drew Barrymore
By 1996, Drew Barrymore was already an established actress with a considerable fan base who were eager to see her in the upcoming brand new slasher film by Wes Craven.
To say that they were surprised when she was brutally killed in the now iconic opening scene of the movie would be an understatement.
5. Godzilla ( 2014) — Bryan Cranston
This movie, which kicked off the entire MonsterVerse, is rather infamous for having very little of Godzilla in it, despite literally being called Godzilla.
To add insult to injury, Bryan Cranston's character Joe Brody, who was also heavily featured in the marketing campaign for the film, died about halfway through the movie, disappointing many fans who came to see their favorite actor.
