So Studios Are Giving Refunds For Films That Don't Live Up to Their Trailers

If we tried to count the number of times we went into a theater and the movie that we had just paid to see disappointed us, we'd — well, we wouldn't be able to do it. That's why we're excited to hear about the New Zealand man who was so annoyed by Jack Reacher that he demanded — and then received — a refund. This gives us hope.

According to The Telegraph, the man known as "J Congdon," had watched the trailer for Jack Reacher and viewed a specific explosion. When he later watched the movie, and the explosion was nowhere to be found, he was angry. So he wrote a letter to the New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority, and voiced his displeasure. For Congdon, the blast was the reason he went to see the movie. Without it, he wouldn't have gone. In his letter, he laid out his case. "The explosion where the whole cliff comes down was the defining part of the ad that made me really want to go see the movie. [That is] aside from having Tom Cruise in it." Let the record show that explosions beat Cruise, at least according to Congdon.

Surprisingly, Paramount Pictures was caught red-handed, and admitted as much. Though it did so begrudgingly. In its response to Congdon, the studio explained that because of the "long-standing practice in the film industry that cinema trailers and television advertisements be completed months before the final edit," sometimes big booms do get cut.

"Thus, despite our best intentions, it is always possible that certain scenes appearing in an advertisement or trailer may not appear in the final version of a film," explained Paramount. And just to be a stickler, the statement added that "The explosion in question was a single split-second element omitted from a 130-minute long action film." Nonetheless, Paramount agreed to pay up. So Congdon, our new hero, is getting the admission price he paid for movie theater ticket refunded in full.



Now you know what we're thinking, because we're thinking the same thing: If this happened for Jack Reacher, is it possible to get refunded for all the movies we've regretted seeing in the theater? Below are just a few that were so bad we're certain we'd have a case.

All the Matrix sequels
There was a rave in Matrix Reloaded. That's all we really have to say. In fact, we're so sure of this refund coming our way, we bet we could just title the email subject "Matrix refund" and we'd get a reply along the lines of "Yeah, sorry about that rave scene."

The Star Wars prequels
Jar Jar Binks and Hayden Christensen guarantee us money. We only wish our brains could forget the tragedy of these three films.

The Happening
Look, we're not M. Night Shyamalan haters here. We still love The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable is one of the most criminally underrated films ever. But The Happening was awful. We deserve our money back just for putting up with Mark Wahlberg trying to be serious.

[Pic via screengrab]