Fans can sue over trailer that featured a cut character, says court

The trailer for Yesterday may be considered false advertising if it includes a character who was cut from the film. According to Variety, a California court is allowing parts of a lawsuit against Universal City Studios to go forward. Universal argued that artistic expression that receives full First Amendment protections does not qualify as commercial speech.

Yesterday was a romantic comedy about a man who wakes up in a world where The Beatles never existed, then shoots to superstardom by appropriating their songs. She was cut because audiences reacted poorly to the character straying from his central relationship and writing a Beatles song for his character on a talk show. There was a deleted scene.

Universal argued that the lawsuit would open the door to cases from people who felt deceived by a trailer. Variety states that a famous trailer for Jurassic Park doesn't include any footage from the film because the scenes were left on the cutting room floor. There are more ambiguous legal claims about trailers, like a complaint that Drive was advertised as having more car chases than it actually did. The court agreed with Universal on trimming some claims from the suit, allowing a California Unfair Competition Law claim to proceed but not one under the federal law.

The ruling sympathizes with a central argument that trailers are meant to promote a movie, compared to product commercials. It says that an appearance from a star like de Armas could be misleading if she doesn't show up. She is depicted as part of a love triangle, which makes her different from a fleeting background extra or a brief appearance. In a media environment where fans watch every detail of a trailer, the decision may have longer- lasting effects.