Top 10 Posters that Spoiled the Entire Movie

This meta-horror comedy is a wonderful love letter to and deconstruction of the horror genre. Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, “The Cabin in the Woods” is a wildly original ride, but one that was best enjoyed by cinemagoers who went into it without any sort of exposure. It at first seems like a classic “evil spirits attack a cabin” sort of film. But that superficial story is just the face of an elaborate and technologically advanced program set up to provide ancient beings with blood sacrifices. That reveal is awesome - which is why we wish the international poster had saved it for the theater.

What is a Star Trek film without a ship? Not particularly interesting, that’s what. Even in the rebooted Star Trek universe, the creative powers that be wouldn’t dare to give us a story without the central theme of space voyaging. So we couldn’t help but assume that this image of the USS Enterprise was taken from the film’s third act, in which … Kirk and company’s beloved ship apparently goes down in flames. We understand the desire to tell viewers that you’re really shaking things up with the sequel, but there’s a difference between teasing a game-changing moment and straight up spoiling the ending.

Can you believe it? Anakin Skywalker becomes DARTH VADER! What a spoiler. Just kidding. Obviously, the conclusion of this film is what we’d been waiting to see from the moment the prequel trilogy was announced. The spoiler that we were less happy about was the lightsaber duel that the marketing department decided to put front and center on this particular poster. For the most widely distributed “Revenge of the Sith” poster, Anakin and Obi Wan can be seen dueling, but the setting is fairly obscured. For this particular design however, it’s literally just a shot from the climactic battle on Mustafar. Though perhaps not the most egregious of spoilers, it was a totally unnecessary preview.

To be fair, this poster is ambiguous enough that it doesn’t automatically give away the ending. However, if you were looking at it closely, and you’d already read the film’s plot description, the man in the poster’s body position certainly conveys a sense of freedom, salvation and/or triumph. What really makes this poster spoilerific however, is the tagline, which makes the connection between the dramatic shot of Tim Robbins and the idea of freedom rather explicit. Given that this film is widely considered to be one of the greatest ever made, most people already know the ending. But considering everything Andy Dufresne goes through to escape, we think he earned his right to a big reveal.

Willy is the titular whale in this family-friendly drama, and, as the title suggests, the plot centers around an effort to get him freed from captivity. The title alone is already a little a spoilery, if we’re being honest. Now pair it with this poster, which shows Willy leaping over a rock wall to what we can only assume is freedom, well... there goes all the drama. Obviously, considering the fact that this film was intended for kids, there was no way for the movie to end any other way. Sill, they could have done us the courtesy of not using a shot from the film’s super emotional climax as the poster.

Nowadays, everybody knows how this iconic story plays out. But back in 1933, as hard as it might be to imagine, King Kong had yet to become a household name - and cinemagoers had no idea where this adventure was going to take them. Exotic filmmaker Carl Denham and his crew head off to the mysterious Skull Island, where they soon discover far more than they bargained for with dinosaurs, natives, and the titular Kong. The whole adventure could have played out on the island, but as we now know, Kong is brought back to the big city. This would’ve been quite the shocker in 1933… had the poster not shown Kong on a skyscraper.

Honestly, with a title like that, this film really couldn’t afford to put its star on the poster. But they went ahead and did it anyways… and with that, this 2013 movie lost a whole lot of appeal. We get it, a biopic isn’t a reality show, we’re not supposed to be guessing who’s going to make it to the end credits. Because its ending was already a newsworthy story, this dramatic tale of wartime survival is about the journey, not the conclusion. But still… for viewers who wanted to really lose themselves in the story and get invested in all the characters, this poster plus title combo made that all but impossible.

Why not just drop the Roman numerals and call this sports drama “Rocky Wins,” because the marketing department had already gone ahead and spoiled it anyways. Part of what makes Rocky so compelling, and the climactic fights so engrossing, is the fact that this boxing hero doesn’t always win. There are real stakes when he steps into the ring. And when he went up against the Soviet juggernaut, Ivan Drago, who had just killed Apollo Creed, fans had every reason to fear that Mr. Balboa might lose too. Unfortunately, this poster sucked all the mystery and interest out of the fight - by loudly declaring that Rocky, and by extension, America, would win this bout.

Sure, Stephen King is one of the most-read authors on the entire planet. And considering how well his debut novel sold, chances are that many cinemagoers already knew where the story was headed. But even when adapting a popular novel, it’s common courtesy NOT to take a shot from the story’s climax and then use it as a promotional image. For those who hadn’t read the book, the emotional impact of Carrie being named Prom Queen (only to be humiliated), would have been devastating - had that moment NOT already been given away courtesy of this poster.




Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:



“10 Cloverfield Lane” (2016)





“Grease” (1978)



“Warrior” (2011)

If you’re going to do something controversial with a popular franchise, you know, like turn humanity’s savior into a villain… you should really make it a big, shocking twist. Putting that reveal on one of the posters for the film? Yeah, that’s just going to piss fans off. The Terminator franchise had been swerving all over the place with “Rise of the Machines” and “Salvation,” so devotees were hoping that with Genisys, things would finally get back on track. When this poster proudly revealed that they’d turned hero John Connor into a Terminator, what fans heard loud and clear was: “this franchise is out of ideas.”