We've all left the cinema at one time or another feeling like we wouldn't mind getting our money back (last year's Total Recall and The Five-Year Engagement were recent examples). One man in New Zealand actually managed it, but for a reason we doubt we'd have the memory to achieve.
According to the reports, the man – identified only as J Congdon – complained to the advertising standards authority that an explosion from the trailer of Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher had failed to make it into the final edit.
In his complaint, he wrote that: "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 … aside from having Tom Cruise in it.”
While the film’s studio Paramount said it would refund the cost of the ticket, it did point out that trailers were often made “weeks of months” before the final cut, and that the explosion in question was a “single split-second element omitted from a 130-minute long action film”.
Well, if it worked for J Congdon, it could work for you. So pay better attention to the trailer next time.