Judge confirms with Ana de Armas fans over lawsuit against deceptive movie trailer

Next time a movie studio makes any false advertisement or releases deceptive movie trailers that discredit an artist, they will have to face legal action. A US district judge issued a ruling in a case involving ‘Yesterday’ which is a 2019 film about a world without the Beatles.

The case was filed by actress Ana de Armas fans who thought the film starred her as she featured in the trailer of the same. They rented the movie after seeing her in the trailer only to find out that she was cut out of the final film.

They filed a lawsuit in January.

Universal sought to throw out the lawsuit, arguing that movie trailers are entitled to broad protection under the First Amendment. The studio’s lawyers argued that a trailer is an “artistic, expressive work” that tells a three-minute story conveying the theme of the movie, and should thus be considered “non-commercial” speech.

But the judge rejected that argument, finding that a trailer is commercial speech and is subject to the California False Advertising Law and the state’s Unfair Competition Law.

Ana De Armas was originally intended to appear as a love interest for the film’s protagonist, played by Himesh Patel. Patel’s character was to have met her on the set of James Corden’s talk show, where Patel would impress her with the Beatles song ‘Something’.