Movies That Were So Overhyped That They Were Doomed To Let Fans Down

The marketing behind The Mummy purposefully set expectations sky-high. Not only was The Mummy going to be a reboot of the Mummy franchise, but it was also supposed to be the first entry into an Avengers-esque Universal Monsters shared universe. These expectations were impossible to hit. There's no way to guarantee a film will be as successful as a once-in-a-lifetime hit like Iron Man, and to go into a film thinking it will be the start of an entire universe is pure folly.

The Atlantic said of The Mummy, "As the beginning of an ongoing series, it’s an utter bore, one with only the faintest grasp of what made Universal’s monster pictures so iconic all those decades ago."

When Suicide Squad comes to mind, most probably have flashbacks to Jared Leto's horrific Joker portrayal. Other than Margot Robbie and some of the other performances, there was little to like about the movie. That's why it's a bit hard while looking back to remember that Suicide Squad had an incredible trailer that got everyone hyped for the film's release. 

Sadly, as Vulture put it in a headline, "Suicide Squad’s First Trailer Is a Better Movie Than the Actual Movie." The review went on to say the trailer "delivers exactly what would have been welcome, and exactly what the real thing doesn’t deliver." 

A trailer should not only get fans excited to see the film in question, but also be an accurate representation of the film to come. Sadly, the Suicide Squad trailer was only one of those things and was so much better than the movie itself that it set expectations the movie couldn't live up to. 

Justice League had a lot to live up to. Not only was it the first film in which the most iconic superhero team of all time would be joining together, but it also had to match wits with Marvel's incredibly successful Avengers franchise. The Avengers took B and C-level characters and turned them into household names, so it was anyone's guess how good a team movie featuring the most recognizable characters of all time would be. 

During production, Justice League switched directors, which helped turn it into a mess of conflicting tones and visions. In direct contrast to the Avengers movies before it, Time said of Justice League, "It’s just so d*mn hard to care about the story." 

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 disappointed its fanbase in a rather unique way. As the Vulture review of the film put it, the trailers for Breaking Dawn - Part 2 were "selling a giant battle sequence that pits the evil Volturi against all of our good guys." This trailer was a surprise for fans of the book, who knew that a fight never took place. Well, as it turned out, a fight didn't take place in the film, either.

During the climax of the entire series, the two sides faced off, and blood began to spill. Then, after a few gruesome moments, the entire fight was revealed to be a vision of a possible future. In reality, the fight never even got started. So, Breaking Dawn - Part 2 promised an interesting deviation from the books that never actually happened. 

Out of all of Will Ferrell's hilarious roles, none shine brighter than that of regional news anchor Ron Burgundy. But a mixture of expectations set for the return of a fan-favorite character and the quick expiration date of comedy made returning to Anchorman a challenge. 

Vanity Fair's review of the film feared the success of Anchorman went to the creators' heads, saying Ferrell spent "nearly a decade listening to what I’m sure have been countless Ron Burgundy riffs and impressions, the character has become something of a spoof of itself." 

1978's Superman was released decades before the letters MCU were ever uttered in succession. Yet, even all these years later, Superman is considered one of the best superhero films of all time. But as time passed, the series dipped in quality before producing the disaster that was Superman IV. Afterward, the franchise sat dormant for 19 years. 

Expectations were high for Superman Returns, not just because of the long gap between releases, but also thanks to the quality of superhero films that were released in its interim. The '90s gave way to Batman and Blade films, and the early 2000s saw the release of the X-Men movies and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man. These beloved movies made studio executives decide it was time to take another crack at the biggest and best superhero of all, but audiences largely found Superman Returns to be lacking. The film that inspired modern superhero movies could no longer come back and compete with them. 

The San Francisco Chronicle asserted that Superman Returns had "found no reason for being." Basically, because it was made in an era of superhero films, there needed to be a Superman film - regardless if anyone actually had a good idea to make the film interesting.