After seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming last week, I left the theater a little confused. I could swear some of the shots used in the early trailers weren’t in the final movie, but I wasn’t sure.
So, I went home and re-watched the first trailer released six months ago and, sure enough, that shot of Spider-Man and Iron Man flying through Queens didn’t make the cut.
Now, thanks to an interview with ScreenCrush, Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts reveals why.
“I think what happened was in the very first trailer they wanted a shot of Spider-Man and Iron Man flying together,” Watts explained. “And they were going to use something from the Staten Island Ferry, but it just didn’t look that great, the background plate, because the State Island terminal is a very simple building. It almost looks like an unrendered 3D object. So I think I was like, ‘Let’s just put them in Queens. Let’s use that as a backdrop.’ Because we couldn’t just create a whole new shot, so let’s just use one of these shots of the subway.”
It’s a really cool shot that suggests Spidey and Iron Man team up at some point to fight crime; it’s basically there to sell audiences on the movie. Once you see the film, however, you’ll realize it’s a little more complicated than having the two team up and take down bad guys.
Not using pivotal shots is a tough juggling act for both the filmmakers and marketing teams. When you have Iron Man in your movie, of course you want to see him in action. Although the shot lasts all of two seconds, it’s an iconic and exciting bit of action.
“I feel a little weird that there’s a shot in the trailer that’s not in the movie at all, but it’s still a cool shot,” Watts told ScreenCrush.
Watts went on to explain that another shot of Vulture, which sees him descend from a hotel atrium, wasn’t included in the movie because it was created specifically for a Comic-Con sizzle reel.
“That was never meant to be in the movie,” Watts said. “But I did use that angle for Vulture’s reveal at the beginning of the movie.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t the only movie to include shots in its trailers that aren’t in the final film. Last year, there were plenty of fantastic shots from Rogue One that didn’t wind up in the final film—and there are plenty of other examples, too.
On the one hand, using shots specifically created for trailers means the movies they’re advertising aren’t completely spoiled. On the other, it feels a tad misleading, especially when it involves Iron Man and Spider-Man flying through Queens.
Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters on July 7.
