Ana De Armas Fans Can Sue Over 'Deceptive' Movie Trailer, Court Rules

A lawsuit filed by two Ana de Armas fans over a "deceptive" movie trailer is moving forward thanks to a new ruling.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled that movie studios can be sued under false advertising laws if they release deceptive movie trailers. The judge issued the ruling in a case involving the 2019 film "Yesterday," Variety reported.

In January, two individuals filed a federal class action lawsuit in a California court against Universal Pictures, the film's U.S. distributors, for alleged deceptive marketing. The fans alleged that they had rented the movie "Yesterday" after seeing de Armas in the trailer but later discovered that she was cut out of the final film.

Universal lawyers defended that movie trailers are entitled to broad protection under the First Amendment. They argued that the trailers are "artistic, expressive work" conveying the theme of the movie and should thus be considered "non-commercial" speech.

However, Judge Wilson said in his ruling that a trailer is commercial speech and is subject to the California False Adverting Law and the state's Unfair Competition Law.

"Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer," Wilson wrote. "At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with a preview of the movie."

Universal also argued that classifying trailers as "commercial speech" could lead to potential lawsuits from filmgoers who may make a subjective claim that a movie did not live up to the expectations created by its trailer.

But the judge said that false advertising law applies only when a "significant portion" of "reasonable consumers" could be misled.

"The Court's holding is limited to representations as to whether an actress or scene is in the movie, and nothing else," the judge added, holding that based on the "Yesterday" trailer, it was plausible that viewers would expect de Armas to have a significant role in the film.

Initially, de Armas joined the cast of "Yesterday," which is about a world without the Beatles, as Himesh Patel's love interest. Their characters meet on the set of James Corden's talk show, where he would serenade her with the Beatles song "Something."

However, screenwriter Richard Curtis explained that they cut the scene because audiences didn't like the idea of Patel's character not being faithful to his primary love interest, played by Lily James, resulting in de Armas ultimately not making it on the film.

In their complaint, the two individuals are suing Universal for $5 million in damages on behalf of affected consumers, alleging that the film studio released "false, deceptive and misleading advertising" for the production.

"Because consumers were promised a movie with Ana de Armas by the trailer for 'Yesterday' but did not receive a movie with any appearance of Ana de Armas at all, such consumers were not provided with any value for their rental or purchase," their complaint read.

The lawsuit described the "Knives Out" star as a "talented, successful and famous actress" and alleged that the studio used her fame to market the movie, arguing that the other cast members were "largely unknown" before the film was released.