Two men named Conor Woulfe and Peter Michael Rosza have accused Universal Studios of fraud after they paid $3.99 to rent the 2019 film ‘Yesterday.’
The romantic comedy revolved around an anonymous musician who one day wakes up in a world where the Beatles never existed and nobody knows their songs, so he decides to record them to become as famous as they were.
In the promotional trailer you could see Ana de Armas for 15 seconds, who had a secondary role that ended up being eliminated from the final cut.
Initially, the Cuban actress was going to play one of the female characters in ‘Yesterday’, but screenwriter Richard Curtis cut it out for fear that it would overshadow the protagonist’s love interest, played by Lily James.
Conor and Peter argue that Universal committed “misrepresentation” and that the $5 million demand is equal to the number of fans who will have been disappointed to discover that Ana is not really part of the story.
Universal initially claimed that the trailers fall under the First Amendment protection of free speech to the US Constitution, and therefore should be considered “non-commercial.”
However, a new ruling by federal judge Stephen Wilson has ruled that commercial promos, including the California False Advertising Law and the California Unfair Competition Law.
“Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not compensate for the commercial nature of a trailer. In essence, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a film by providing consumers with a trailer for the film.
Universal fears that this decision could lead to future lawsuits and stresses that other films, such as ‘Jurassic Park’, had also shown images that did not appear in the final cut of the film.