Film Art and Cinematography : Universal is being sued for putting Ana de Armas in the trailer for Yesterday

“Universal is correct that trailers involve some creativity and editorial discretion, but this creativity does not outweigh the commercial nature of a trailer,” wrote U.S. District Judge Steven Wilson in a December 20 ruling on the studio’s mainly failed motion to dismiss the potential class action first filed back in January by Paul Michael Rosza and Conor Woulfe. “At its core, a trailer is an advertisement designed to sell a movie by providing consumers with a preview of the movie,” the federal judge went on to say.

“In sum, Universal has pointed to no non-commercial speech that could be intertwined with the trailer and, the inextricably intertwined exception to the commercial speech doctrine does not apply,” he wrote yesterday in an advancement of the matter to discovery and potential class certification. “Thus, because Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the trailer is false, commercial speech, Plaintiffs may proceed with their claims without offending the First Amendment.”