11 Awesome Trailers That Are Better Than the Movie

Movie trailers are what get us to fork over our box office dollars, but sometimes we don't always get our money's worth.

In fact, the movie we're sold on is often underwhelming or disappointing -- failing to live up to the quality of the ad that hooked us in. (We're looking at you, "Phantom Menace.") As theaters fill with previews for this Fall's coming attractions, here are 11 previews that proved to be better than the movie.

'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' (1999)
Back when trailers hit the internet in thumbnail vid sizes, if you wanted to really the prequel's first teaser, you had to buy a ticket to see (cringe) "Meet Joe Black." Today, we'd take a blank-faced Brad Pitt eating peanut butter over Jar-Jar any day.

'X3' (2006)
Wolverine's "gotta rally the troops" speech at trailer's end, in concert with the action-packed trailer music and visuals, convinced us that Brett Ratner taking over for Bryan Singer may not have been such a bad thing. We were so, so wrong.

'Spider-Man 3' (2007)
Another threequel, another trailer that tricked us into seeing a movie with emo Peter Parker and Harry's pervy line delivery about pie. The trailer's final line -- "This could be the end of Spider-Man" -- proved unfortunately prophetic.

'Die Another Day' (2002)
Oh c'mon! Ice guns, frozen tundras revealed to be curvy ladies -- what's not to love?! This teaser is way cooler than anything in Pierce Brosnan's final Bond film.

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' (2015)
We're confident you watched this trailer more than the movie itself. "Ultron" isn't terrible, it's just, well, okay. And that's worse. But that creepy cover of "I Got No Strings" is the best.

'Quantum of Solace' (2008)
After "Casino Royale," we should have received -- as this trailer indicates -- "The Dark Knight" of Bond movies. Unfortunately, we had to wait another movie for that.

'Prometheus' (2012)
The first ad for the "Alien" prequel, borrowing from the 1979 film's trailer in chilling ways, is more of a true "Alien" prequel than the final film. They should have called it "Noble Misfire."

'Alien 3' (1992)
This first teaser for yet another threequel (seeing a pattern?) is very misleading -- especially with its promise of Earth's first xenomorph encounter.

'Where the Wild Things Are' (2009)
That Arcade Fire song, plus Spike Jonze's faithful (visual) adaptation of the much-beloved children's book, equals all the feels. The movie? Not so much.