They rented Yesterday to see her, and what was his surprise when, at the end of the film, Ana de Armas He hadn’t even appeared on the screen. Two fans of the Cuban actress have filed a lawsuit against the production company Universal for “misleading advertising” after paying $3.99 (3.75 euros) in Prime Video to see the 2019 movie guided by the trailer images, reports Variety. However, the final cut eliminated the scene starring Ana de Armas which actually no longer appears in the film.
Demand for Peter Rosza and Conor Woulfe, filed in 2022, alleged that Universal has defrauded them through “misleading advertising.” At first, the federal judge agreed with them, arguing that the trailers are a form of advertising, but then several legal setbacks came and the two men found themselves on the verge of having to pay more than 125,000 euros in legal fees. to the producer.
On Friday both parties reached an agreement of which the terms are not known, but which according to the American publication will put an end to the legal case. However, according to the sources consulted by Varietyno one has been happy. Universal feels that he has wasted two years and thousands of dollars in a baseless lawsuit, while the plaintiffs see the result as a court bias in favor of Hollywood.
A dangerous precedent
The case sets an important precedent. Universal focused its defense on the fact that the movie trailers are independent works for fear of leaving a dangerous door open to similar lawsuits. The judge, however, did not buy his argument and sees a clear commercial purpose in movie trailers. The problem for the plaintiffs came when it came to monetizing their legal victory and turning it into a class-action umbrella that would cover any potential fans who were disappointed.
The study claimed that most of the people who have seen Yesterday They have done it for reasons beyond their control Ana de Armas, which only appears for a few seconds in the trailer. Since the fans’ defense could not present the case as a class action lawsuit because they could not demonstrate that the actress was a clear publicity bait, the only compensation claimable by the two men would be for the amount of the rental: less than four euros.
In this way, the studio would have won the game because, in addition, under California law the plaintiffs would have to cover legal expenses, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The agreement will annul such payment but will ruin the intentions of the fans of Ana de Armas.
Ana de Armas, eliminated for revenge?
The elimination of Ana de Armas It was, indeed, a surprise at the premiere of the film in 2019. The actress played Roxannean actress who meets the protagonist after this trip of United Kingdom a los angeles to succeed in music. However, according to the scriptwriter Richard Curtis In several American media, the film team eliminated the character because he “complicated” the love story between the real protagonists.
“Eliminating her was traumatic because she was bright and radiant, and that was the problem. The audience likes the love story of Jack and Ellie, and the role of Roxanne complicated it,” Curtis said. However, many saw a certain revenge in the erasure, because it coincided with the landing of the Cuban actress as a Bond girl in a film that was going to be directed by Danny Boyle, director of Yesterday but that finally fell on Len Wiseman.