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I'm an avid watcher of trailers. I watch trailers over and over again. I even watch trailers of movies that I don't plan on watching.

But sometimes, I notice that some trailers contain some additional scenes that aren't in the movie.

I noticed this in a few trailers/movies before. A notable example is the trailer of Justice League (2017) where the following [amazing] scenes aren't in the movie:

So, Why do trailers have those additional scenes? Are those scenes filmed just for the trailers? Isn't that needlessly expensive?

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    +1 I've always wondered this. I noticed it a long time ago when I was a kid, but just assumed it was my imagination. My guess is that it's due to the trailer being made before the final cut of the film is complete.
    – DustinDavis
    Commented Mar 7, 2018 at 22:52
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    Related Why was this scene from the trailer not in the film?
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 4:28

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Because trailers are made before the movie is finished. This also explains differences in CGI, etc.

Most of the scenes in the first trailer for Rogue One for instance aren't in the movie, because the movie underwent a significant rewrite while in production and IIRC about 50% of the released movie is footage that was the result of those changes.

WRT Justice League, as explained on Wikipedia:

In May 2017, Snyder stepped down during post-production of the film to properly deal with the death of his daughter. Joss Whedon, whom Snyder had previously brought on to rewrite some additional scenes, took over to handle post-production duties in Snyder's place. In July 2017, it was announced the film was undergoing two months of reshoots in London and Los Angeles, with Warner Bros. putting about $25 million into them (more than the typical $6–10 million additional filming costs).

As you can see, the movie changed directors during post-production, and a significant amount was spent on reshoots and new scenes. By that time trailers had already been released...

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  • To be fair, in the Rogue One trailer there's a scene with Jyn limping out on the communicator catwalk, and a Tie Fighter rises up in front of her. That scene was never in the film, not even the original cut. The marketing people added it solely for the trailer.
    – Tim
    Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 1:28
  • The Force Awakens also has scenes and dialogue cut, such as Maz Kanata saying to Rey (refering to the force) "It lives in you". And one of my all time greatest annoyences, One of the earlier The Golden Compass Trailers shows a scene that matches how the book ends, but the final product has it end at an earlier spot, which IMO was the actual worse thing they could do, given that, understandably, some of the condencing, philosophical water-downing, and re-arranging of plots the film already made!
    – Darth Locke
    Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 2:20

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