Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 April 25

= April 25 =

Is Avengers the first movie series where asking people not to spoil the film is an essential part of its promotions?
I'm aware about stuff like Psycho (which wasn't even "don't spoil it", it was "don't let late theatregoers in"), The Mousetrap (which is not a film but a play, and apparently the tradition only applies to the West End production but not others). But is Avengers the first movie franchise which has done such things, to the point that producers and others proactively tell others not to spoil it? I don't recall seeing such things prior to Infinity War, or at least not to this extent (apparently there is at least one theater that will ban people who spoil it: is this a first?) Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 04:39, 25 April 2019 (UTC)


 * I can't answer that question for movies, but I can say that when I went to the play The Mousetrap, after it finished one of the actors came onstage to ask us not to tell our friends the ending. And I think they did the same thing when I went to it the second time, 38 years later, by which time I had forgotten the ending. In fact, look at that, the Wikipedia article says they do it. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 07:24, 25 April 2019 (UTC)


 * All movies with a big twist have a media circus begging people "don't spoil it." The Empire Strikes Back was preceded by interviews with Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher begging people to keep the secret (which turned out to be the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker). The Sixth Sense primarily used the "don't spoil it" campaign because that was all they really had. You can only get so much buzz by saying you have Bruce Willis. 68.115.219.139 (talk) 11:56, 25 April 2019 (UTC)


 * As a word, Spoiler has existed since 1971, and marketing around not "spoiling" plot twists has existed for much longer than that. This thread at TV Tropes discusses the history of the "Don't Spoil the Ending" phenomenon, the oldest film example there is from 1956's The Bad Seed which admonished viewers directly in the film not to reveal the ending to others.  -- Jayron 32 12:05, 25 April 2019 (UTC)
 * In the Spoiler article, I see that someone has slapped a couple of "citation needed" things on why it's called a spoiler. It's perfectly obvious: If you know what's coming, it can spoil your fun. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:51, 25 April 2019 (UTC)
 * (Citation Needed) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.115.219.139 (talk) 16:32, 25 April 2019 (UTC)
 * The sentences in the intro that needed citing really didn't add anything to the sentences before them, so I removed them.--Khajidha (talk) 15:04, 26 April 2019 (UTC)