Jem and the Holograms Trailer

Submission 19,046

Part of a series on Hasbro. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Jem and the Holograms Trailer is the first official trailer for the 2015 live-action film adaptation of the 1980s American animated television series Jem and the Holograms. Following the YouTube release of the trailer in May 2015, the film became widely mocked online for its heavy deviation from the original plot into a teen coming-of-age story.

Background

The animated television series Jem and the Holograms, produced by Hasbro, Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions, originally ran from 1985 to 1988 in the United States. The show featured an all-girl rock band named "Jem and the Holograms," their holographic computer Synergy and the competing rival bands "The Misfits" and "The Stingers."

On May 12th, 2015, the Universal Pictures Australia YouTube channel posted the official trailer for their upcoming film Jem and the Holograms (shown below). Within 48 hours, the trailer received over 5,600 dislikes against 900 likes and 1,900 comments, many of which scoffed at how inadequate the film appeared.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

Later that day, Redditor Melanismdotcom submitted the trailer to the /r/movies^[1] subreddit. Redditor Keeble64 submitted the post's top-rated comment, which quipped "this movie's plot is so safe it makes abstinence fun." Also on May 12th, YouTuber Aldrian Alfonso uploaded footage of himself reacting to the trailer (shown below).

On May 13th, actor William Shatner tweeted his disappointment with the film removing the band's signature star earrings and the rival band The Misfits. In 24 hours, the tweet garnered more than 1,600 retweets and favorites.

The same day, YouTuber Black Nerd Comedy posted a review of the trailer, which criticized the film for drastically changing the story from the original animated television show and turning it into a cliche coming-of-age story. In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online reaction to the trailer, including UpRoxx,^[3]^[4] Mashable,^[5] Nerdist^[6] and Jezebel.^[7]