A U.S. judge has thrown out a $5 million lawsuit from two Ana de Armas fans who accused Universal of duping people into watching Yesterday by featuring the actress in the trailer but not in the film's final cut.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson dismissed the case from Michael Rosza and Conor Woulfe, who had accused Universal Pictures of "false advertisement, unjust enrichment, and violation of unfair competition". Judge Wilson said their lawsuit "lacks standing" because the "injury is self-inflicted".
The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last year after they each rented the 2019 Danny Boyle film Yesterday on Amazon Prime for $3.99, only to discover that Ana de Armas no longer featured in the Beatles-inspired rom-com after having her scenes cut from the movie despite featuring in the trailer alongside Himesh Patel's lead character.
Rosza and Woulfe were looking to recoup at least $5 million in compensation on behalf of the affected viewers in their two home states who paid to watch Yesterday, claiming Universal used Ana de Armas' "fame, radiance and brilliance" to promote the film and attract sales by including her scenes in the trailer.
Wilson previously ruled that people can sue movie studios under false advertising laws if they release deceptive trailers for upcoming titles. He explained that trailers are "commercial speech" and "designed to sell a movie", so they are subject to the California False Adverting Law and the state's Unfair Competition Law.
The court, however, found that Woulfe rented Yesterday a second time in 2023 "under the belief that de Armas could appear in a director's cut". Wilson said there was no reason to believe the "version of Yesterday they accessed on Google Play would be a different version of the movie" than the one watched in the first instance.
Yesterday imagines a world where the Beatles never existed as Jack Malik, a struggling singer-songwriter, wakes up from an accident to find he is the only person on Earth who remembers the iconic Liverpool band. Ana de Armas was initially cast as a love interest for Malik but had her scenes cut after test audience screenings.
The film grossed $153 million at the worldwide box office and received largely positive reviews from critics, with IGN's review of Yesterday calling it "funny, affecting, and perfectly in tune with what made The Beatles such a phenomenon", with the group's greatest hits playing a "crucial" role in the plot.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.
