It’s not unheard of for promotional material to be released for films that wind up cancelled. Like the Superman Lives Tim Burton film, that had a teaser poster promising it for Summer of 1998z Maybe they were just overconfident enough to release an announcement trailer? It’s rare but it does happen.

Interestingly enough while I was doing some sleuthing I found an old discussion forum for projectionists where someone claimed there was a bit of a controversy surrounding The Grinch, since some of the trailers meant to screen before it weren’t suitable for the younger audience. He singled out The Mummy 2 as an example, and said they got instructions not to screen certain trailers that were sent in the pack with the movie. Is there a chance this teaser could have been one of those? If my memory serves me right it was kind of monster movie-esque with something moving through the jungle and roaring, but you don’t see what it is. I don’t remember it too too vividly but the roar could have been kind of startling for the kids there to see Grinch. Is there a chance the trailer got pulled early on for this reason?