Used to describe any movie/film that the pre-release movie trailer does not accurately represent the content of the actual movie. In the case of a District 9, this turns out to be a pleasant surprise, as it wasn't what you expected, but it's still good, if not great.
This is the opposite of a U.S. Marshals, in which a film is made to look much better/funnier than it actually is, suckering you into wasting your time on it. Many comedies are guilty of this tactic.
Example Films: District 9 (2009), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), Cop Out (2009)
Opposite example films: U.S. Marshals (1998), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), The Clearing (2004), A History of Violence (2005)
Sample use of the phrase: Yeah, that movie District 9'd me. I totally didn't see that coming from the trailer, but it worked!
I kept hoping it would pull a District 9 on me, but nope, the only good things about it were in the trailer.
I thought <MOVIE TITLE> was going to District 9 on me, but instead we got US Marshall'd.
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