This one image shows how the tone of 'Suicide Squad' changed dramatically behind the scenes
Birth.Death.Movies first reported in late March the film underwent reshoots to make the movie more fun. Apparently, all of the jokes in the film were in the trailers. A long investigation in The Hollywood Reporter before the movie's release claims that response to the film's first teaser trailer resulted in Warner Bros. making a different cut of the film than director David Ayers' using Trailer Park, the team who created the movie's trailer.
According to THR, Ayer's version of "Suicide Squad" was set to be more somber. That's not a surprise since DC's movies are known to be darker and grittier than Marvel's lighter fanfare. Just look at "Batman v Superman." THR reports that Instead of Ayer's somber cut of the film, audiences received the studio-favored lighter, more fun version of the film with "more characters introduced early in the film and jazzed-up graphics."
With that in mind, Do Something's Chief Growth Officer Calvin Stowell pointed out you can easily see how the tone of the film became lighter and "more fun" through the film's trailers. Just look at the film's logo side by side in three of the trailers released:
they really did get shook after batman v superman got wrecked for being too dreary huh? pic.twitter.com/we2AaQUvqk- Calvin (@aurosan) August 5, 2016
Crazy, right? Let's break that down a little bit.
Here's the logo from the first Comic-Con trailer released online July 13:
The trailer, to the tune of a cover of the Bee Gees' "I Started a Joke," went over so well with fans because it was unlike anything you had ever seen before from the superhero genre. This isn't a movie about superheroes or good guys. Forget Batman and the Son of Krypton. You're asked to root for the bad guys and it felt refreshingly awesome.
It didn't have the fun, zany feel of the later trailers, and that was okay. The song set the tone of the movie, which felt like a grounded film telling the backstories of many Batman and Flash villains and how they wound up working on this squad. As we've seen with other on-screen narratives (ABC's "Once Upon A Time"), it looked like we were going to learn that there was more to life as a villain than just being the bad guy. It felt like there would be a very human element to the film with a focus on Dr. Harleen Quinzel's tragic descent into the crazed Harley Quinn.
I still enjoy this trailer a lot and think it's worth a watch:
The second trailer for the film, dubbed the film's first official trailer, came out January 19, 2016. Here's the movie logo, now shrouded in psychadelic colors:
The January trailer appears to play the movie out to be a little more light-hearted and carefree. Now, instead of introducing us to a bunch of villains who all appear to have some serious baggage, the trailer plays as if this is a silly, ragtag group of crazy inmates thrown together.
Oh look, Deadshot (Will Smith) thought he could take on a group of cops by himself (he couldn't).
Captain Boomerang's (Jai Courtney) having a fit, punching some people in the face. Isn't that funny?
Seconds later when Slipknot (Adam Beach) is introduced in the trailer (and the film), he's seen punching a woman square in the face.
Gunfire and punches are matched to the beats of "Bohemian Rhapsody" for added effect.
This trailer ended up getting less views than the Comic-Con one (60.2 million views vs. 68.5 million views on WB's official YouTube page.)
Here's the full trailer (which is also pretty great).
And then there's the third trailer. Out April 10, entitled the "Blitz" trailer, the final "Suicide Squad" trailer just goes all out.
As the trailer song, "Ballroom Blitz," and trailer logo suggest, the film is a romping good time with DC's "worst of the worst." "Suicide Squad" is an all-out shoot-em-up feel good villain movie with some great Will Smith asides.
This last trailer for the film received the least amount of views on WB's YouTube page with just under 12 million views.
Here are the three logos side by side again:
Though reviews for the movie have been widely negative, it did have a massive and record-shattering opening weekend. So it seems fans may like the lighter tone after all.