As we all know, thanks to the amazing Suicide Squad marketing campaign, the actors went all in when shooting for the movie. Jared Leto didn't break his character for the entire duration, the stars sparred, David Ayer turned the actors against each other when the scenes required more tension, and so on and so forth. However, this isn't everything that happened behind the scenes.
A new report from THR suggests that Suicide Squad could have been the next Fant4stic. Things didn't go as far behind the scenes as with the Fox reboot, but they were very close to being there. According to THR, Warner Bros. announced the movie's release date even before David Ayer started writing the script. And this gave the writer/director just a couple of weeks (two or three, as the publication says) before it had to be completed.
David Ayer is indeed a talented writer/director. However, huge blockbusters aren't his specialty. With this new detail coming out, is it a wonder that the critics say that Suicide Squad's plot is muddled?
Furthermore, THR also reports that the Warner Bros. execs, in particular Kevin Tsujihara, became very anxious about the movie's darker tone. And this anxiousness increased once Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released. Thus, together with David Ayer, they agreed to make another cut of the movie.
Apparently, this second cut was finished without Ayer, who was working on his own version of the film. For this, Warner Bros. hired Trailer Park, who cut the first Suicide Squad teaser. Does that sound familiar?
Fortunately, common ground was reached after several screen tests. However, this put a lot of pressure on David Ayer. And this is understandable, since the director is always the first one to blame when a blockbuster fails to meet expectations.
Apparently, Warner Bros. had little to no trust in the director, once the movie finished the additional shooting (which raised the budget by many more millions). Thus, the studio refused to back David Ayer's new project Bright (even if the deal was close to being signed before all this mess). Netflix grabbed the deal instead, for a stunning $90 million – and this says something about the director’s capabilities.
We guess this also sounds very similar to Fox's lack of trust in Josh Trank.
So now Suicide Squad is heading towards a $140 million+ first weekend in the US.
The question: Will it have weak legs like Batman v Superman? THR says that the movie needs at least $750 million to break even"¦
