Another Comic-Con has come and passed, and once again, trailers which were supposed to be for attendees’ eyes only made their way online.
Footage for Deadpool and Suicide Squad were recorded and viewed by millions on the Internet, despite filmmakers’ intentions to not have it released publicly. After the Suicide Squad reel leaked, director David Ayer posted his disgust about the exclusive Comic-Con footage showing up online.
Shame our sneak peek Hall H footage was leaked. #notcool
it's unfair to the fans who waited in line. And not how I intended folks to see it.— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) July 13, 2015
Warner Brothers decided to release the trailer a couple of days later, with marketing head Sue Kroll echoing Ayer’s statement that the footage was intended to be exclusive to the Comic-Con experience, but the studio couldn’t have the grainy footage represent the movie.
“Warner Bros. Pictures and our anti-piracy team have worked tirelessly over the last 48 hours to contain the Suicide Squad footage that was pirated from Hall H on Saturday. We have been unable to achieve that goal. Today we will release the same footage that has been illegally circulating on the web, in the form it was created and high quality with which it was intended to be enjoyed. We regret this decision as it was our intention to keep the footage as a unique experience for the Comic Con crowd, but we cannot continue to allow the film to be represented by the poor quality of the pirated footage stolen from our presentation.”
Fox handled the Deadpool footage leaking out slightly different. Instead of getting upset about it, star Ryan Reynolds simply stated the reel shown in San Diego wasn’t quite ready visually to be released in HD online — which is a very reasonable explanation.
As much as I want the #deadpool footage from #SDCC officially released, the VFX shots aren't done yet. We have something for you in 3 weeks.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) July 12, 2015
Both films could have learned something from the way Batman v Superman did things at Comic-Con. Once the latest trailers was shown to event goers, Warner Brothers soon released it online for the general public to enjoy. There was no serious waiting or wondering — just an awesome trailer, to get fans hyped for the movie.
Now that’s not to say filmmakers should be expected to release all of the content they show at Comic-Con, but when it’s a first tease of a movie — like in the cases of Suicide Squad and Deadpool — it’s awfully hard for the overwhelming majority of fans that aren’t in Hall H to just sit and wait. But part of the lure of the event is sitting in obscenely long lines for crazy amounts of time, so you can be one of the first people to see new things like these trailers.
On the flip side, In our current digital age, when everything is instant — movies, video games and news — it just doesn’t make sense to release huge news at Comic-Con to a select few thousand people. Somebody at the event is going to record footage on his or her smartphone, and it’s going to make its way online. It’s almost impossible to protect against.
(Image via The Verge)
While it may not be practical for studios to do, releasing the footage simultaneously at the event and online — or at least briefly delayed afterwards — is the way to make everybody happy.
The threat of not bringing exclusive footage to the events is an empty one, because without it, who cares? Seeing new things is the biggest draw to the entire event, and if studios take that away, I guarantee you people won’t wait days to see a panel.
However, if they decided to release special footage soon after those Comic-Con presentations conclude, it pleases both parties. Simple as that.
