Comics
This ‘Suicide Squad’ Trailer Drops the Serious Face, Gets Silly
Warner Bros. has a superhero problem, not that this is news to any of you guys. Batman V. Superman wasn’t the booming success it should have been*, and tone is pegged as one of the issues (even though there’s chatter of Warners re-releasing the film in theaters with an R-rating to boost the box office gross).
Just last week there were reports of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad going back behind the camera to lighten up the dark, moody DC adaptation. The new direction is all but confirmed in a freshly launched trailer that drops the serious face and gets silly to “Ballroom Blitz” blasting in the foreground. It’s pretty great, even if I don’t like the idea of a studio toying with the tone of the film after the fact.
The new footage is jam-packed with zingers and action, tons of shots of Margot Robbie as the lovable Harley Quinn, and even finds time to reference the fear of Superman in Batman V. Superman.
Yes, Warner Bros. has a DC tone issue, and forcing a dark film to be more kid-friendly is walking on thin ice. I’ve always been an advocate of a film being the tone is needs to be, and not pigeon-holed one way or another. Suicide Squad is a dark, adult storyline that should be targeted as so. It’ll be interesting to see how much the studio over-reacted when it opens in theaters on August 5th.
The insane cast includes Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adam Beach, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara, Jim Parrack, Ike Barinholtz, Common, Scott Eastwood, David Harbour, Corina Calderon, Alex Meraz, Raymond Olubowale, with Ben Affleck returning as Batman.
*Gross box office doesn’t account for the theaters’ take and massive marketing costs that more than often are equal to the film’s budget (Batman V. Superman is listed at $250 million). You can do the math.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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