Suicide Squad HD Trailer: Warner Bros Bow To The Pirates

After initially insisting that there were no plans to release the Comic Con footage of Suicide Squad that screened this weekend in San Diego, Warner Bros have bowed to the inevitable and made the HD version of the trailer available on line. This comes days after one intrepid mobile phone user uploaded horribly grainy footage of the trailer from the bowels of the conference centre, risking the collected wrath of the studio and DC. And Batman, probably. Even going on that terrible footage, the reactions have been stellar, so it's not a bad move by Warner Bros to release the real version, even if it's a little unfortunate that they've had their hands forced. The studio released a huffy statement after it became clear that nobody was going to stop sharing the pirated footage (including some reputable sites who risked being black-listed in the process):

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.

It's poor form to spoil exclusive content, but it does help build hype outside of the Con whether Warner Bros care to acknowledge it or not. But perhaps there should be some wariness for the precident it sets. Anyway, all moralising aside, the footage looks very good. Harley is clearly suitably unhinged, the rest of the cast look the part - including Will Smith, who seems to be being set up as the heart of the story - and Jared Leto's Joker looks like the real deal, despite how many people have lost their beans over his "interesting" new look. So, maybe thank the pirates for being able to see David Ayer's ensemble in all of its zany glory, but probably don't thank them too loud, eh?