Are Too Many Set Photos Hurting or Helping Comic Book Films?

Warner Bros and DC Entertainment have two films coming out next year: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice releases on March 25 and Suicide Squad releases on August 5. Both films are highly anticipated from fans, but both films are going about delivering information about the two films in incredibly different ways.

While there's other films coming out using the tactics we're about to talk about, like X-Men Apocalypse and Ant-Man, we're going to keep this discussion limited to Suicide Squad and Batman v. Superman because they're both coming out of the Warner Bros camp.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice has been playing their cards pretty close to their chest. We recently saw the Batmobile unveiled in public, and a teaser, but it's essentially been pretty quiet. There's even been people cast in the film and no announcement who they're playing. The movie is 9 months away, so it's reasonable to think there wouldn't be a plethora of information out there, but it's puzzling to not see a lot coming from director Zack Snyder or anyone else when you see what's going on with Suicide Squad.

With the release date of the film 14 months away, we've already seen tons of cast photos and set photos as Suicide Squad shoots in Toronto. Director David Ayer has been pretty open about talking about the film on Twitter and passing along photos of the cast. In addition, there's been tons of pictures from the set showing a few scenes for the movie.

The question remains that is showing off pictures from the set and talking about the movie, more than 8 months to the release the smart way to go or is it just too much?

Before we can answer that, you have to look at the two properties. Both Batman and Superman are tested properties that will do well. While the 2013 film Man of Steel seemed to be a bit polarizing, it made money, and as far as Batman goes, he's Batman. He'll do fine, with or without prep.

Suicide Squad is an unfamiliar property to the average person. They don't know what that is and the title "Suicide Squad" may be a little bit of a turn-off to some people. How do you combat that? Put big names in the film and throw Joker in to the mix. That'll get people talking about the film.

It's important to remember that while these characters and properties are important to us, the average comic book reader, the "regular moviegoer" has no clue what a "Deadshot" is, but if you put Will Smith under that mask, you've piqued their interest.

Here's where things get a bit different. At the point in time where casting is announce and release dates are announced, there's a lot of hype for both films. Some people are excited and some are hating it, but regardless, people are talking about them both. From there, information about Batman v. Superman slowly trickled out, here and there, and Suicide Squad photo shoots were revealed, which got the Internet talking, for good and bad.

Let's just get right down to it. First and foremost, if there's a comic book movie coming out, I'm going to see it. Sure, it may take me until the DVD release to see it (sorry Kingsman, you were wonderful), but I will eventually see it, and many comic book fans are the same way. We've spent quite a while, hanging in the shadows, loving what we love, and now that what we love is cool, we're going to support it.

What I'm getting at is that when Suicide Squad was announced, I couldn't have cared less. I thought to myself "well, there's the first major comic book movie I won't see in the theater." I kept that a bit to myself because my first reactions to any comic book news tend to be silly and over-critical.

Then, we started getting the pictures of the cast and scenes from the set. Now, while I freely admit that I, too, threw a fanboy fit when the Joker pictures came out with all the tattoos, like many comic book fans, when we started seeing pictures and videos from the Joker being chased down by Batman, I was totally on board. The images we saw, from a scene that was probably a whole 30 seconds long, was actually pretty rad.

As more and more come out, the more I'm totally down on seeing this film. It may not be the adaptation of these characters, from looks alone, that some fans want, but director David Ayer is doing something smart by helping keep the hype for the the film by releasing photos and shooting scenes publicly. There may be a downside to all of this though.

Suicide Squad is set to come out in August, next year. Can people stay excited and hyped up for a film that's more than a year away from its theatrical release? That seems like a long time to be thinking about the upcoming release of a film. My guess is that people outside of the daily Internet comic news cycle (the average movie goer) will probably completely forget about the film until trailers start coming out next year where we'll see a cavalcade of average Americans standing in line reminding each other they saw pictures of Will Smith and Jared Leto last year and they looked "so cool." That's the end game here.

In the long-run, this tactic may work. We can't say anything for sure, but this might actually be the way to get people excited about a property they've never heard of. This could be Warner Bros and DC's Guardians of the Galaxy, trying to prove that you don't just need the big hero names to make a film people want to see.

As for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the average comic fan might be a tad disappointed we aren't seeing set photos or being bombarded information about the film, but we have to keep in mind that the endgame of the film is to make money and the title alone, as long as the trailer don't make the film look insanely terrible, will bring in a mainstream audience. I mean, Batman is "v"ing Superman. Who doesn't want to see that?

We want to know what you think though. Do you prefer seeing tons of set photos or would you rather studios try their best to keep things in the dark?

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I prefer to be kept in the dark. All of the Suicide Squad photos are making me less excited - both because I'm not a fan of the direction they're (implied by said photos to be) taking and becausegetting news about the film on a weekly basis takes away the excitement of getting said news.

For a property like suicide squad, more photos are needed to sell it to the masses. Not many people know a lot about it. batman v Superman sells itself.

Plus, massive spoilers don't seem to hurt marvel.

I don't care either way. I just ask that Comic Vine stop posting super specific descriptions in your titles for those of us who wish to avoid this sort of stuff. "HEY GUYS, CHECK OUT BATMAN ON JOKER'S CAR IN SUICIDE SQUAD." It would have been nice not knowing he's in the movie until it's in a trailer, or hell, I actually see the movie.

I'm of the same mindset, regarding suicide squad. To the mainstream audience they are a relatively unknown property. All the set photos might be helping in at least garnering interest in the film. Seeing all these big names and stuff. IMO the set photos haven't really spoiled anything other than what people look like and batman's involvement in the movie, the latter of which has me even more pumped.

As long as it doesn't show any major plot details, I'm fine.

Everything is designed to look good on film not phone. Set photos cause people to cry cosplay. I wait to make real judgments on the costumes until I see them on screen and color corrected. Often times colors need to be accentuated in real life to get the look one wants after filters and color correction.

I understand the appeal, but personally I hate any behind the scenes stuff. Totally destroys my suspension of disbelief. And when it comes to comic book movies I know I'll see all of them, which is why I close my eyes for anything longer than a teaser. Fight the action spoiling advertising machine and don't look!

The photos we see don't tell much about the plot. Plus the way everything looks better in the actual film so no I don't think it spoils the movie for us.

What have we even seen for Suicide Squad. We've seen the team walk, Joker slaps Harley, Batman jumps on Jokers car and Deadshot on a roof. Not spoiling much.

Obviously this is just about SS. Next to nothing has been leaked from BvS. I can't believe how tight they're keeping that. The SS leaks haven't really revealed anything though. But I do want them to stop.

You have to remember that most people who watch these movies don't check up on them daily, they have no clue about all of these set pics. In fact a significant number of people don't even know what films are coming and find out about them via billboards, TV adverts or even just when they turn up to the cinemas to see what's on.

The people who see all of these pictures and videos are an infinitesimal portion of the movie-going audience.

I mean if you don't want to see them just don't click the link

Yeah every photo kills suspense and seeing something unfinished makes it look bad. I thought Winter Soldier's arm looked really crappy until the first trailer came out because the arm looked super face without movie edits to look nicer.

Some people seem to actually be dense enough to think the term "any publicity is good publicity" which is something people say to make you feel better about BAD publicity. It's a joke common in TV shows its not actually true the way you present and deliver information is everything.

The only kind of things I wouldn't mind seeing are things that actually add more mystery to the movie. Like when they were making Iron Man 3 one of the only things we got see from the set was the Iron Patriot and it had everyone debating who was in the suit. I also don't really care if there is like group photos or costume reveals or like images of the sets they built, but there are literally videos of two different scenes from the suicide squad movie being made. That's not good.

Compare what we know about Suicide Squad to Deadpool. Warner Bros. isn't finished filming Suicide Squad and we know a ton, yet Fox managed to finish all filming for Deadpool and we don't know anything except for the fact that colossus will be in the movie. So when they do show us something from Deadpool it will be a lot cooler and more surprising.

Think about Mad Max and Star Wars. Both of those movies were pretty under raps. When they finally did show you something in those first trailers can you deny that it blew your mind with hype?

When I think about they didn't even try to hide the fact Batman was in the movie I think about how excited I would have been seeing it surprised for the first time. It would be a better and bigger surprise then the Mandarin being a fake.

When people freaked out about the Joker and then they were like "oh no... its uh.. its a joke haha!" it makes me feel like WB has no idea what they are doing with SS and are just posting so much to see what fans say so they can change stuff. :P

I think on one side, the studios are sending out a lot more 'leaks' and press detail so early on. It gets kind of spoilery.

On the flip-side, we have never been so connected via social networks and it looks like suicide squad is taking the approach of filming on location at places where they don't necessarily vacate the area. People are free to witness some of the filming like that Joker-Batman car chase. Batman v. Superman was on the other hand, noted to be shrewd in secrecy for a lot of it's filming,

I don't think set photos hurt a film for me it's usually the announcements of what's happening in it or who's going to be in it that dampers my excitement. For the example of SS I was looking forward to it (it being a new IP to the big screen and all) but once I heard about Batman and Joker being in it I started to get less excited as I felt they'd take up a good portion of the movie like they did in the animated film.

And I can't really blame the look of the Joker on set pics when they released the official photo before that. Same goes for the look of the rest of the cast with the group shot.

Overall I'd say the set photos won't really hurt anything unless you don't like what they're doing overall. I mean for AOU we saw an Ultron head and a Hulk head on a stick for the actors and cg department I didn't look at that and go OMG this movie is gonna be terrible. lol So unless they are just showing everything in the movie with set pics and videos I don't think it'll hurt anything. If anything people might just get annoyed if it's in the news all the damn time (Leto's hair updates every two days annoyed me to no end)

I think so. It's not that I think anything gets spoiled, because we always lack the context of whats going on in the leaked footage.

...But I do find it immensely irritating that comic-based twitter feeds I follow keep posting badly graded photos from the SS movies and their endless gushing over the Joker... who is likely no more than a sideshow character in this movie.

It depends. I like to be surprised when I watch a movie so I usually stay away from all that kind of stuff. I would've liked to know Batman was in the movie while watching the movie instead of seeing it plastered everywhere on the internet. But that's not that much of a big spoiler or anything.

As long as nothing is spoiled, I guess I don't really care. Still, I like the idea of keeping people in the dark.

Nope, even if alot of set photos are released and people arent happy with what they see.

People will still talk about it giving it more publicity and all the media outlets will always pick it up.

Up to you, I avoid looking up too many spoilers.

At this point, they just need to stop calling these "leaks". No movie production leaks this much, unless it's on purpose. The more I see of this SUICIDE SQUAD movie the less I'm interested. I already feel that this movie is criminally misplaced in DC's attempt to create a cinematic universe. This should be coming after many of these characters have had the chance to be established as villains in other movies, then make them into anti-heroes. This cast is also extremely bloated. Nine main characters, and we're probably only going to end up caring about three.

This entire project just strikes me as DC making a mad scramble to put out their own version of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. That was a property that even many comic readers knew little to nothing about. Yet it didn't constantly "leak", and still did extremely well. That's why I roll my eyes every time someone says that this movie needs all this extra exposure.

I just find it absolutely ridiculous that DC is introducing their new cinematic Joker in a movie that isn't about Batman. If anything, Batman will have basically a cameo.

Well on a site like this where most people spend time putting together plot threads and trying to predict the outcome of storylines 6-7 months before they end, you have a crowd that is of the perfect mindset to have their excitement ruined by a picture of the Batmobile's left tire that has white and red paint on it which may or may not hint to a Joker cameo in Batman vs Superman.

And when your apart of this community...sometimes "Spoilers" is just like saying "Don't click this interesting thing and join the discussion that has just been completely rocked by the reveal of the person standing next to Deadshot in this wide lens Google Earth image"

I don't like all the photos and trailers. I personally don't care at all about suicide squad or Batman v Superman so none of that stuff bothers me. I do see why they are doing it for suicide squad because they are really unknown. I am really excited about Cap 3 and I am trying to avoid as much as I can.Will probably follow the rule I have made up for myself for movies as to only watch one or two trailers and avoid everything else as to not over hype it for myself

For movies like Suicide Squad the photos are needed but I admit there are alot of them coming out. BvS can keep everything hidden and they will still fill the seats. I just dont want the DC movies to go overboard on promoting like they do for The Marvel movies.

gossip ruins life

I am like really excited and hyped up for this movie so anyone who has everything figured it out from this set photos give me some taste of the scoops you have found plz..

I can't decide which one people think is better getting some set pics or watching half of the movies through trailers...

Nope these are out of context framents of what will b presented on screen (lawls nearly said film no one shoots with that anymore).

This all smacks of JJ Abrams mystery box which to quote Star Wars "The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers". People like to talk and show stuff off, it all inevitably leaks. Which is why Bryan Singer's instagram upates from the production of XMen Apocolypse is rather refreshing it sheds a little light but not a lot. We live in a dual surveillance state thanks to everyone having a camera phone, the citizen one I don't quite mind the govermental one sucks a tone. Because of this there is barley any friction of sharing information on these films. I just expect the multi million dollar PR companies WB has inevitably hired/owns aren't captalizing on it and using it to juice the "hype" more.

Also ya'll at CV could just make the editorial decision not to run these photos.

Suicide Squad don't need set pictures. They need to start putting up posters named Suicide Squad ASAP. That will go Viral and get them all the attention they need in USA. As Suicide isn't a thing people wanna advertise.

Before anyone replies to me calling me a f*g, I don't care, just a lot of people do.

I personally have been avoiding looking at them for BvS, Suicide Squad, etc. Some things are just fun to see during the movie/TV show. I even skipped reading this article because I noticed there was set pics in it.

The less you know is better IMO but is really hard no to see leaked photo

DC is trying too hard. In order to ensure that media is blasted with DC cinematic universe stuff more than Marvel stuff and whatever other hero properties prop up. There were probably filming days when the crew didn't feel the need to be secretive about characters and scenes, but DC has allowed SO MUCH filming that it is likely intentional.

People go out of their way to spoil movies before they see them so I don't think this hurts at all. If DC decided to release the scripts for their movies people would read scripts and probably still see the movie whether the script was enjoyable or not. Sometimes marketing just works, especially when dealing with properties as popular as DC and Marvel.

Interesting point of view but I'm on the opposite side of the fence. I'm completely sick of seeing random photos of actors walking around, looking like actors who are walking around. At first I was excited to see new costume designs and that every frame of SS has been posted on instagram and hashtagged to Hell I'm just sick of it!

My issue is that they bring NOTHING to the table. Do a few months of extra hype = more money for the film? I don't see why we can't wait until the studio puts together a nice looking presentation for everyone to get excited about. Between movie trailers and professional posters I think we get plenty of advanced notice and hyping for our comic book movies.

I say put your iPhone down, log out of instagram and twitter and let them make the damn movie in peace. Once they've put together a nice looking, cleaned up representation of the film I'll see it and start getting excited from there. All these set photos are just instant gratification of the highest order.

im not a fan of all the photos being released or 'found'. less is more, imo. the shots of Superman/Ironman/Batman costumes is one thing, but theres a dozen pics from the Suicide Squad movie that i couldnt give a spit about. 'hey heres El Diablo walking on set, and heres Rick flag walking on set, and heres some other jerk... walking on set'. i just dont really care enough

when the first Thor movie came out i tried my hardest to not see footage of the movie. id change the channel if the trailer came on tv, id leave the theater when the trailers were played. i think that sort of information deprivation is one of the reasons why i seem to like the Thor movies more then most ppl

You know...you could just avoid looking at the photos.

It can be done.

I successfully avoided seeing any set photos, watching trailers, clips or reading reviews of 'The Dark Knight Rises' between the time the teasers first started coming out until I finally bought the DVD in December of that year (iirc).

...and I was still disappointed.

I would say less leaks is better, if you want people to be excited, do a good trailer instead of leaking stupid photos without context that only take away the mistery; I feel that with so much leaks WB is looking desperate trying to make people like the movie when still there is a lot of time for it to debut

However in the case of BvS I would like to see some more photos to see of theyre really going for that super serious super dark tone I dont like

Probably depends on the movie. BVS is building suspense with a lack of photos. It almost matches the tone of what you expect the movie to be like.

Squad is letting us in on a ton which is a bit more playful and fun. What I expect from that movie.

It's not what I came here for a couple of years ago!

I thought Comicvine was about the actual comics but these days, on a flipping Thursday even, there's almost more teasers about movies and TV series than about the most recent comics and reviews and that's sad! Sigh!

There's more and more comic books being published on a weekly basis and here it's less and less talk about it (only 8 reviews for this week's comics so far), instead we're seeing the very same footage over and over again it is so tiresome. Double sigh!!!

I say it does nothing. I think the casual crowd that bring the most money don't see these until TV trailers hit.

I mean people don't have to click on the link with the photos.

Marvel released about 15, literally 15, 1 minute clips of Avengers Age of Ultron before it came out yet a few photos from the set of Suicide Squad worries people? I want to know what I'm spending my money on. Showing me that batman is in the movie gets me to spend money on a ticket, so its helping.

I'd say "hurt", but I am the odd type that prefers my trailers and previews with not much plot or prefer they use footage not in the movie.

I don't think it matters at all. These movies will make hundreds of millions anyway.

The people who don't look at pictures because they don't want to see any spoilers are most likely planning to go see it. People who are looking at all the pictures are clearly interested enough to look at everything that's out there so they will also watch it. Then there are the people who look at the pictures and go 'I hate it' will most likely still go and watch it.

@pelykan: That's pretty much true in the end

I think it harms the movie because it can give to many hints as to what will happen and lead to people figuring out what will happen in the film before it happens.

For lesser knows, teasers help. Without giving much away Marvel made GotG a must see film. DC can easily apply similar tactics with Suicide Squad. The only thing is set photos don't really help (they do but not to the average fan). The average fan still won't really know what they're looking at. Character posters with the characters name do a lot more. But it's still early for SS.

As for something like BvS or Avengers? They sell themselves. The less we see the better in my opinion.

I'd prefer to be kept in the dark, but, as you said, I think it's smart to tease Suicide Squad since it's not as well known a property.

@donfelipe: I thought I was the only one that notice that. You are right this site is not like it was before they got bought. This site when I first started coming here was about comics book related stuff but the central focus was on comics. Its ironic thats when Sara left when the site was starting to change. There is no excuse for a comic book centric site to have a lot less comics reviews than Ign. A site that focus mainly on games. In a time where their are more comics coming out with huge events their should be more reviews than what they post. Heck where were the Multiversity reviews? Alot more than 8 books came out yesterday. Its sad when I'm finding myself coming to this site less and less when this was once a site I went to everyday to find out comic news and especially reviews.

I don't care that people can't be patient and if the director doesn't want to close the set (like he/she should) then that's his/her's own fault. But I hate when you have to avoid social media to remain spoiler free because sites like Comicvine, CRB, and Bleeding Cool just throw the images up on their feed like it's nothing.