Suicide Squad director David Ayer has revealed that he met with DC Studio’s co-CEO James Gunn to discuss the possibility of releasing an Ayer Cut of his 2016 film.
A fan, who spoke Spanish, had stated on Twitter, "I don't see @DavidAyerMovies very calm with @JamesGunn regarding Yesterday's Cut..." and Ayer responded, also in Spanish, "I spoke to him a while ago. All with patience. He has the right to put together his new universe before revisiting the past. Cheer up. Good things are coming."
Hablé con el hace rato. Todo con paciencia. El tiene derecho de armar su nuevo universo antes de visitar al pasado. Animo. Vienen cosas buenas 😉 https://t.co/Kh6BjrXITY
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) March 2, 2023
Ayer has expressed his wish to release his director’s cut of the film on numerous occasions. The Fury director claims that his cut is "vastly better" than the version released to theaters with Jared Leto also endorsing the idea. Nevertheless, his efforts proved unfruitful as the DC Studios brass opted for a reboot with Gunn as the director.
Ayer’s Suicide Squad was based on the DC Comics anti-hero team of the same name that included imprisoned supervillains Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Rick Flag, and Captain Boomerang, among others. While the film achieved commercial success with a box office gross that was north of $740 million against a $175 million budget, it received generally negative reviews from critics.
Meanwhile, Gunn is not averse to releasing an Ayer cut of the film. The new DC Studios co-chair once stated, in response to the #ReleasetheAyerCut online campaign, that he and his co-CEO, Peter Safran, often make decisions based on fans’ wishes. He revealed that, despite that, they were not looking to revisit the past as they were focused on developing projects for the new DC Universe.
While those comments would seem to suggest that they weren’t interested in releasing the director’s cut of the film, Ayer’s latest statement suggests the opposite. This development gives fans renewed hope the studio is pondering on the thought. However, they will be better off managing their expectations since neither Gunn nor DC Studios has provided any official update on it.
In other news, Rocksteady Studios revealed the release date for the Suicide Squad-inspired video game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, as May 26. The title will see the Suicide Squad, which comprises Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot, among others, take on a villainous Justice League that comprises The Flash and Superman, among others.
Also, late last year, Gunn put to bed rumors that Will Smith will be returning in a third iteration of Suicide Squad. While this piece of news won’t make the fans happy, they can find consolation in the fact that the director and filmmaker is working on a second spin-off of The Suicide Squad after the success of the first spin-off, Peacemaker.
