Another overhaul for DCEU

BobJM

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Warner Bros. Discovery Looking Into Overhaul of DC Entertainment

According to their sources, Zaslav believes that “unlocking the full potential of the DC Comics universe of characters” is key to the success of the newly established Warner Bros. Discovery, and that insiders at Discovery think that despite the success of certain films like The Batman, DC still doesn’t have a “coherent creative and brand strategy,” with the report specifically noting that insiders believe certain large characters like Superman need to be revitalized, and that “second-bill characters” like Joker or Harley Quinn should continue to be used to grow brands.


Revitalization of Superman sounds good to me!
 
Since BvS, it feels like the execs at Warner have just pivoted with every subsequent project until maybe recently, listening too much to the peanut gallery like Paramount did with the 2014 Ninja Turtles film, instead of letting the creators do their thing by telling the stories they want. The current execs don't seem to know how to unlock the potential not just of DC's slate of characters, but taking advantage of having multiple interpretations at a time. Hopefully Zaslav and the Discovery folks have a better idea of what to do than most of Warner's current management.

That and I just Cavill to take that cape out of the closet, in addition to stuff like the Michael B. Jordan Val Zod project, maybe even give Brandon Routh a Kingdom Come HBO Max series? That last one may never happen, but I can hope.
 
Meh, we've heard all this before. I'm ready to see good results of these supposed pivots WB (or whoever is in charge) makes every couple of years. I hope they let this current DCEU go after The Flash and "start over", but hat's not going to happen.

I'm glad they mentioned how Superman needs to be revitalized!! DC without a successful Superman feels wrong.
 
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I dont trust any of their words, i have been burned too much.
Show me and then we talk.

Making Superman a priority sounds good, but i need proof.
For now i do what i do for years, judge everything one at a time.

My advice...reboot the whole thing, let Gunn and Reeves do their thing, see that you hire James Wan for more projects.
 
They're in such a funny ****ing position right now. DCEU as a whole is a mess and they want a cohesive franchise. Sure, that would be cool. Still, they still have to release Wonder Woman 3, Aquaman 2, Shazam 2, Batgirl, The Flash and Black Adam. All of these are linked to the DCEU, and if they do well they should probably get sequels.

Schadenfreude. I hope everyone involved in this mess gets the boot.
 
Reposting what I put in another thread

The Tale of the Tape when it comes to DC Films and DC Entertainment Execs and Changes 2009-2022

1. 2009: DC Comics Revamped Under a New President (Published 2009)

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2. 2010: DC Entertainment Names Executive Management Team - SuperHeroHype
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3. 2010-2016: A couple of questionable moves and creative decisions
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4. 2016: DC Comics involved in approved AT&T-Time Warner merger
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5. 2018: Diane Nelson is leaving as DC Entertainment President
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6. 2018: Geoff Johns Exits DC Entertainment President, Chief Creative Officer - Variety
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7. 2021: AT&T is preparing to merge media assets with Discovery
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8. 2022: Discovery's David Zaslav Poised to Take Reins of WarnerMedia - Variety
Sources who have worked with Zaslav say he can be “unemotional” and “clinical” about making the business case for change, even when a pink slip comes out of nowhere for top executives. Discovery has also incurred the wrath of independent producers by squeezing them on production costs and demanding cost-cutting moves at the expense of program quality. By all accounts, Zaslav and his business lieutenants run a tight ship.
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9. 2022: Discovery Pledges Cost Discipline After WarnerMedia Deal Close - Variety

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10. 4/14/2022:
DC Entertainment Overhaul Eyed By New Warner Bros. Discovery Leaders - Variety

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And all of those are just the top level stuff. They promised to revitalize Superman before in the early 2010s and look what happened.
Will be very happy if proven wrong as I want DC Comics to get their proper due in live action. But I can't get my hopes up again. Pretty much for as long as I've been on this site it's been a yo-yo for when it comes to changes with WB affecting DC films.
 
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Yeah, sure. All of the stuff they say is technically true. However, WB management has said tons of things before, and they have shifted direction tons of times. Change itself is only good if its an improvement, and past a certain point repeated change is itself a bad thing- no consistent direction is almost as bad as a consistently bad direction.

I'll believe it when I see it, and the smart money is on "They **** the bed, again".
 
The question I have is, what this really entails.

The reality is, they can't turn back the clock and now try to create an organized , shared , cinematic universe ala Marvel.

The time to do that was a decade ago, and that time has passed.
The creative horse is out of the barn.

So that's not even a realistic creative option at this point.

So , the question for me becomes, if this is merely about greenlighting projects ,and making sure they meet their release date.

Other than that , I really don't know what the new head has in mind, but we've had several "white knights" ride in with the hope of "setting things straight".

But then, they all seem to exit with their reputations worse than they were when they entered.
 
This honestly sounds a lot like PR and drilling down on corporate efficiency, not an actual change in direction or approach for the DCEU. It sounds like their goal is for things to run more smoothly, not an entirely different approach to adapting the universe itself.

Way back when DC Film was formed, the marching orders were to develop a variety of projects from all corners of the DC Universe, and they specifically mentioned several of the ones we're seeing now. So using secondary characters to grow the brand, that isn't new in the least.

They didn't really pivot except away from anything except specifically Snyder's approach to Justice League originally, and I doubt they will here, either, because the plan has been working. Other projects like Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, went on as originally conceived. We're going to see more independent "solo" projects, which has been the plan for several years now, and more multiverse type stories that are loosely connected. Shazam, Black Adam, The Flash, etc.

The Superman "reboot" was already in development, so that's not a change in plans, either.
 
To be fair, it's the WB management who are not doing what they said they'd do over the years in terms of making changes. We'll see if the Discovery people will follow through.
 
I felt they were already doing most things that could be done, tbh. The alternative approach, mining obscure properties like Peacemaker, ancilliary characters like Batgirl, comedic fun concepts like Shazam, putting diversity front and center with Blue Beetle/Aqualad/Val-Zod, all the while holding onto the Snyder elements that could work, like Aquaman, WW and Flash. Using HBO Max for a lot of it. Rebooting their cash cow with an interesting director.

Outside of that, I feel the Justice League name alone still has a funk of controversy and feels a little toxic. With Superman, I'd like a reboot (new take on the Kents!), but business-wise, I think they'd also see there's not much mileage to be gotten out of Snyder's Supes anymore, as anything than could be done can still be done with a new cast. But they might have felt rebooting Superman right now makes no sense while they're still unsure of how to integrate him with their long term plans... what's the point of having a Batman and a Superman if they're both gonna be disconnected from everything else.

Very cool hearing he's on the new priority list, though. Hoping for good stuff.
 
We have heard this all before. The WB corporate merry go round has frequently done the whole new strategy for DC films PR thing everytime some new Exec pops up. You can't have a consistent long term plan when the Execs in charge are changing every couple of years.

I predict DC films will continue to be hit and miss.

I still think most of the people at Warner Bros have no idea what to do with most of their DC properties.
 
I felt they were already doing most things that could be done, tbh. The alternative approach, mining obscure properties like Peacemaker, ancilliary characters like Batgirl, comedic fun concepts like Shazam, putting diversity front and center with Blue Beetle/Aqualad/Val-Zod, all the while holding onto the Snyder elements that could work, like Aquaman, WW and Flash. Using HBO Max for a lot of it. Rebooting their cash cow with an interesting director.

Outside of that, I feel the Justice League name alone still has a funk of controversy and feels a little toxic. With Superman, I'd like a reboot (new take on the Kents!), but business-wise, I think they'd also see there's not much mileage to be gotten out of Snyder's Supes anymore, as anything than could be done can still be done with a new cast. But they might have felt rebooting Superman right now makes no sense while they're still unsure of how to integrate him with their long term plans... what's the point of having a Batman and a Superman if they're both gonna be disconnected from everything else.

Very cool hearing he's on the new priority list, though. Hoping for good stuff.

This. And look at the increased TV/streaming output.

There's a Superman show, for goodness sake. We know there's at least one movie in development.

They've done exactly what they said they would do the last time there was a big "shake up", and been pretty darn successful at it.
 
Since BvS, it feels like the execs at Warner have just pivoted with every subsequent project until maybe recently, listening too much to the peanut gallery like Paramount did with the 2014 Ninja Turtles film, instead of letting the creators do their thing by telling the stories they want. The current execs don't seem to know how to unlock the potential not just of DC's slate of characters, but taking advantage of having multiple interpretations at a time. Hopefully Zaslav and the Discovery folks have a better idea of what to do than most of Warner's current management.

That and I just Cavill to take that cape out of the closet, in addition to stuff like the Michael B. Jordan Val Zod project, maybe even give Brandon Routh a Kingdom Come HBO Max series? That last one may never happen, but I can hope.

doesn't that lead to oversaturation and brand confusion?

I do hope we get some lesser known characters adapted in stand-alone movies (or franchises). DCEU probably won't take off and focus on making quality movies without contributing to "superhero fatigue".

Let's get a Question movie, let's get an I....Vampire movie. Let's get Blackhawks.
 
Watching Campea and Rob go at it on this subject was hilarious. Rob was adamant that there isn't another "Feige" while John thought there could be.
 
Watching Campea and Rob go at it on this subject was hilarious. Rob was adamant that there isn't another "Feige" while John thought there could be.

I agreed with John that there must be another Feige out there somewhere. Not exactly a Feige clone but someone who could envision what DC has the potential to be and has the skills to enact that vision. But it looks like Zaslav wants a business person and not necessarily a creative in charge.
 
Lol how many overhauls has DC gone through the last 10 years?
 
what i would do is bring back affleck and cavill but scrap snyder's JL knightmare sequels and just continue building the universe ,the knightmare future of snyder cut is a WHAT IF elseworld tale anyways so it can still happen further down the road but an evil superman is the last thing this universe needs right now it needs hope

the heroes together fully formed building the Hall Of Justice
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and the last shot of superman is classic superman fully formed now he can just be superman
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It’s always one step forward, ten steps back with DC/WB
 
WB has been doing this **** so many times that Its hard to have any sort of strong feelings about these things anymore. Zaslov seems like a good guy to work in the company, so I am slightly hopeful here. Hope the Comics side of DC gets to continue publishing stuf, wouldnt surprise me if he sacks more people from there too.
 
I blame these overhauls on the simple fact that the companies buying WarnerMedia give up every 5 or so years then pass it to someone else. Hopefully now that WM doesn't have an owner anymore, everything goes smoothly.
 

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