Ben Affleck To Team With DC’s Geoff Johns On Standalone ‘Batman’ Film - Part 1

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This is a continuation thread, the old thread is [split]501297[/split]

 

[StarLord]

http://deadline.com/2015/07/ben-aff...tertainment-warner-bros-comic-con-1201472921/

Here’s one for the Comic Con crowd to gnaw on. I’m told that Ben Affleck is teaming up with Geoff Johns to co-write a standalone Batman movie that Affleck will direct and star in after he completes his longstanding plan to helm his scripted adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel Live By Night. Johns has about as much comic cred as anybody around. He’s DC Comics’ chief creative officer and has written some of its best remembered comic book series including Green Lantern, Aquaman, Batman, Justice League Unlimited, The Flash and Superman. He has also written TV series superhero transfers Smallville, Arrow and The Flash, as well as the Supergirl project with Greg Berlanti for CBS.

My studio sources tell me that Affleck and Johns are well in synch and have more than found their rhythm. In fact, they are likely to turn in a script before the end of the summer, prior to Affleck going off to direct Live By Night in November. Affleck postponed that pic to star in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Batman movie would shoot after he finishes Live By Night, and the plot would reflect the Batman character that emerges after Batman V Superman and Justice League, the latter of which comes out November 17, 2017. DC and Warner Bros have set a long list of superhero movies that take the Marvel formula of interspersing characters from one film to the next, so it’s unclear when Affleck’s Batfilm will be slotted.

But it will clearly take priority and other movies might have to move to get out of its way. While Marvel’s Kevin Feige has defied the odds and turned one Marvel character after another into hit films, I have been somewhat skeptical about the DC films that Warner Bros has made a top priority. This is a confidence booster. The best Batman blockbusters had a real sense of visual authorship, originated by Tim Burton, with the latest arc by Christopher Nolan. Now it falls to Affleck, who’ll creatively steer the Batman franchise after directing the Best Picture-winner Argo, and co-scripting and directing the gems The Town and Gone Baby Gone. Helped by the collaboration with DC savvy Johns, this might be the most exciting news to hit the Con this weekend.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I thought about that before making that post, but the difference between BvS and this is that Ben Affleck is writing and directing, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt over Zack Snyder any day of the week

Remember when oscar winner Terrio was going to save BvS?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Remember when oscar winner Terrio was going to save BvS?

I remember.
It's why I don't have much confidence in this solo Bat flick.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

Remember when oscar winner Terrio was going to save BvS?

Yup

And it somehow got worse with him involved. Really disheartening.

 

[Hurm...]

Remember when oscar winner Terrio was going to save BvS?

Yep, and I got torn apart by posters on here for being skeptical about him months prior to release.

Gotta love the people who said, "Snyder just needs a good script!" Please. Directing is so much more than just having a good script. It's a solid foundation - yes, but there needs to be someone behind the camera who can properly extrapolate those ideas.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

You were right, Hurm...

You were right all along and no one would listen. But we all learned a lesson here

 

[godisawesome]

Yep, and I got torn apart by posters on here for being skeptical about him months prior to release.

Gotta love the people who said, "Snyder just needs a good script!" Please. Directing is so much more than just having a good script. It's a solid foundation - yes, but there needs to be someone behind the camera who can properly extrapolate those ideas.

Which is why I'm curious just what differences there were between Goyer's initial script and working relationship with Snyder in comparison to Terrio's final script (with Snyder's excess input) and place on the production totem-pole.

Goyer does not have a spotless record... But he did have the experience from two seperate and overall successful superhero franchises, and he was a major player in MOS's final form. Terrio, for all his Oscar pedigree and skill with dialogue, seems to have been far more of a subordinate to Snyder, and if I remember correctly, had no input on that totally random "Knightmare" sequence. Meanwhile, we know that Goyer and Snyder had to negotiate with Nolan to have Superman kill Zod at the end of MOS, and Goyer was one of the point men for the movie.

To me, MOS is both a) the best live action Superman movie (all of them are flawed, but MOS has stronger construction in my opinion), and b) clearly a more cohesive movie with a more focused creative process than its sequel. And there's a question of whether Goyer's experience and success would have offset Snyder's flaws, or whether it just had a bad foundation.

And now we have to know just how well Affleck and Johns can give us something well-formed and original.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Yep, and I got torn apart by posters on here for being skeptical about him months prior to release.

Gotta love the people who said, "Snyder just needs a good script!" Please. Directing is so much more than just having a good script. It's a solid foundation - yes, but there needs to be someone behind the camera who can properly extrapolate those ideas.

A depressing lotta people confuse directing with cinematography.

 

[Hurm...]

A depressing lotta people confuse directing with cinematography.

I didn't literally mean behind the camera as in cinematography. I meant "behind the camera" as in involved with the production - in Snyder's case, directing. It's another way of saying "behind the scenes."

Or are you commenting on something else?

 

[Hurm...]

You were right, Hurm...

You were right all along and no one would listen. But we all learned a lesson here

Hahaha t: It's not that I wanted to be right, just many people (particularly in the Skepticism Thread) didn't want to engage in a civil conversation about Terrio/Snyder. Instead they resorted to name-calling and referring to skeptics as trolls.

 

[Jonwo]

I could see WB move the June 14th 2019 DC film to June 7th, July 26th or August 2nd to give themselves more breathing room. I also think they'll move the November 1st 2019 film to November 22nd 2019 and schedule a different WB film in its place.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Really thinking Armie Hammer is Nightwing. And hopefully the rivalry between Dick and Deathstroke is really played up here. Deathstroke in my mind is always going to be Dick's nemesis.

 

[nyyarod]

Ben has spoken!

http://batman-news.com/2016/12/12/ben-affleck-batman-movie-not-in-a-hurry/

“We still have to get a screenplay and get it together,” Affleck explained. “I’m a real believer in not reverse engineering projects to meet a window or a date, but rather when you get the right story, the right idea, the right thing, then you make the movie. That’s what we’re doing, and I’m hoping to get that done. I’m spending a lot of time working on that, but also working on other stuff.”

“If I could, there’s nothing I’d love more than to direct a stand-alone iconic, great Batman movie. But it’s been done. Chris Nolan did three really great movies. I’m really mindful of that. I’m not in any hurry to jam the mediocre movie down the pipe. I really want to make sure, if we do it, we get the great version and one that’s worthy of tradition of guys like Tim Burton, Chris Nolan, and Christian Bale.”

 

[Rorschach2012]

Love what I'm hearing. I'm willing to wait for quality.

 

[brandeezy89]

I bet the script is done, Ben usually doesn't speak about future films until he's already underway filming

 

[Flint Marko]

Wait so they've already set a date and Ben is saying they're still working on the script?
That's certainly..... interesting. Not sure what to make of this.

 

[THE WOLF]

He's downplaying it so it doesn't overshadow Wonder Women and JL

 

[I Am The Knight]

Lol.

Come on.

So I guess they are not filming next year?

 

[Boom]

2019, here we come!

 

[idiot09]

Haha, he is just downplaying it so that they don't bombard him with questions. Affleck is very private regarding the films he directs.The actors are going to shoot in summer 2017 so a 2018 release is very much on the card.Affleck will keep on saying the script is not ready till the day they literally Start shooting.

 

[sweetre15]

At the end of the day, The major difference between BVS and this is that Affleck/Terrio/Geoff Johns seem to be the only ones that creatively have their hands in the pot with this movie so to speak...They aren't being brought in for last minute rewrites like in BVS - DOJ and presumably they won't film enough footage for a 3/4 hour movie that'll get cut from the theatrical version and later released via Home video like BVSOJ despite that version seemingly winning some (included myself) over.

Point is, while "doom and gloom" is the easiest route to take when it comes to the prospects of the DCEU, I think context needs to be considering before going "These films sucked so [insert film here] has a 90% chance of sucking too".

 

[Lencho01]

Well, good thing he has power and influence.

 

[jmc]

Affleck has all the power at the moment to take as long as he wants, I'm just not sure WB is keen on him taking so long.

 

[TheVileOne]

A part of me feels Affleck wants to wait this out more.