DC gets an overhaul

[FlawlessVictory]

LOL, VileOne you sure are getting worked up. Where you up for head of the newly formed DCE?

 

[terry78]

^Probably.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm just kind of annoyed because I think the only thing that brought this about was the Disney acquisition, so WB is once again trying to save face and say, UH WE HAVE ALL TEH DC COMICZ To0!

Marvel, regardless of quality has worked hard to put out many big budget theatrical versions of their movies and continued in doing so.

WB/DC have just done fart after fart and made little progress. They invested tons of money into failed projects and projects that went nowhere (Superman and Superman Returns; Justice League). Its annoying, make up your minds.

What does this formality really change? Are they going to make crossover movies now like Marvel? Will the actually make live action movies? I don't understand.

A woman who did brand work with Harry Potter doesn't prove anything. Harry Potter IS one powerhouse brand when DC Comics is potentially many.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

Newsarama spoke to Diane Nelson and Paul Levitz about the restructuring. Here are some quotes from Diane Nelson about her role and the company's direction:

Good stuff, thanks for posting.

 

[Dr. Evil]

What I don't understand from the article posted in the first page of this thread is that it says that Nolan has two movies in the works before Batman 3. I know one of them is Inception. Might that be a typo on the part of the writer of the article? He recently dropped out of the Prisoner, so I would assume that he starts working on Batman 3 after he's done with Inception.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

I'm just kind of annoyed because I think the only thing that brought this about was the Disney acquisition, so WB is once again trying to save face and say, UH WE HAVE ALL TEH DC COMICZ To0!

Marvel, regardless of quality has worked hard to put out many big budget theatrical versions of their movies and continued in doing so.

WB/DC have just done fart after fart and made little progress. They invested tons of money into failed projects and projects that went nowhere (Superman and Superman Returns; Justice League). Its annoying, make up your minds.

What does this formality really change? Are they going to make crossover movies now like Marvel? Will the actually make live action movies? I don't understand.

A woman who did brand work with Harry Potter doesn't prove anything. Harry Potter IS one powerhouse brand when DC Comics is potentially many.

This move was not made in response to the Disney acquisition. That is impossible. This doesn't happen overnight. This was two years in the making. Nikki Finke confirmed this. If anything, it was in response to Marvel Studios being formed and revealing their slate way back when. To be honest, I don't care who does what first, as long as both companies put out quality material. If that means one company has to "copy" the strategy of another, so be it.

But I guess you will just have to wait and see how successful this new idea/strategy becomes and how much quality work it actually produces. Only time will tell. But it's no skin off your back so I don't see what the big deal is. Give it time, it wasn't like much was happening the other way anyway. And this is coming from someone who has been extremely frustrated with WB in the past.

 

[TheVileOne]

This move was not made in response to the Disney acquisition. That is impossible. This doesn't happen overnight. This was two years in the making. Nikki Finke confirmed this. If anything, it was in response to Marvel Studios being formed and revealing their slate way back when. To be honest, I don't care who does what first, as long as both companies put out quality material. If that means one company has to "copy" the strategy of another, so be it.

Well it just shows that WB/DC don't have the where with all to do this themselves. Just in the comics world, DC loves to come in second.

But I guess you will just have to wait and see how successful this new idea/strategy becomes and how much quality work it actually produces. Only time will tell. But it's no skin off your back so I don't see what the big deal is. Give it time, it wasn't like much was happening the other way anyway. And this is coming from someone who has been extremely frustrated with WB in the past.

I feel we've given them ample enough time when now is not a time when studios want to invest in much in $150 million - $200 million tentpoles. They are trying to cut down. So if anything, I feel they've missed a significant window and missed the boat constantly.

 

[GL's Light]

I'm just kind of annoyed because I think the only thing that brought this about was the Disney acquisition.

From the reporting on this restructuring, that's obviously not the case. This has been in the works for quite some time. Restructuring within major corporations isn't done in a time frame of less than two weeks. Planning and negotiations to bring this together clearly took a lot longer than that. In fact the first rumors that Diane Nelson would take over DC Comics predate the announcement of Disney's acquisition of Marvel.

 

[Webhead2006]

I agree their the studios have to see now if you take the characters seriously and dont monkey around with key things you can have a great film on your hands. Hopefully this move will make some good quality films for next group of characters who get lucky in getting to cameras.

 

[Dr. Evil]

Isn't Batman 3 going to have a budget of at least $200 million? That's what I think the budget is going to be for Batman 3, a movie which I really don't think starts shooting until Late 2010 at the earliest.

 

[TheVileOne]

From the reporting on this restructuring, that's obviously not the case. This has been in the works for quite some time. Restructuring within major corporations isn't done in a time frame of less than two weeks. Planning and negotiations to bring this together clearly took a lot longer than that. In fact the first rumors that Diane Nelson would take over DC Comics predate the announcement of Disney's acquisition of Marvel.

Well if you believe the reports, the Disney acquisition of Marvel has been in the works for quite some time as well.

All this restructuring nonsense just proves how problematic these corporations and conglomerates are at getting things done and making actual progress. When they waste valuable time, money, and effort on garbage that never commences like Justice League. What was the point?

 

[FlawlessVictory]

^And that seems to be another reason why this is being done, to prevent fiascos like the Justice League.

 

[GL's Light]

Well if you believe the reports, the Disney acquisition of Marvel has been in the works for quite some time as well.

Yep, and Disney and Marvel were very successful in keeping the negotiations tightly under wraps.

When they waste valuable time, money, and effort on garbage that never commences like Justice League. What was the point?

It's that sort of wasted effort that they're hoping to avert in the future with the restructuring.

 

[Dr. Evil]

The restructuring isn't going to affect DC's biggest franchise movie, currently in the hands of Chris Nolan. It will be like BB and TDK in that Nolan does whatever he wants to in regards to Batman 3 without studio interference. If he wants a $200 million budget for Batman 3, The WB will give it to him.

I don't know if it's going to affect The Losers or Jonah Hex though. I guess we'll find out when The Losers comes out in April.

 

[Webhead2006]

well the restructure isnt likely changing anything with hex/losers since hex is in post production and losers is shooting currently. Batman hopefully we know where nolan stands once his new film is finished. As for other characters and this change i hope it means good things for those characters. Also hopefully this will help messes like the failed 90s attempts with superman or jlm wont go down again.

 

[Chewy]

I don't know if it's going to affect The Losers or Jonah Hex though. I guess we'll find out when The Losers comes out in April.

It can't affect them as they are already in production

I think they just want to finally get Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman movies made.

 

[Octoberist]

it won't affect The Losers or Jonah at all.

 

[Dr. Evil]

well the restructure isnt likely changing anything with hex/losers since hex is in post production and losers is shooting currently. Batman hopefully we know where nolan stands once his new film is finished. As for other characters and this change i hope it means good things for those characters. Also hopefully this will help messes like the failed 90s attempts with superman or jlm wont go down again.

Nolan will be back, why wouldn't he?

 

[Webhead2006]

Yea i am sure he will be back, he doesnt seen like a guy to just up and leave a project and i would like to see a proper trilogy for his bats.

 

[Octoberist]

that's the main reason why WB bought Nolan's script and gave him 200 million to film Inception: To have an agreement of some kind to have him stay.

 

[GreenKToo]

I particularly liked this little snippet from Ms/Mrs? Nelson's quote....

''Nelson said that among the things that will be focused upon will be how DC's characters can be utilized in feature films, acknowledging that among them will be Superman and Wonder Woman.''

We'll see.

 

[solidsnake86]

Most important point that I took from it, Nolan might have another movie after Inception so B3 may be nowhere near happening anytime soon. An announcement in the first quarter of next year, if we hear anything on superman it could probably come out then. SHould be interesting what IESB and Latino review have to say about this. It makes sense why we heard nothing last year about a big announcement of there film slate, because they decided to go for a bigger restructuring. Also makes sense why Morrison said he was excited but the article was quickly pulled.

 

[GL's Light]

From Variety's article about the restructuring:

Gregory Noveck, senior veep of creative affairs for DC Comics,� had been� serving� as a liaison between the comic book publisher and the studio. He'll maintain a role working on entertainment projects under Nelson.

Robinov has especially been keen on taking more creative control of DC's adaptations, but he needed an executive he could rely on to fully exploit the comic book brands while also making sure die-hard fans would be happy with the projects produced.

"I've long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.' businesses with this great body of characters and stories," Robinov said. "There are endless creative possibilities to build upon."

While Levitz, who had headed DC Comics since 2002, is well respected for keeping DC's characters alive on the comic book page, his interests have been more in publishing than in transitioning the characters to other entertainment platforms.

With no clear mandate from DC until now, Warner Bros.' other divisions have been producing their own projects based on DC's characters in an effort to boost their bottom lines.

Nelson will now wrangle all of the other projects that were in development across the various divisions and work with their toppers to identify new projects to produce while also coming up with an overall release and marketing strategy for them.

That will likely mean taking back control of some properties from producers, although final decisions have not been made, Robinov said.

 

[Webhead2006]

nice details.

 

[GL's Light]

From The Hollywood Reporter:

The first order of business will be a review of all the DC projects currently in Warners' pipelines with an eye toward developing a new master plan for upcoming releases that will be announced by January or February, charting the studio's priorities more clearly.

Nelson, a specialist in brand management and marketing, has overseen the Harry Potter franchise for the studio and will continue to manage it, even beyond the release of the final film in the series in 2011.

"What we've done with Harry Potter -- working together across Warners and even Time Warner to develop a focus and a strategic point of view -- is a good model for what we want to do with DC Comics," she said. "It will be a reciprocal relationship, working closely with the executives there and with the executives within each of our divisions to incubate and build new brands. It's a great opportunity to bring more coordination and to focus and integrate DC with Warners more effectively."