In order for the DCU to be successful under Gunn & Safran

[Tg11]

Superman Legacy needs to be a Superman movie. I think it’s a mistake to bring the Authority in for a major role if that is Gunn’s plan. I hope he does not bring in a bunch of Justice League cameos like BVS did.

You can have Authority members show up but in the mid credits so they don't even have to be in the actual movie

 

[samsnee]

I get what you are saying and agree that I don’t want any more of the cringey-forced stuff, but it is hard to get around the fact that there is a commonality. And the very core of the character of Superman—an all powerful being who chooses to humility over self-exultation and chooses to live amongst and serve humanity rather than dominating humanity—is similar cannot and should not be compromised when telling a Superman story.

I’d say that they should share traits without Superman being a stand-in for Jesus.

Yes he clearly shares traits with Jesus. But the references in the DCEU were as subtle as a sledgehammer

 

[HydraSith12]

Make Superman Batman Wonder Woman Flash and Green Lantern right and the rest should be Easy

 

[Boom]

1) Get the budgets under control. Until DC has its feet back under it, none of these movies should cost more than $150 million to make. It's absurd that some of these movies need to make $800+ million just to break even. You're going to lose more than you win if that's what you set yourself up against each and every time. You give yourself absolutely zero margin for error. On that note...

2) Set realistic box office expectations and targets. If it's "Billion or Bust" every single time, plans are going to be constantly changing based on how the previous film/s did, and you fall right back into the same trap that doomed the DCEU. On that note...

3) Be patient and stay the course. Commit to quality over quantity. If the films are received well by critics and audiences, it's not the end of the world if they don't necessarily light the BO on fire. Give the plan time to bear itself out.

 

[Frodo]

Focus on these individual characters, individual journey's, lives, and stories first and foremost.

Put these characters before the shared universe.

In other words, Tell an isolated Superman story, a isolated Batman story, a isolated Wonder Woman story etc, first and foremost ,and don't get hung up on connecting all of the them together or building toward a universe threatening foe i.e. Justice League/ event film.

That stuff will come eventually.

But they've got to first get the general audience to care about these individual characters, and their stories first, before giving a rip about the shared universe stuff .

 

[TheVileOne]

Aquaman is the only DCEU movie to make over $1 billion and look how they are treating the sequel. Like it's toxic waste.

 

[Mani-Man]

Aquaman is the only DCEU movie to make over $1 billion and look how they are treating the sequel. Like it's toxic waste.

Its still baffling to me that they didnt go all out on making Aquaman their posterboy after it reached a Billion at the box office.

This company for 15 years or what, was run by utterly incompetent people and we the fans suffer for it even in 2023.

 

[emc5466]

Alan Horn was pushed out by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes 12 years ago for being too old. Horn went to Disney and turned their live action slate completely around. Jeff Bewkes promoted Kevin Tsujihara, a theme park executive, to take his place and the result was a complete disaster.

 

[TheVileOne]

Alan Horn is now consulting for Warner Bros. Discovery now. So irony. Also, he was one of the guys who fired Gunn in 2018, and they are now basically working together again. So double irony.

 

[Herofan]

DC can't succeed in movies, it's too weighed down by comparisons to Marvel and to its own past adaptations.

 

[FunkMiller]

Focus on these individual characters, individual journey's, lives, and stories first and foremost.

Put these characters before the shared universe.

In other words, Tell an isolated Superman story, a isolated Batman story, a isolated Wonder Woman story etc, first and foremost ,and don't get hung up on connecting all of the them together or building toward a universe threatening foe i.e. Justice League/ event film.

That stuff will come eventually.

But they've got to first get the general audience to care about these individual characters, and their stories first, before giving a rip about the shared universe stuff .

All absolutely correct.

And guaranteed none of it will happen, because that doesn't make enough money at the box office fast enough. WB are desperate for a big money maker. And they will continue to drive DC into the ground to get one. They want - and have always wanted - that big short term hit, without taking the time and trouble to build up to it. It was why they failed in 2016, and it'll be why they fail in 2025.

The saddest thing is that it's all so predictable at this point.

 

[Babillygunn]

By the way, post credits scenes are a fad that I wish would go away.

In a lot of ways I wish that shared universes would too.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I think what should happen is focus on ONE standalone story.
For Superman, don't give me the rocket from Krypton, growing up version again. PLEASE, I beg of you (James Gunn) don't waste our time with another origin rehash. A strong story in which Superman exists already. If it succeeds, then see if there is room to build on the DC Universe from there.

 

[Gerardfan2]

Gunn/Discovery need to scale back Phase 1. There are too many projects at a time of superhero fatigue. There are too many C character projects at a time when the DCU needs to have a strong foundation built upon their strongest IPs. After that bring in secondary character projects like Blue Beetle.

Given the string of BO failures and, if that continues with Aquaman2, WB won't have the money to fund all of these projects anyway. Do one film/year initially and one, maybe two TV projects.

With the strike and Dune 2 just pushed back to 2024 it's likely the first DCU film won't release until 2026. In that scenario launch with Brave and Bold as the first film. It's the only film guaranteed to be a box office hit and the first film absolutely needs to be a financial success or the whole thing collapses. The only saving grace of the strike is that it gives Gunn and Discovery the opportunity (excuse) to make big changes to the Phase 1 plans.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Gunn/Discovery need to scale back Phase 1. There are too many projects at a time of superhero fatigue. There are too many C character projects at a time when the DCU needs to have a strong foundation built upon their strongest IPs. After that bring in secondary character projects like Blue Beetle.

Given the string of BO failures and, if that continues with Aquaman2, WB won't have the money to fund all of these projects anyway. Do one film/year initially and one, maybe two TV projects.

With the strike and Dune 2 just pushed back to 2024 it's likely the first DCU film won't release until 2026. In that scenario launch with Brave and Bold as the first film. It's the only film guaranteed to be a box office hit and the first film absolutely needs to be a financial success or the whole thing collapses. The only saving grace of the strike is that it gives Gunn and Discovery the opportunity (excuse) to make big changes to the Phase 1 plans.

What basis do you have that Brave and the Bold would be a guaranteed box office hit, when there is another Batman series currently ongoing? Especially if it's directed by the person who made The Flash? Also what basis do you have that Legacy can't make 2025?

 

[SwordOfMorning]

I'm not even sure its Batman stuff that is a near guarantee of success so much as Batman stuff that in some way evokes the style of The Dark Knight like Joker and The Batman do despite absolutely being their own things. Which no one expects TB&TB to do.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I'm not even sure its Batman stuff that is a near guarantee of success so much as Batman stuff that in some way evokes the style of The Dark Knight like Joker and The Batman do despite absolutely being their own things. Which no one expects TB&TB to do.

I think they may very well find that's the case. TBATB could be a misstep whoever's at the helm.

 

[Iceman]

I think what should happen is focus on ONE standalone story.
For Superman, don't give me the rocket from Krypton, growing up version again. PLEASE, I beg of you (James Gunn) don't waste our time with another origin rehash. A strong story in which Superman exists already. If it succeeds, then see if there is room to build on the DC Universe from there.

I don’t want the origin again. We’ve had a lot of Superman media cover that well. Better to hit the ground running (flying ).

 

[Iceman]

I think they may very well find that's the case. TBATB could be a misstep whoever's at the helm.

I’m hoping it’s not a misstep and that it’s significantly different to the other successful Batman films. As mentioned, fantasy elements and Bat-family could help with that. Would feel a lot better about it if they appointed someone I could be very confident in.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

I’m hoping it’s not a misstep and that it’s significantly different to the other successful Batman films. As mentioned, fantasy elements and Bat-family could help with that. Would feel a lot better about it if they appointed someone I could be very confident in.

I hope it isn't too. But I expect TBATB to be a lot lighter in tone than the public are used to for Batman, and I'm not sure how they'll respond. We all know what happened with the last 'light' live-action Batman movie!

 

[HydraSith12]

Creating a DC Cinematic Universe is not going to be easy i think they should first play safe first make movies about popular characters like Superman Batman Wonder Woman Green Lantern and then introduce the secondary characters like Nightwing Constantine Super Girl etc

 

[OrbOfConfusion]

Warner Bros needs to not meddle for the DCU to be successful.

So basically, I have no hope that will happen. Gunn, who I'm 50/50 on when it comes to his writing, can say that DC Studios is its own thing separate from WBD, but in the end, all arms answer to Zaslav, and we've seen how cancel happy he can be when it comes to projects. DC is different, but again, I don't have any expectations for the DCU outside of maybe Swamp Thing and The Brave and the Bold.

The Elseworlds stuff like The Batman 2 or Joker 2 or, hopefully, Constantine 2, I think all have potential to thrive or at least do well without much interference.

 

[GreenKToo]

I think the problem with the DCEU was it had no real plan, or it didn't feel like it did.

The DCU, imvho, needs a well thought out plan AND a big bad that is threat enough to make all the heroes ( and maybe villains ) to unite to take it down , whether it's Brainiac, Darkseid, anti-monitor, etc, I don't care.

Each film needs it's own self contained story and villain, with a beginning and end, but the big bads presence should be felt in each of the films, like an impending feeling of doom is coming.