Justice League Real Talk - Where does the DCEU go from here? - Part 1

[TheGDBatman]

Quality should always take priority over quantity.
Especially in DC’s situation.

I agree. I think the most important thing for WB right now is to string together some successful films. I think if they do that, then the demand for team up films like JL2 will rise because of the goodwill the brand will have started to generate.

A hard reboot isn't necessary, but maybe a soft reboot is. Ultimately, they need to sit down and think long and hard about what they want out of their movies, and what they feel their audience wants. Retooling on the fly just isn't an option anymore. If they make a decision, they need to stick with it, for better or for worse. Right now, tinkering has done nothing but alienate people and damage the brand.

 

[Juan1193]

Outside of the trinity, not really, and even then they will perpetually be affiliated with nostalgia or emulating Marvel.

I'd argue the Teen Titans are a valuable IP. I mean they have 3 very successful animated series under their belt, plus multiple DTV's and video games. t:

 

[Bruce Malone]

I agree. I think the most important thing for WB right now is to string together some successful films. I think if they do that, then the demand for team up films like JL2 will rise because of the goodwill the brand will have started to generate.

A hard reboot isn't necessary, but maybe a soft reboot is. Ultimately, they need to sit down and think long and hard about what they want out of their movies, and what they feel their audience wants. Retooling on the fly just isn't an option anymore. If they make a decision, they need to stick with it, for better or for worse. Right now, tinkering has done nothing but alienate people and damage the brand.

WW should have created a lot of goodwill for JL and it didn't have any impact.

It will be years and probably new actors (and maybe new WB execs) before we see any sort of JL sequel.

 

[FunkMiller]

I'm sorry, which Nolan would you prefer lol?

Love ‘em both, but Chris has said many times that he’s done with comic book stuff... whereas Jonathan has gone on record saying he’d love to take on other DC properties. He’d make the perfect person to shepherd a new DC universe.

 

[BatLobster]

Love Jonah as a creator and would love to see him involved with DC again, but there's just no way I could see it happening at this point. Westworld deserves his full attention for probably the next decade, and I'm more than okay with that.

Maybe at some point in the more distant future.

 

[kguillou]

What if DC invested more in their TV properties? Although the audience for the CW shows is small they all are viewed favorably, especially the Flash which is a consistent hit for them. What if they hired better writers, better costume designers, better fight choreographers and a good director and invested in a small 60-70 million feature film crossover starring the CW characters. If successful that could provide for immense cross polination with the tv shows and give them a huge boost. And THEN that opens the door to bring in heroes like Batman in their world.

I know im grasping at straws herr but the DC CW has goodwill and has the tone that DC as a whole is striving towards. And...it'll be extremely cost effective for them.

 

[FunkMiller]

Love Jonah as a creator and would love to see him involved with DC again, but there's just no way. Westworld deserves his full attention for probably the next decade, and I'm more than okay with that.

Yeah, I know. It’s wishful thinking.... but a man can dream t:

 

[Wanda Detroit]

WW should have created a lot of goodwill for JL and it didn't have any impact.

It will be years and probably new actors (and maybe new WB execs) before we see any sort of JL sequel.

This movie wasn't created by the people who made WW. It was made by the same people who made movies that they didn't like, so why would they show up. The marketing for this movie was almost exclusively towards young males. The women and older crowds that powered WW's box office success had no incentive to watch this movie. Knowing that WW would be in this movie was not enough.

 

[2kt09]

The only way to do it is to adapt a superhero property that is unique by inception. Something like Legion Of Superheroes. An army sized group of teenage heroes set in the far future. Hard for that to rely on nostalgia or be seen as a Marvel copycat.

But after JL, Legion would be seen as an expensive risk (a team movie, with more characters, but none of them as well known), so it'll never happen.

The magic is in the premise the filmmakers, who are as much the creators as the writers/artists behind the ongoing IPs, devise.

 

[Heretic]

What if DC invested more in their TV properties? Although the audience for the CW shows is small they all are viewed favorably, especially the Flash which is a consistent hit for them. What if they hired better writers, better costume designers, better fight choreographers and a good director and invested in a small 60-70 million feature film crossover starring the CW characters. If successful that could provide for immense cross polination with the tv shows and give them a huge boost. And THEN that opens the door to bring in heroes like Batman in their world.

I know im grasping at straws herr but the DC CW has goodwill and has the tone that DC as a whole is striving towards. And...it'll be extremely cost effective for them.

I'm not suggesting that this made a huge impact on ticket sales (though someone will likely take it as such and respond that "that isn't the reason why it bombed" even though I am saying right now that it is not the reason why it bombed) but I wonder if there was any negative impact on sales because a percentage of potential fans have a Flash that they love and were turned off by the idea of a "replacement" Flash. Again...I'm not suggesting that this was the sole or main reason...but maybe for some people it was enough (along with the reviews, not liking BvS etc) to get them to stay at home.

 

[Dark Raven]

This movie wasn't created by the people who made WW. It was made by the same people who made movies that they didn't like, so why would they show up. The marketing for this movie was almost exclusively towards young males. The women and older crowds that powered WW's box office success had no incentive to watch this movie. Knowing that WW would be in this movie was not enough.

That's exactly what I think. They probably saw it and considered the trade off between seeing WW and having to sit through the rest of it. And since WW was only one part of a team ensemble, the must've decided against watching it.

I don't think seeing visuals of the likes of Steppenwolf or Cyborg or tons of CGI help either.

And when women have heard about the film, they hear about it in the context of someone in the production making the costumes skimpier than in WW. Even if it didn't turn out as bad as they might've thought, the seed was already planted.

Plus Whedon's name might not have helped. His script for WW was released online over the summer, and people saw it as very sexist. So his name, combined with Snyder's, whom people associate with grim and desaturated film making and an over-abundance of CGI, probably put people off.

Maybe hire some female directors for future projects, and have WW teamed with the likes of Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Supergirl, etc.

 

[metaphysician]

Batman and Wonder Woman alone cannot save a failing franchise imho.

The reason why the MCU thrives is because they know on how to make most of their characters into big franchises of their own.

Focusing all of their resources in creating smaller shared universes with one or two heroes and their gallery of obscure character won't cure this shared universe of its problems.

I actually agree. I don't think WB should retreat into making only movies about 1 or 2 heroes. I do think they should *slow down*, though. Make movies about whoever. . . but don't try to spam them. Focus on making one or two movies at a time, and making them as good as you possibly can. Keep the budgets down, go back to basics with characterization ( and yes, those horrible origin stories, gasp ). And for the love of all that is holy, don't start work on a sequel or spinoff or teamup or any other movie that is dependent on one of your current stable, until *after* its prior movie has already come out, and you've seen how it succeeded.

 

[Vaibow]

I wish i was in a WB meeting - DC needs a change in direction for a while, maybe next 3-5 years - so how do they move on, forward, to a more light hearted, crowd pleaser that is different from the rest?

Booster Gold. Set in the distant future, Michael Jon Carter, a night watchman executes the perfect heist of Metropolis Space museum - whilst gazing at the heroes of tester year, hearing of their exploits, superman, batman, ww, decided to steal specific artifacts and go back in time and with his future knowledge at his disposal, be his own hero!

It can be any time period of history - lets have some fun.

 

[extra skater]

To me it should move on and that's it. Make the films it's planning to be made, Aquaman, Shazam, Green Lantern, Flash, The Batman... and do films with another characters, dammit. DC has plenty of cool characters. Nightwing, Teen Titans, Lobo, Hawkman, Martian Manhunter, Black Canary, Hitman, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, Swamp Thing...

Sometimes it seems they're running behind Marvel. They should just ignore it and let it go, the films are good and the audience seems to enjoy (although critics do not). Major box office will come sooner or later.

 

[Tra-El]

WB needs to focus on the core hero's now and build them up from the inside out. The focus and starting point after Aquaman, Shazam and WW2 should be (in order) 1. Superman. 2. Batman. 3 Flash. Get those pillars as tall as you can build them and work your way out, patiently, from there. But make no mistake..the core heros of the DC establishment need the most TLC to get where we want to go.

Oh, and lower the damn budgets. Not everything needs to be over $250 mil, as WW proved.

 

[MbJ]

We shouldn't even be thinking of a JL 2 right now.

 

[jmc]

A lesson I think that needs to be learned here is that there really wasn't anywhere to go with this series after Man of Steel. Taking aside whether one likes the level final act or not, the level of destruction in that film made it impossible for any subsequent character to come across as a genuine threat. On top of that the whole world-ending bad guy thing has been done to death now, and honestly there's really isn't anywhere else to go after Steppenwolf in this regard. And even if you were to use Darkseid in a follow film he's only ever going to be seen as a Thanos ripoff. So, it's a no-win situation

So what now? There has to be a return and an emphasis on solo franchises. I understand why people want a shared universe, but each of these characters have such an interesting individual mythology that is ripe for good stories. Let the characters breath on their own. Forget this poorly planned project ever happened, use the things that are salvageable and allow them to develop themselves organically, and revamp everything else.

 

[Tra-El]

We shouldn't even be thinking of a JL 2 right now.

No, but a fresh strategy of building the DC solo universe with the Trinity + Flash (after Aquaman and Shazam as well) could lay new groundwork for maybe a GLC that could potential lead us into the next JL film down the line if their new approach is bulletproof. But you start with Superman, Batman and Flash after what is already been planned and patiently build the brand one brick at a time. This can be done, fam.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

I really hope they don’t make Flashpoint.
That would be a huge mistake
It would be so ****ing stupid..

Flash needs a proper solo and they need to pull back on the shared universe stuff for awhile.

 

[Web-Head]

I really hope they don’t make Flashpoint.
That would be a huge mistake
It would be so ****ing stupid..

Flash needs a proper solo and they need to pull back on the shared universe stuff for awhile.

This

 

[Aquafinn90]

No, but a fresh strategy of building the DC solo universe with the Trinity + Flash (after Aquaman and Shazam as well) could lay new groundwork for maybe a GLC that could potential lead us into the next JL film down the line if their new approach is bulletproof. But you start with Superman, Batman and Flash after what is already been planned and patiently build the brand one brick at a time. This can be done, fam.

Agreed. People are too quick to write off a JL sequel. The Superhero market is HUGE right now, but probably won't be lasting forever. If they build up enough good will with Aquaman, Shazam, The Flash(Flashpoint, whatever it ends up being), The Batman, WW2, GLC and then bring in the Injustice League to face off against JL in the sequel and heavily market that as opposed to a generic CG alien invader we have seen a million times(which is a unanimous complaint of JL), theres no reason why a JL2 couldn't be wildly successful. Ya'll talk about JL2 as if it was coming out next year with nothing in between. All signs point to all the aforementioned movies happening first anyways.

 

[Zur-en-Arrh]

I do hope they make Flashpoint, tho I'm not expecting it at this point.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

I do hope they make Flashpoint, tho I'm not expecting it at this point.

I’d definitely love a flashpoint EVENTUALLY.
It’s just not what needs to happen right now.

 

[Zur-en-Arrh]

And I'm thinking of JL2 and can't nobody stop me

 

[Astro13Zombie]

And I'm thinking of JL2 and can't nobody stop me

You’re a monster, Zur-en-Arrh

and I’m gonna stop you