Teen Titans: The Movie

[Mogwai]

Teen Titans to the Big Screen
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
May 31, 2007


DC Comics' superteam Teen Titans is getting the big-screen treatment courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The live-action adaptation is being produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster through their Weed Road production company, while Mark Verheiden has been brought on board to write the script.

The Teen Titans, which first appeared in 1964, are comprised of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy, the respective sidekicks of A-list heroes Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.

The comic series reached X-Men-style success in the 1980s, when the team was relaunched in a new comic with the characters no longer kids but college-age adults and the stories explored more mature themes. The series also saw the addition of Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, original characters who weren't sidekicks, while the character of Robin matured into one called Nightwing.

Most recently, the comic was adapted to the television screen with a Cartoon Network series that ran from 2003-06 that used many of the '80s comics' heroes and story lines.

It is not known which heroes will be used, but Nightwing is said to be in the mix.

Goldsman said the tone will be consistent with such recent Warners' comic book fare as Batman Begins, Superman Returns and the upcoming Watchmen.

Verheiden was a writer-producer on "Smallville" and is a writer-producer on "Battlestar Galactica."

I love the Titans, this sounds great.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

This seems pretty premature though. If Robin is going to be involved, it's pretty strange to start him off in this series.

 

[Mogwai]

Yeah, I'm curious to see how he's handled. As for the rest of the cast, hopefully they use the non-sidekick characters like Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, etc..

 

[batdude]

I like this idea, especially with Verheiden involved.

 

[Saint]

This is going to be a disaster. How can they use Nightwing without establishing him in the Batman series first? This stinks of Catwoman, which ruined any chances of that character appearing in the current Batman films.

 

[guitarsingerguy]

This is going to be a disaster. How can they use Nightwing without establishing him in the Batman series first? This stinks of Catwoman, which ruined any chances of that character appearing in the current Batman films.

I hate to say I agree with you, but WB seems to have a bad habit of getting ahead of themselves. Heaven forbid we wait for Batman to set up Catwoman. Instead, create some random bull**** character that really has nothing to do with the actual character itself. This could be their way of answering the fans wanting to see Robin on film without finding a good way of doing so.

 

[Mogwai]

The only way I see it working is if Batman has some sort of cameo in the movie to show the relationship between him and 'Robin.'

 

[Comic Book Boy]

I love the Titans, this sounds great.

Ugh, how terrible. Who really cares about the TEEN TITANS? This movie will be a total bomb.
And why make a TITANS film before a FLASH or WONDER WOMAN film? Totally whacked priorities.
Also Dick Greyson shouldn't be in this. It screws up the Batman franchise!

 

[Comic Book Boy]

And did that article really just compare the TEEN TITANS to WATCHMEN?
The end of the world....

 

[guitarsingerguy]

The only way I see it working is if Batman has some sort of cameo in the movie to show the relationship between him and 'Robin.'

If they have a problem with Bruce Wayne showing up in Smallville because of the films, then I can't imagine they'll be all for interweaving movie stars yet either. I don't see something like that happening until JLA or World's Finest.

 

[JP]

Well, I for one am excited.

I doubt Nolan will EVER bring Robin into his universe, so I don't see the issue. I do hope they stick to the non side-kick characters, though. Cyborg and Raven would be sweet.

 

[Speedball]

Well, I for one am excited.

I doubt Nolan will EVER bring Robin into his universe, so I don't see the issue. I do hope they stick to the non side-kick characters, though. Cyborg and Raven would be sweet.

But can they hold their own in a film?
I see the first roster for the film version to be Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Terra, Red Star, and Jericho.
Unless this takes place in the future or in an alternate universe, I don't see how it can work right.
Beast Boy can't be in it, because there's going to be a Doom Patrol film, and we can't have Wonder Girl, Robin, Superboy or Kid Flash because no one knows if they are going to appear in the films of their mentors.
It would be interesting to see the kid from Superman Returns in Teen Titans though...

 

[Motown Marvel]

akiva "batman and robin" goldsman? mark "i suck at writing comics" verheiden? UGH! this film is gonna make catwoman look like batman begins!

 

[GL1]

They can introduce Robin in the Teen Titans movie... there's no need for all the movies to be intertwined like comics.

 

[Nokio]

I actually like the Teen Titans, but my hope sunk when I saw Akiva Goldsman attached. This man has trainwrecked a many of film, especially Batman. I don't know how he still gets work. The only small glimmer of hope is that he's producing the film, and even it still this looks to be a bad idea. Goldsman is really a hit or miss.

I guessing WB is looking at doing a team thing like the xmen or f4. They know it's going to be tough getting the JLA on the big screen and that it's going to cost serious bucks, so they look to smaller heroes or teams. The Teen Titans is probably the easiest team to get up on screen. Will this work? Doubtful.

I think a good TT movie can be made with the right creative team, but will WB put one together is the question. I'm sure WB will probably go with the line up that was on the animated series, but then Beast Boy and Starfire may be costly. It seems WB isn't going to do a big budget TT film. It'll probably be around 60-80 million, but not over a 100 million. I don't see a problem using Robin as some are suggesting. They pulled it off on the animated series and the general audience isn't going to care about the batman connection or him showing up.

Robin: he will be used

Beast Boy: not sure, cgi heavy character

Cyborg: diversity, he'll be there.

Raven: she'll be there. The dark and tortured character, also the outsider.

Starfire: maybe, but she will require heavy fx. They may not use her.

As for others like superboy, speedy, Kid flash, Aqualad, and terra. who knows. Then again characters like speedy and Kid Flash are cost effective, especially speedy.

WB really needs to leave this in the pages of the comics.

 

[Shifty]

And did that article really just compare the TEEN TITANS to WATCHMEN?
The end of the world....

Just in tone meaning they aren't going for a PG kid friendly live action adaptation of the animated series that they'll try to make the movie "realistic" as possible.

They can introduce Robin in the Teen Titans movie... there's no need for all the movies to be intertwined like comics.

Yeah if Robin showed up in costume without an origin are people going to be confused?

WB really needs to leave this in the pages of the comics.

Not while Marvel is putting out 3 films a year.

 

[odiin]

This is going to be a disaster. How can they use Nightwing without establishing him in the Batman series first? This stinks of Catwoman, which ruined any chances of that character appearing in the current Batman films.

That would be the case if this was a Robin or Nightwing movie, but it's not. It's a TEEN TITANS movie. A Robin movie would tell the origins of the character, while a Teen Titans film would be telling the origin of the team and as such the character of Robin would already have been established as a character before-hand, There's no need for Batman.

I hope they do consult with Chris Nolan about the casting of Robin though, just in case he end up deciding to use him in a future Batman movie, that way they would be able to agree on an actor for that role beforehand and Nolan wouldn't end up recasting it in a future movie.

 

[odiin]

Not while Marvel is putting out 3 films a year.

Yeah. Well actually, Marvel itself is going to be putting out 2 films a year and then the studios that own the films rights to the characters they've sold off will end up putting out movies whenever they want so it's possible that some years there could actually be MORE than 3.

DC needs to work to make sure that they make sure to have 2 films in development each year in order to guarantee that at least one gets released, just in case something falls through like Wonder Woman did this year. I understand that they don't want to oversaturate the market and/or rush their films to release, and in fact I think that's SMART but they're being WAAAAAAAY too overly cautious and really need to get cracking. They have like a million different projects that they've announced but yet the only one that seems to be making any progress is Shazam, and that's because it's being developed by New Line rather than WB!

 

[Steelsheen]

well, the optimist in me is happy that we're getting a Titans movie. Nightwing would be cool, but ideally it should start with Robin and perhaps somewhere down the line transition him into Nightwing.

the cynic in me says that except for Batman, they lost all hope in the big guns drawing more moolah that Marvel so they're bringing out the sidekicks to save the day. oy!

 

[chamber-music]

gonna be intresting to see if they can pull this off. Although I'm pretty skeptic. WB has announced its turn its DC comic properties into films many times and they still can't get them off the ground. Look what happened to The Flash and Wonder Women.

 

[Katsuro]

I, for one, doubt it'll ever really happen. DC is all talk. There are too many films that they've hired writers for and just never ended up happening, or at least taken REALLY long.

I get the feeling Nolan will beat them to it anyways, because I really hope Nolan will be willing to use Robin eventually.

 

[Steelsheen]

And did that article really just compare the TEEN TITANS to WATCHMEN?
The end of the world....

they're referring to the style/ quality of the film, means its not quite kiddie fare and more for the matured audience.

I, for one, doubt it'll ever really happen. DC is all talk. There are too many films that they've hired writers for and just never ended up happening, or at least taken REALLY long.

I get the feeling Nolan will beat them to it anyways, because I really hope Nolan will be willing to use Robin eventually.

i think WB is mostly to blame for all the false starts. the problem with them really is that they dont involve the DC folks enough, unlike Marvel that has a say in the creative process of making a movie about their franchise, WB seems to be adamant on keeping DC focused on just the comics and leave the comic book movie to whomever WB hires from Hollywood.

 

[wellsy]

I haven't been following The Dark Knight much, but I thought I'd throw it out there - is there any chance Nolan could be hiding Robin (or Dick Grayson) up his sleeve for it? I know he says he wouldn't know how to do the character, but I also think he might just be saying that without actually meaning it.

However, if this should happen, I would imagine there'd be something in The Dark Knight and BB3 which might help explain Robin's origins (and Teen Titans this one can be released subsequent to BB3).

Thats for Robin.

As for the others... well, I'm sure there are plenty who'd want to see Jason gone, so I guess dumping him with the Titans might be something. As for Cyborg, Raven and Starfire, I would imagine them to be in. Cyborg provides diversity, Raven is much darker, and Starfire is kind of like the audience, the outsider.

It could work.

 

[Steelsheen]

I haven't been following The Dark Knight much, but I thought I'd throw it out there - is there any chance Nolan could be hiding Robin (or Dick Grayson) up his sleeve for it? I know he says he wouldn't know how to do the character, but I also think he might just be saying that without actually meaning it.

its on some fanboys wishlist.
i wouldnt mind having Dick Grayson on the 3rd film, perhaps towards the end. but no Robins, not for this first set of Nolan movies.

 

[Lestat74]

Teen Titans ( or more specifically, the Marv Wolfman/George Perez "New Teen Titans" from the 80's ) is the reason I became a comic book fan in the first place....so on some parallel Earth right now ( the Earth where DC movie projects not involving Superman or Batman actually get off the ground ) I'm exstatic about this. However, on this world, we know this will likely never happen.

But if it does happen, I can assure you we'll see the 5 Titans from the animated show...they wisely took the new characters from the 80's version, and those are the most famous Titans now. Dick Grayson will no doubt be in it...there simply isn't a Teen Titans without him. He may be Robin, but he could just as easily be Nightwing. He could be an older version of the character, like maybe 18 or 19, already out on his own. ( as he was in the comic book when New Teen Titans started ) Batman does not have to show up at all, although he would have to be mentioned I guess. That leaves it open for the Chris Nolan series to introduce a younger Robin at some point, although frankly Nolan seems to have zero interest in the character so I doubt he'll want him, leaving Dick Grayson up for grabs.


I almost positive we won't see Aqualad, Speedy or Kid Flash. Donna Troy is a big maybe...her rights may be tied up with a potential Wonder Woman movie, so she may not be worth the hassle. However, there have been origins for Donna over the years that have nothing to do with Wonder Woman, so if they wanted to they could simply use one of those, and not even bother mentioning Wonder Woman. Don't even call her "Wonder Girl" just call her Donna Troy, like Jean Grey was never Marvel Girl in the movies.

*Sigh* I'm letting myself get excited about the idea. I should know better.