Well....Shawn Levy is Directing the Flash

[FlawlessVictory]

I'm starting to believe Nolan on Batman was just a fluke and DC superhero movies are heading right back to the crapper again.

Agreed. I can't help but think Superman Returns may have played a part in the decision making here. I just think after the effort they put into SR and after taking the material as seriously as they did and then not turning in the profit they thought they would, this resulted in at least a slight change of thinking. Even with BB, they didn't turn in great numbers.

Forget that BB was quality stuff and so was SR(although I'm sure people will argue that), WB probably only cares that those movies weren't as "big" as they thought they would be. So now they will probably change their approach and take the material more lightly and see how that turns out for them. I don't necessarily agree with it but not every movie has to be like BB(in tone) and I think even SR was a bit too dark.

However, I have very little confidence in Shawn Levy and I feel they will probably end up going overboard in trying to lighten things up. I fear the audience will be left laughing at the movie in certain scenes when they are not supposed to. We need something like "The Incredibles", in terms of tone and quality. Why can't WB hire someone like Chris Columbus? He's worked with the studio before and has delivered blockbuster movies for them.

 

[Philly Phanboy]

Shawn Levy is the best they could come up with?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

My condolences to all those diehard Flash fans.

 

[mad-sci]

Face it, Warner's WANT a family-friendly light-hearted comic film (i.e. read a film that EVERYONE watches, like Sony's Spider-man, or POTC).

This is without doubt a reaction to SR. The fact is that for a $200M blockbuster, WB was expecting a Spider-man type film, instead of the most expensive indie movie (like Garden State). If SR was a huge hit, then the Flash probably wouldn't have lost Goyer so quickly.


OTOH, the fact is that the Flash CAN be a light-hearted action romp FAR better than any of the big trinity. WB see Wally West as DC's answer to Peter Parker/Spider-man (young man, good lucks, GSOH, personal problems, etc.), and by hiring a director who's last film earned over $200M at the US box-office, they're looking for a sure-fire family film (which is what it'll be).

As for other WB films being made like this, it won't happen to Superman (without replacing Singer, which they've spent WAY too much to do), it'll NEVER happen to Batman (BF / B&R made sure of that), and the fact that WW has Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, V for Vendetta, the Matrix series) as producer guarantees it won't be family orientated. The Deadman story has Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth), so expect R-rated minimum. The only other project at risk is Green Lantern, and since the Jack Black debacle from a few years back derailed that, I doubt it'll happen again so soon.

 

[JackBauer]

hell, I started to believe BB was a fluke way back when, when I saw and heard what they were doing with Catwoman. when they announced Wonder Twins and Zatanna. then came the Jack Black as GL rumour. now comes this.

seriously, that studio is filled to capacity with morons. they've been blamed of pretty much singlehandedly f***in the superhero movie genre by going the "lighthearted" way. they should've learned from their mistake after Batman & Robin. make a good movie. it will sell itself. but no, let's get a crappy director who makes successfull movies for the lowest common denominator. it's easy money.

seriously people, it's been made abundantly clear for a long time, this latest debacle only proves it: THE WB WILL NEVER LEARN!!

 

[FlawlessVictory]

seriously, that studio is filled to capacity with morons. they've been blamed of pretty much singlehandedly f***in the superhero movie genre by going the "lighthearted" way. they should've learned from their mistake after Batman & Robin. make a good movie. it will sell itself. but no, let's get a crappy director who makes successfull movies for the lowest common denominator. it's easy money.

seriously people, it's been made abundantly clear for a long time, this latest debacle only proves it: THE WB WILL NEVER LEARN!!

It really is amazing when a comic book/superhero movie gets made that is actually pretty good.

 

[JackBauer]

Face it, Warner's WANT a family-friendly light-hearted comic film (i.e. read a film that EVERYONE watches, like Sony's Spider-man, or POTC).

except that those movies actually had talented directors.

and if WB wants to make that kind of money, they have to remember that both those movies had big gambles on them: Sam Raimi could hardly be called a blockbuster director, and as for Pirates, it was based on a friggin Disney ride; no one, I mean NO ONE, expected it to be either good or as successful as it was.

but this, it just has Fantastic Four written all over it. stupid fluff for the dumb masses.

 

[mad-sci]

I know I'm asking for a flaming by posting this, but the fact is that a Flash movie CAN be made into a light-hearted romp, and people WILL watch it, regardless of how much it bastadises the character, because of its low general audience awareness.

Outside of comic fans and people who frequent online, how many people know there have been 4 different characters with the name Flash? How many people would know of the founding member of the JSA, Jay Garrick? How many people would know of police scientist Barry Allen, or the importance of his death? How many would care to know about Wally West's origins, the legacy of the Speed Force, or his relationships to Barry, Linda Park? How many care about the new Flash, Bart Allen? The answer is NONE.


The Flash character has become popular by appearance in the JLA / JLU / JL: video games, or guest appearances in TV shows like 'Smallville', but as a standalone character in a feature film, ANYTHING can be done to the character, and the public audience wouldn't care, and still watch the film.

It's a sad, but true fact about the popularity of the character outside of comics (ask anyone on the street who the Flash is... they won't have a clue. Ask about Batman, Superman, Spider-man, would you get the same answer?)

 

[bosef982]

Well, WB attempted a darker, more serious approach with Superman Returns and fans cried and and screamed and whined and talked about how it should be "FUN" and "LIGHT" and such...cuz then, as fanboys arguments went, the movie is "watchable" and "marketable." As fans themselves have put some much attention on the BOX OFFICE and not QUALITY, and judged QUALITY narrow-mindedly by the Box OFfice, they have sent a signal to Studios of the same...what's marketable is right for these franchises.

Fans are simply getting what they wish for....they've delinated these movies to simple popcorn, fun fests that'll make a lot of money but be horribly representations of their original forms....

WAY TO GO, FANBOYS!

 

[DarkSuperman]

Well, WB attempted a darker, more serious approach with Superman Returns and fans cried and and screamed and whined and talked about how it should be "FUN" and "LIGHT" and such...cuz then, as fanboys arguments went, the movie is "watchable" and "marketable." As fans themselves have put some much attention on the BOX OFFICE and not QUALITY, and judged QUALITY narrow-mindedly by the Box OFfice, they have sent a signal to Studios of the same...what's marketable is right for these franchises.

Fans are simply getting what they wish for....they've delinated these movies to simple popcorn, fun fests that'll make a lot of money but be horribly representations of their original forms....

WAY TO GO, FANBOYS!

You shouldn't call people fanboys becasue they care about the integrity of a character and don't agree with the portryal. If anyone is an expert on the Subtleties that make Superman Superman, I think its the fans who've watched/read his adventures for the last 60+ years. Like I keep saying powers and a Spit curl do not a Superman make. Once you get that you'll see that SR is a hollow shell devoid of 90% of what makes superman super to begin with. Call me crazy but I like my Superman to have more than a handful of lines in his own movie.

All that Aside FUN and LIGHT does not translate to Batman and Robin.

 

[JackBauer]

Well, WB attempted a darker, more serious approach with Superman Returns and fans cried and and screamed and whined and talked about how it should be "FUN" and "LIGHT" and such...cuz then, as fanboys arguments went, the movie is "watchable" and "marketable." As fans themselves have put some much attention on the BOX OFFICE and not QUALITY, and judged QUALITY narrow-mindedly by the Box OFfice, they have sent a signal to Studios of the same...what's marketable is right for these franchises.

Fans are simply getting what they wish for....they've delinated these movies to simple popcorn, fun fests that'll make a lot of money but be horribly representations of their original forms....

WAY TO GO, FANBOYS!

except that the biggest problem here isn't that they're not going down a darker path. hell, I for one am sick and tired of this kind of treatment, that superheroes have to be dark in order to be taken seriously as entertainment. got to the point where Marvel is making a mini-series which is entirely based on various stages of grief. so f***in emo and so f***in stupid.

but I digress.

no, the main problem here is that they're going with a director who has made quite a few movies, quite a few straight-up comedies (something the Flash isn't supposed to be), and none of those movies were actually funny, and none showed even an inkling of talent coming from this hack who, for all intents and purposes, should be working with the likes of Paul Walker, Jessica Alba, Steve Martin, Ashton Kutcher... and the list goes on.

why not take a chance on a talent, like Marvel did when they hired a cult filmmaker who had never made a blockbuster to make a movie out of one of their most popular franchises and made a ridiculous amount of money out of it?

hell, if they want a lighter tone, why not go to their own backyard and get a talented director like Shane Black, who wrote the first two Lethal Weapons and directed and wrote Kiss Kiss Bang Bang?

I'd be willing to bet that people wouldn't be so pissed about all this if that were the case.

BTW, on another note, the problem with Superman Returns (for me, at least) isn't that it was too serious. it was that Singer had such a hard-on for anything in Donner's movie that he failed to make the movie his own. instead he rehashed a bunch of crap we've all seen before.

 

[blind_fury]

Ghostbusters and BTTF were cheesy forgettable crap

You know it's bad when you can't think of any decent light hearted comic book movies.

You know it's really bad when the last decent light hearted movie was made twenty years ago.

 

[Hunter Rider]

You know it's bad when you can't think of any decent light hearted comic book movies.

You know it's really bad when the last decent light hearted movie was made twenty years ago.

The point was that you made a sweeping ludicrous statement as fact and i chose two movies that are worshipped on here by fanboys as a prime example.lighthearted isn't this movies problem,it's the director they have chosen to take them there that is the problem

 

[JackBauer]

I know I'm asking for a flaming by posting this, but the fact is that a Flash movie CAN be made into a light-hearted romp, and people WILL watch it, regardless of how much it bastadises the character, because of its low general audience awareness.

it CAN be made into something lighter than, say, BB or V for Vendetta. but it SHOULDN'T be made by a hack who has never done a single good movie in his career.

Outside of comic fans and people who frequent online, how many people know there have been 4 different characters with the name Flash? How many people would know of the founding member of the JSA, Jay Garrick? How many people would know of police scientist Barry Allen, or the importance of his death? How many would care to know about Wally West's origins, the legacy of the Speed Force, or his relationships to Barry, Linda Park? How many care about the new Flash, Bart Allen? The answer is NONE.

and how many people knew ANYTHING about Ras Al Ghul? or the Scarecrow? or Joe Chill?

just because they don't know, doesn't mean you can't show them.

The Flash character has become popular by appearance in the JLA / JLU / JL: video games, or guest appearances in TV shows like 'Smallville', but as a standalone character in a feature film, ANYTHING can be done to the character, and the public audience wouldn't care, and still watch the film.

It's a sad, but true fact about the popularity of the character outside of comics (ask anyone on the street who the Flash is... they won't have a clue. Ask about Batman, Superman, Spider-man, would you get the same answer?)

I'd say he became more popular back when the Flash tv show was on.

either way, just because the character isn't the most popular, doesn't mean they should f**k around with him.

case in point: Catwoman. nuff said.

 

[Lobster Charlie]

I blame Superman Returns. I doubt WB ever takes a chance like that ever again.

 

[spider-neil]

(ask anyone on the street who the Flash is... they won't have a clue. Ask about Batman, Superman, Spider-man, would you get the same answer?)

bats, spidey and supes identity and origin is common knowledge I have to agree about flash though, still no reason to screw him up with campness like the the FF

 

[blind_fury]

I blame Superman Returns. I doubt WB ever takes a chance like that ever again.

Yup, the DC superhero movie revival is over.

 

[JackBauer]

Yup, the DC superhero movie revival is over.

yeah, WB's making damn sure they stay on tracks right back to the glory days of Batman & Robin and Steel...

 

[Super_Child]

Damn it Damn it Damn it Damn it Damn it!!!!!!!!

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

Yup, the DC superhero movie revival is over.

Well at least we still have the Batman sequels. Everyone needs to go see the sequel in droves so we can show WB they type of movies we want.

 

[mad-sci]

and how many people knew ANYTHING about Ras Al Ghul? or the Scarecrow? or Joe Chill?

just because they don't know, doesn't mean you can't show them.

Yes, but unlike B89 - B&R, the focus of BB was Bruce Wayne / Batman, Gordon and Alfred. The selling point of the entire film was Bruce's transformation to Batman. People know who Batman is, they just saw how it came to be.

And as for the excitement of TDK..... two words: The Joker (I think people know who that is A LOT more than Ra's, Scarecrow, etc.)

I'd say he became more popular back when the Flash tv show was on.

either way, just because the character isn't the most popular, doesn't mean they should f**k around with him.

case in point: Catwoman. nuff said.

I'm not saying to mess with the characters (I wouldn't want that), I'm just saying that out of most DC / Marvel characters, the name, backstory, appearance and even the basic origins of the Flash character can be played around with (and already have been, in JLU where Wally West is a police scientist). You can do that because there's been more than one Flash, their origins are all linked and hard to translate on-screen (How the hell do you explain Bart if you don't use Barry?).


As for Catwoman, that was always screwed even when her origin in BR was done (great character in that film, but not comic-book based Selina Kyle, though some will defend it). Unlike Flash, there is only 1 Catwoman, she is NOT a superhuman being who gets her powers from cats, she is not someone called Patience Price. AND it didn't help that she was played by a demanding actress who's solo films have been failures.

 

[spider-neil]

Well, WB attempted a darker, more serious approach with Superman Returns and fans cried and and screamed and whined and talked about how it should be "FUN" and "LIGHT" and such...cuz then, as fanboys arguments went, the movie is "watchable" and "marketable." As fans themselves have put some much attention on the BOX OFFICE and not QUALITY, and judged QUALITY narrow-mindedly by the Box OFfice, they have sent a signal to Studios of the same...what's marketable is right for these franchises.

Fans are simply getting what they wish for....they've delinated these movies to simple popcorn, fun fests that'll make a lot of money but be horribly representations of their original forms....

WAY TO GO, FANBOYS!

SR wasn't dark it was just DULL.
but certainly I think the 'relative' low box office have scared WB.
BB was dark but I don't think that is the way to go for the flash but at the same time it shouldn't be a light hearted romp.

action
comedy
compelling story
dark moments
cool villian
= spider-man

I'm afraid the flash will lean more towards batman and robin/FF than spider-man

crying shame the JL/JLU have really made me love the flash but that will be stripped away if this film turns out to be camp fest.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

I blame Superman Returns. I doubt WB ever takes a chance like that ever again.

Sad but probably true.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

Well at least we still have the Batman sequels. Everyone needs to go see the sequel in droves so we can show WB they type of movies we want.

Thank God for Nolan!

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

It was WB's own fault with Superman Returns. They wasted millions of dollars on a new Superman movie.

 

[Flexo]

I can sum my thoughts up in one sentence.

This is bull ****.