What can DC/WB do now to move forward? Is there hope? - Part 1

[blackdragon6]

more humor and gags,

Please god no

 

[RomanticPenguin]

sell the rights back to Nolan

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Whilst I'd love to see Nolan direct another DC movie I can't see anything in the world that would bring him back. Short of losing all his money in some dodgy investment scheme.

 

[STARMAN]

Outside of Matt Reeves, WB has a tendency to grab from within. They even done that recently with Shazam, Nightwing, and Flashpoint. I've been looking at the roster of WB directors over the next six months, putting Spielberg aside, the pickings look slim.

 

[Erzengel]

Not that it can't happen, I just don't think letting any director create/continue a universe for something like Marvel or DC as a good idea.

Nolan probably has a half dozen ideas/scripts that he wants to eventually get to. I don't think he wants to be tied down with a comics universe.

 

[The Batman]

This doesn't mean anything. George Clooney is the only Live action Batman with out a kill count, yes even Adam West has Kill

West did not intentionally kill anyone. He kicked a random mook in the face, completely unaware of the fact that said mook was made up of unstable molecules, and could be killed by the slightest bit of force.

 

[Gabe99]

VARIETY JANUARY 4, 2018:
Warner Bros. Taps Walter Hamada to Oversee DC Films Production (EXCLUSIVE)

THR JUNE 06, 2018:
DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson Leaving Warner Bros. (Exclusive)

THR JUNE 11, 2018:
Geoff Johns Exits DC Entertainment for Writing and Producing Deal (Exclusive)

THR JUNE 13, 2018:
Warner Bros. Shifts DC Strategy Amid Executive Change-Up

How many Joker movies are too many? That's one question that Walter Hamada, named president of DC Entertainment-based film production at Warner Bros. in January, needs to figure out.

With the recent departures at DC — the studio said June 6 that Diane Nelson, who's been on leave, is not returning as president, and The Hollywood Reporter revealed June 11 that top exec Geoff Johns is moving into a producing pact — Hamada is even more firmly in charge of the film reins.

The exec, who successfully oversaw the Conjuring movies at New Line, inherited a slate in disarray and has quietly spent months sorting through projects. "He walked into a ****show, and he's trying to clean it up," says one insider familiar with the scene.

In the wake of Wonder Woman's surprise $821.8 million worldwide gross and Justice League's disappointing $657.9 million last year, Warners' DC plans needed a reset. According to insiders, Hamada has spent months going over the projects in development, culling certain ones, elevating others, keeping an eye on the big marquee heroes while also developing lesser-known characters that could pop big. This year, there's only one DC movie on the schedule — Aquaman, James Wan's take on the hero that stars Jason Momoa and opens Dec. 21.

Next year there will be two: Shazam!, starring Zachary Levi, and Wonder Woman 2, which begins shooting June 13. Then there are two potential Joker features — one to star Jared Leto, who played the character in 2016's Suicide Squad, and another, starring Joaquin Phoenix, that Todd Phillips will direct. Phillips' movie, expected to begin shooting in the fall, is budgeted at about $55 million, a fraction of most superhero pics, and may be launched under a new label that could be branded with a name like "DC Dark" or "DC Black."

But the other DC movies are leaving behind the dark and brooding palette. The Flash, which will finally begin production in early 2019 with Ezra Miller starring, has abandoned the somber themes it had been expected to tackle. The film now has the Game Night team of John Francis Daly and Jonathan Goldstein on board, and it's looking to Back to the Future as a touchstone. Margot Robbie, who brought a manic energy to Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, figures in the female-centric Birds of Prey, a Quinn spinoff film that is moving along with Sundance filmmaker Cathy Yan attached to direct. Meanwhile, a Batgirl movie, which had been in development with Joss Whedon before losing the director in February, is currently on track with Bumblebee screenwriter Christina Hodson penning a script.

The big question mark going forward is the future of Batman. Writer-director Matt Reeves turned in the first act of a new screenplay during the Memorial Day weekend. It's said to focus on a young caped crusader, and while the studio would not comment, it's unlikely that Ben Affleck, who has played Batman in three features, will again don the cowl.

Whatever Hamada does, the upcoming plans come as a federal judge on Tuesday approved AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, the parent company of both Warner Bros. and DC. One thing the exec will not be doing is convening a writers room, say insiders. Certain studios have taken that tack, such as Paramount and Hasbro with their toy-based properties, Universal with its monster universe, and Legendary with its creature features.

“Walter is philosophically opposed to that approach," says one insider.

Hamada and his boss Toby Emmerich, sources say, also are not looking to date upcoming titles in advance, something they're convinced has bedeviled the DC movies since 2013's Man of Steel. "Walter has a specific design for the universe," says one insider familiar with his thinking.
"He has a plan."

 

[Mandon Knight]

Whilst I'd love to see Nolan direct another DC movie I can't see anything in the world that would bring him back. Short of losing all his money in some dodgy investment scheme.

The irony being IF he did direct within the DCEU, that's what he would be doing anyway.

 

[Greens]

Things are looking better.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Things are looking better.

I have a pudding here, that requires some proof.

 

[Greens]

I have a pudding here, that requires some proof.

I hate pudding.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

Posted this in another thread but it's valid here too.

This is what WB should do.

At this point they could just salvage Wonder Woman and use that as the start of the " new DCEU" for all i care. Come out with a new Batman movie, a new Superman one and have WW and WW84 just disregard JL, BvS, SS and unfortunately MoS.

Come out with AquaMan, Flash (Not you Ezra), Shazam, Green Lantern and we'll shake on it and pretend it never happened.

If they wanna tie the new Batman to WW (because of the pic) then have a post credit scene in Reeves Batman where Bruce sends her the pic, but really, nobody cares.

 

[-JKR-]

There is no need to explicitly disregard the previous movies. They can just elegantly ignore them while going forward.

 

[Rorschach2012]

There is no need to explicitly disregard the previous movies. They can just elegantly ignore them while going forward.

I sort of agree, but those movies really were that bad. But yeah it’s not really necessary

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

There is no need to explicitly disregard the previous movies. They can just elegantly ignore them while going forward.

Exactly. Those movies have fans. WB/DC can move forward without directly referencing those earlier films, but without outright contradicting them either.

 

[The Guard]

They could easily still reference previous events in a sort of "Who let Vicki Vale into the Batcave?" sort of way.

 

[Fincher]

They could easily still reference previous events in a sort of "Who let Vicki Vale into the Batcave?" sort of way.

Some of us want to pretend those movies didn't happen. Directly referencing them can be counterproductive toward that. Using your example, a comment about Vicki Vale only makes sense when you acknowledge Batman '89 and its establishment of Vicki Vale. Otherwise, he might as well have said, "Who let Dave Jablonski into the Batcave?" I don't know, Batman, you tell me.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Easiest to just say nothing - but don't overtly contradict.

 

[FunkMiller]

Some of us want to pretend those movies didn't happen. Directly referencing them can be counterproductive toward that. Using your example, a comment about Vicki Vale only makes sense when you acknowledge Batman '89 and its establishment of Vicki Vale. Otherwise, he might as well have said, "Who let Dave Jablonski into the Batcave?" I don't know, Batman, you tell me.

I have a feeling, when all's said and done, that Reeves's Batman movie will be as different from Snyder's as Nolan's was to Burton's.

 

[Ultra Nolanite]

It's not about what characters say or don't say or about what is referenced or not. How I want it is that BvS and JL never happened. MoS never happened. So you can "NOT reference" all day long but I want Batman and Superman to meet for the first time again. I want the JL to be assembled for the first time again.

Basically a reboot that keeps Wonder Woman. Steve Trevor is just alive and Diana never had this mourning thing, it just didn't happen.

 

[Mernlicious]

errm i do think so because i believe they can get it done right for aquaman and shazam

 

[-JKR-]

Some of us want to pretend those movies didn't happen. Directly referencing them can be counterproductive toward that. Using your example, a comment about Vicki Vale only makes sense when you acknowledge Batman '89 and its establishment of Vicki Vale. Otherwise, he might as well have said, "Who let Dave Jablonski into the Batcave?" I don't know, Batman, you tell me.

Then just pretend they didn't happen, dude. Get over it and enjoy the future movies. Done. They don't have to pander to you by telling you "alright, now when the screen turns black is when you can start to pretend the past movies didn't exist. You ready? 3... 2... 1..."

People's pretense these days that studios need to address whatever they didn't like has gotten out of hand.

It's not about what characters say or don't say or about what is referenced or not. How I want it is that BvS and JL never happened. MoS never happened. So you can "NOT reference" all day long but I want Batman and Superman to meet for the first time again. I want the JL to be assembled for the first time again.

Basically a reboot that keeps Wonder Woman. Steve Trevor is just alive and Diana never had this mourning thing, it just didn't happen.

Which is exactly what I was talking about:

"How I want it." LOL. You do realize that most of you sound like three year olds screaming "Moooommy, how I want it is..."?

 

[Flash525]

At this moment in time, I think DC/WB need to put everything on hold. They need to assess the release and reception of Aquaman, Shazam & Wonder Woman 2 before they decide to do anything else with any other character.

If these three film are a success, then they can look ahead to that Birds of Prey film, a Green Lantern film, and Man of Steel 2. In my opinion, those three currently have the most potential.

Any plans on a solo Joker film (especially with Leto) or a solo Deadshot film (with Will Smith) they can just scrap right now. I can't imagine anyone genuinely wants either of them. Follow these up with a Flash (and) Cyborg buddy film; from what I'm aware of, there's creative hell with these two projects, so why not combine them? I'm sure there's something original a good group of writers could do here.

If the Birds of Prey, Green Lantern and MoS2 films work out, then we can look at potentially throwing in a solo Batman film, then a Justice League 2 (one that's focused on the Injustice League rather than Darkseid) and then see where we are at the end of that.

 

[Greens]

Any plans on a solo Joker film (especially with Leto) or a solo Deadshot film (with Will Smith) they can just scrap right now. I can't imagine anyone genuinely wants either of them. Follow these up with a Flash (and) Cyborg buddy film; from what I'm aware of, there's creative hell with these two projects, so why not combine them? I'm sure there's something original a good group of writers could do here.

I think plenty of people would appreciate a good solo Joker film with Jaoquin Phoenix. One of the most popular DC characters, good actor, the Scorsese prestige thing attached to it. It's far more interesting than anything involving the non-entity that is Cyborg anyway. Who really wants THAT? Justice League flopped, people only came for Batman and to a certain extent Wonder Woman.

 

[-JKR-]

At this moment in time, I think DC/WB need to put everything on hold. They need to assess the release and reception of Aquaman, Shazam & Wonder Woman 2 before they decide to do anything else with any other character.

If these three film are a success, then they can look ahead to that Birds of Prey film, a Green Lantern film, and Man of Steel 2. In my opinion, those three currently have the most potential.

Any plans on a solo Joker film (especially with Leto) or a solo Deadshot film (with Will Smith) they can just scrap right now. I can't imagine anyone genuinely wants either of them. Follow these up with a Flash (and) Cyborg buddy film; from what I'm aware of, there's creative hell with these two projects, so why not combine them? I'm sure there's something original a good group of writers could do here.

If the Birds of Prey, Green Lantern and MoS2 films work out, then we can look at potentially throwing in a solo Batman film, then a Justice League 2 (one that's focused on the Injustice League rather than Darkseid) and then see where we are at the end of that.

Which is basically what Walter Hamada is doing.

Aside from 'AQUAMAN,' 'SHAZAM' and 'WONDER WOMAN 1984' there are only two projects which are eyeing a production start: Todd Philips' 'JOKER' and 'THE FLASH.'

Everything else is just being developed, which can mean everything and nothing.

Hamada's a smart man and knows his way around movies. He's got this.