They are going ahead with a Justice League movie

[sojourner]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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Who else will be in this movie? Flash? Martin Manhunter? Green Lantern or Arrow? They can probably be summed up fairly quickly by either flashback or narrative.

I would guess Green Arrow will be out if the tv show is a success. They have a history of embargoing between media.

[Captaindemotion]

^Not necessarily. I know that Nolan and co were protective of Batman and thus we had no Bruce Wayne in Smallville. But that show was still on the air while Superman Returns was in production and in the cinema.

[Christopher]

Captaindemotion wrote:

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WW may need a little more exposition but will she need any more individual time than say Storm in the first X-Men movie?

God, I hope so, since Storm was completely wasted in X-Men.

Who else will be in this movie? Flash? Martin Manhunter? Green Lantern or Arrow? They can probably be summed up fairly quickly by either flashback or narrative.

I think the best way to sum up a hero is by what they do. Show them in action. Show them saving innocents, show what powers they use to do it, show their attitude and personality as they do it, show what roles they play within the team. Then follow them back to HQ and show their personalities in more depth through their interplay.

As for origins, I consider those optional. Every character has a past that shapes their actions, but not every story that introduces a new character has to explain where that character came from. We didn't get an "origin story" for Indiana Jones until the third movie and the spinoff TV series. We didn't get an origin story for James Bond until 44 years into the film franchise. Where a character came from is only important inasmuch as it informs their behavior and values now. You could show that in dialogue without flashbacks. Have Clark and J'onn have a conversation about being the last of their respective species and what it feels like to be aliens on Earth, with the differences in their perspectives coming from the differences in their histories, with Clark growing up among humans and J'onn coming to Earth as an adult. Have Barry give Hal a chewing out about how his arrogant attitude and space-cop perspective blind him to the concerns of the street-level civilians that Barry, as a crime-lab tech, has to face on a regular basis, and maybe throw in some Aladdin jokes about his magic lantern and ring. Have Diana comment on how much simpler things were back on Themyscira, growing up with the Amazons. Maybe have Hal and Bruce comment on their mutual skepticism about Diana's claims of being a product of Greek gods and myths. That way, you're revealing backstory at the same time you're doing the more important job of revealing character.

[the G-man]

Christopher wrote:

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Is there anything more to discuss at the moment? I read that the Affleck rumors didn't pan out, that he turned them down. I haven't heard any other news since.

Your point is well taken. However I felt I should acknowledge we'd gone off topic and give us a chance to get back to it.

I had a thought the other day that a good way to make a JL movie distinct from The Avengers is to do just the opposite of an origin story -- treat it more like an office drama with the team already in place and let the audience get to know them through their interactions and their work...

Interesting. I had a similar idea after the Singer Superman movie. Had the movie been better received, but given the need to move forward in some way other than 'Superman and Son,' I thought the sequel could have been 'Superman: Justice League,' with Clark as a newcomer to a team of familiar heroes (including Flash, GL and WW) preparing for an attack by Brainiac. Then they could spin off those heroes into their own films.

Have Diana comment on how much simpler things were back on Themyscira, growing up with the Amazons.

At the risk of getting off topic again, after 'Thor,' i don't understand why WB can't see that a full blown myth based WW couldn't work.

[Cutter John]

I think I'd be happier if they just brought back the animated version.

[JD]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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For writing/directing a JLA movie how about... Kevin Smith?

I'm honestly kind of amazed he hasn't directed one yet. He seems to be pretty popular in the geek community, and he's had at least some success with movies, and he's written some popular comics.

Christopher wrote:

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I think the best way to sum up a hero is by what they do. Show them in action. Show them saving innocents, show what powers they use to do it, show their attitude and personality as they do it, show what roles they play within the team. Then follow them back to HQ and show their personalities in more depth through their interplay.

As for origins, I consider those optional. Every character has a past that shapes their actions, but not every story that introduces a new character has to explain where that character came from. We didn't get an "origin story" for Indiana Jones until the third movie and the spinoff TV series. We didn't get an origin story for James Bond until 44 years into the film franchise. Where a character came from is only important inasmuch as it informs their behavior and values now. You could show that in dialogue without flashbacks. Have Clark and J'onn have a conversation about being the last of their respective species and what it feels like to be aliens on Earth, with the differences in their perspectives coming from the differences in their histories, with Clark growing up among humans and J'onn coming to Earth as an adult. Have Barry give Hal a chewing out about how his arrogant attitude and space-cop perspective blind him to the concerns of the street-level civilians that Barry, as a crime-lab tech, has to face on a regular basis, and maybe throw in some Aladdin jokes about his magic lantern and ring. Have Diana comment on how much simpler things were back on Themyscira, growing up with the Amazons. Maybe have Hal and Bruce comment on their mutual skepticism about Diana's claims of being a product of Greek gods and myths. That way, you're revealing backstory at the same time you're doing the more important job of revealing character.

We kind of got a little bit of this in The New Frontier. We did get origin stories for J'onn and Hal, but Batman, Flash, Superman, and Wonder Woman were all already active, and our introductions to them were seeing them in action. I thought it worked pretty well in this case, but I guess the creators of that probably had a lot more confidence in their audiences familiarity with the characters than a big Hollywood film's creators might. Honestly, at this point, I'm over the origin story. I think the vast majority of characters origins could probably be covered in 5 or 10 minutes. For me what a character does with their powers is a lot more important than how they got them.

[Dream]

Cutter John wrote:

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I think I'd be happier if they just brought back the animated version.

What do you mean bring back? The show ended. Everyone has moved on.

[Trekker4747]

I'm honestly kind of amazed he hasn't directed one yet. He seems to be pretty popular in the geek community, and he's had at least some success with movies, and he's written some popular comics.

Probably Kevin's biggest drawback is that he's pretty much anti-Hollywood. The movies he has done for a Hollywood studio (and not has own) he's expressed some frustration with, though he is able to work under their constraints.

[JD]

Oh, I've never heard about that before.

[Trekker4747]

JD wrote:

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Oh, I've never heard about that before.

Yeah, whenever he's worked under a major studio the constraints have proven to be too much for him. Again, he's able to meet their demands and "Cop Out" for example he was able to pull in under budget but he's made it clear how anti-Hollywood he is and how he prefers to work on his own material on his own schedule.

I think he's also expressed that he's pretty much "retired" from movie making. It is a shame though because I think he could certainly do a JLA script but, at the same time, his "talents" as a director -with all due respect to him- are limited and may not suit a big-budget action movie.

But if anyone in the "Geek community" could pull off a decent story he probably could. His Batman books were good and, honestly, his Superman Lives! script isn't too bad, again, considering the constraints and requirements put on him.

[PsychoPere]

Kevin Smith had been signed to write and direct Green Hornet, but dropped out because he didn't feel he was up to the task of directing a film with a large budget.

[Dream]

PsychoPere wrote:

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Kevin Smith had been signed to write and direct Green Hornet, but dropped out because he didn't feel he was up to the task of directing a film with a large budget.

If big budget movies bother him then he really shouldn't be doing Justice League.

[the G-man]

PsychoPere wrote:

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Kevin Smith had been signed to write and direct Green Hornet, but dropped out because he didn't feel he was up to the task of directing a film with a large budget.

He was an early contender for the Daredevil movie and turned it down saying he didn't think he could direct action.

Cop Out would seem to have proven him correct

[Dark Gilligan]

The Justice League doesn't need an origin story, just start the movie with them already together. Even if you've never read a comic, you're already going to know who these people are. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman; the Flash to a certain extent, maybe Green Lantern. As Christopher said, the rest can be easily figured out as you go along. Yeah, they're the Super Friends. So what? They've gotten a shout-out on The Big Bang Theory almost every week for years now. This is DC's great advantage over Marvel, they don't need to set up the characters with solo movies in advance. Just go for it. They're the goddamn Justice League.

[Professor Zoom]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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Yeah, whenever he's worked under a major studio the constraints have proven to be too much for him. Again, he's able to meet their demands and "Cop Out" for example he was able to pull in under budget but he's made it clear how anti-Hollywood he is and how he prefers to work on his own material on his own schedule.

I think he's also expressed that he's pretty much "retired" from movie making. It is a shame though because I think he could certainly do a JLA script but, at the same time, his "talents" as a director -with all due respect to him- are limited and may not suit a big-budget action movie.

But if anyone in the "Geek community" could pull off a decent story he probably could. His Batman books were good and, honestly, his Superman Lives! script isn't too bad, again, considering the constraints and requirements put on him.

And his Green arrow run was very good.

But honestly if I was a studio chief, I am not putting Kevin Smith in charge of a 200 million dollar picture with a locked in opening date.