DC Movies - To Infinity and Beyond
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
Wow, what a mess. Any announcement regarding WB and DC has become meaningless clickbait nobody will take seriously again.
She didn't say she was out though, just that the future of and her future with Wonder Woman remains uncertain. She also said she was agreeable to studio feedback. There is nothing to say she couldn't be back to direct or even co-write a third instalment. Her visuals were great and she's certainly a competent director--it was just some choices that she made in WW84 that were out of place for Wonder Woman as a character. She did say that she wishes the best for the franchise's future whether that future is with her or with out her.
The majority of the movie going public doesn't care who is writing and directing as long as they see a good film they enjoy.
It seems like everything is on the table right now, and no decisions have been made--I am hopeful that we will see a positive direction for DC movies in the future, whatever the specifics of that direction are and as long as the higher ups come to their senses and keep their hands out of aspects of the creative process they should leave to those better qualified.
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Surprising but not unexpected, I guess. I read Superman of Earth 2 into that as well. They have the Justice Society already so doing a movie with that team would be a fine fit for Cavill's Superman.
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Has anyone told Dwayne that his Black Adam days, sorry day, is done?
Wow. Gonna need a neck brace from all the whiplash.
In worse news, guess this mean Amy Adams won't be back as Lois, either.
Wow. Gonna need a neck brace from all the whiplash.
In worse news, guess this mean Amy Adams won't be back as Lois, either.
This has definitely killed my interest in any future DC Comics movies for a while.
This is a shame, as Henry was a perfectly cast Superman. As with Brandon, he was never allowed to fulfil his potential in the role, IMHO.
I do think he had a few more outings left in him but with it being nearly 10 years since MOS and 5 since the cinematic release of JL, in a way his cameo in Black Adam is more surprising than this news. I was hoping the new guys would pick and choose what to dump and what to keep from the last 9 years but I can also understand why they have (apparently) plumped for a totally new lineup.
Still, it’s hard not to feel that he’s been poorly treated. But as the Batgirl makers can confirm, that’s not exactly new turf for WB.
I do think he had a few more outings left in him but with it being nearly 10 years since MOS and 5 since the cinematic release of JL, in a way his cameo in Black Adam is more surprising than this news. I was hoping the new guys would pick and choose what to dump and what to keep from the last 9 years but I can also understand why they have (apparently) plumped for a totally new lineup.
Still, it’s hard not to feel that he’s been poorly treated. But as the Batgirl makers can confirm, that’s not exactly new turf for WB.
The really awkward thing is that they still have four movies coming up that they're going to have to promote despite being dead ends on the now scrapped DCU v1.
Momoa as Lobo doesn't sound quite as unbelievable now as it did a week ago.
Momoa as Lobo doesn't sound quite as unbelievable now as it did a week ago.
Well, unfortunately i was right with one of my assumptions and Gunn/WB are definitely taking the ax to the entire franchise and are wiping the slate clean.
I don't know if the hardcore audience will follow them into the new continuity, the first movie has to be a massive hit from all sides, critics and audience, if the new DCU were to succeed.
It's a very tall order from Gunn as he has to hit the ground running whereas Marvel "just" took a gamble with Iron Man 1 and lucked out to get Favreau and Downey Jr. to put the movie and entire franchise on the map.
I don't know if the hardcore audience will follow them into the new continuity, the first movie has to be a massive hit from all sides, critics and audience, if the new DCU were to succeed.
It's a very tall order from Gunn as he has to hit the ground running whereas Marvel "just" took a gamble with Iron Man 1 and lucked out to get Favreau and Downey Jr. to put the movie and entire franchise on the map.
While Cavill not returning is disappointing (good luck trying to find anyone to take on the role with his presence), there's other issues with the DC movie future:
1: Apparently, Affleck is in talks to direct a DC film. If anyone recalls, he was interested in directing and starring in a Batman film--until he was not, but now that he's back to talking about directing, who knows what that means for his association with the franchise.
2. Johnson: he--and his agents--were the advocates for Cavill to return--it was Johnson's dream to have Black Adam fight Cavill's Superman in a film. With that plan / hope gone, one has to wonder what Johnson's future--if any--will be with DC films, as I doubt he would perform an about-face and happily appear in a film where Black Adam faced off with Superman-actor-yet-to-be-named in the wake of his own deal-making flushed down the toilet.
3. Gadot? Who knows at this point, but if there's any sense at Gunn-run DC, Jenkins should not have anything to do with Wonder Woman going forward.
4. Ezra Miller. You know, a week ago, I would have held to the belief that he will be recast after The Flash is released, but now, I am not so sure. Frankly, if Gunn wanted to re-sign him, it would raise no eyebrows.
5. Gunn, et al. The usual WB/DC-hating / everything-needs-to-be-like-the-MCU suspects were routinely attacking Zaslav for "destroying" WB/DC (reading between the lines, their anger was centered around the cancellation of the Batgirl film), but Gunn--the man the aforementioned WB/DC-hating / everything-needs-to-be-like-the-MCU contingent all supported as the "answer" for DC movies--has made a decision (re: Cavill, and yes in the end, that rests on the person in charge of the franchise) that seems inexplicably self-destructive, considering the fan support Cavill had as Superman. Hiring Gunn and his partner does not look like the "home run" as claimed by certain voices.
The only silver lining is that the 2023 DC films (The Flash, Aquaman 2, Blue Beetle and Shazam 2) are all part of the same continuity, but if that is the end of the road for said continuity, Gunn's creative proclivities (seen in his MCU) work may end up dividing DC movies fans as much as the JJ/Kennedy Star Wars films did for that franchise (particularly fans of the OT).
He can make Oscar awarded movies and there will still be fans not liking them, you can't win them all. Gunn has his work cut out for him and i believe he has what it takes ( i love the Guardians movies and his Suicide Squad movie and Peacemaker show were brilliant) but it will be a steep uphill battle.
However if the movies are actually good i don't believe fandom will boycott them just to spite WB or even him, if a movie is really good word of mouth will quickly spread and people will watch it. People bitch all the time online but then are still at the movies to watch them and then bitch some more but WB then already has their money, so why care about people who can't be satisfied no matter what's been done.
Except that many studios have tried to "follow the MCU blueprint" and failed miserably -- see the abortive Universal Monsters universe that died after Cruise's The Mummy, or Sony's botched attempt to turn The Amazing Spider-Man 2 into a setup for a Sinister Six movie. And the DCEU's initial attempt to copy the MCU by using BvS to set up sequels didn't work either. The DCEU didn't start to work until it stopped trying to copy Marvel's interconnectedness and let each film be its own thing. That's what's so sad about this -- the DCEU, post-Snyder, was already working. It had settled into a groove of putting out distinctive, diverse standalone films that shared a universe only loosely and were better for their individuality and independence. It worked because it wasn't just lazily copying Marvel like nearly every other studio had tried and failed to do, but instead offered a contrasting approach, a viable alternative. And now they've thrown that out and reverted to making a mistake their predecessors had already grown beyond.
Everyone misses that the reason the MCU worked wasn't the interconnectedness alone. The early films had only the most tenuous interconnections and succeeded on their individual quality. The links between the parts mean nothing if the individual parts aren't strong in themselves. If the only reason a story exists is to set up later stories, it won't work. A story needs to serve itself, first and foremost. Links to other stories should be secondary or tertiary. All these attempts to copy Marvel failed, because you don't succeed by looking at what someone else did and copying it surface without understanding the underlying factors. You can only succeed by building something of your own from the ground up. What should be emulated is not the outward form, not a specific formula or style, but the care and imagination and dedication that goes into creating something with its own identity.
All my life, I've seen Hollywood studios look at a success, try to copy its superficial style or format, and churn out countless inferior, failed imitations. A hit space opera like Star Wars spawns dozens of dumb, badly made space operas and VFX extravaganzas. A hit horror movie spawns dozens of failed, stupid horror movies. A hit YA novel adaptation leads to a spate of inferior YA novel adaptations. Time and time again over the decades, studios have made this same stupid mistake, but they never, ever figure out that it doesn't work -- that what makes something good isn't the category or the formula, but the quality of the execution, the skill and originality of the filmmakers. It's not what you do, it's how well you do it. They should know better than to assume that "following the MCU blueprint" is the way to succeed. It's been tried, and it's failed. But studio execs never, ever seem to learn from history, so they're doomed to repeat their predecessors' mistakes.
True.
Well, no rational mind at a studio makes decisions that will knowingly drive away a loyal fanbase (which was the argument against the treatment of Luke in the TLJ and Han in TFA); its difficult enough to launch a franchise, however, in the event films are produced which generate a large, dedicated fanbase, the conventional wisdom points to doing anything necessary to build on that audience, instead of doing what amounts to shutting the door in their faces. Whether or not anyone will admit it, the DCEU achieved that by having its own, strong voice in the form of MoS/BVS/WW/SS and a few other DC films; they were not trying to be the MCU...until tragedy forced Snyder from completing his original JL film, and Whedon torpedoed the vision with his truncated, Marvel-zed version.
Like the comics, DC and Marvel may trade in superhero fiction, but they are not, nor have they been interchangeable properties, even as talents hopped from one company to the other, or publishers authorized crossover books. The films were working the same way (with a couple of exceptions), with the remaining movies--from Black Adam to the 2023 line-up still having their own identity, and appealing to the fanbase which grew out of MoS.
So this goes back to Gunn and his tendencies: if the DCEU continuity is a closed chapter, will he attempt to MCU-ize DC films going forward?
Further, how likely will it be to see Affleck as Batman or Gadot as Wonder Woman simply step into an all-new film universe? Where is Dwayne Johnson in this future? If the DCEU actors finish their association with the franchise after 2023, its difficult to see a sizable part of the fanbase who supported the DCEU all along will just toss it over their collective shoulders and wait for the new versions.
This is kinda stupid, you have what, 4? movies that are coming out and would say are in the current "Universe" ?
These movies will now tank at the box office because the people in charge have said, this universe is Dead, so why go see it and invest any money or emotions into the movie if we now know for certain that there won't be any more Shazam, etc. even if it makes a Billion. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
These movies will now tank at the box office because the people in charge have said, this universe is Dead, so why go see it and invest any money or emotions into the movie if we now know for certain that there won't be any more Shazam, etc. even if it makes a Billion. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
What I read is that the planned movie will be early in Superman's career but will not be an origin story. Kinda like The Batman.
