A couple of weeks ago we learned that the script for the upcoming Justice League movie had been totally trashed and needed to be rewritten from the ground up. With early press on the Man of Steel looking super positive, the latest rumor out of H’wood totally changes what Warner Bros. could be bringing to the table in 2015.
Keep in mind that all of this all rumor from Latino Review, and while they’ve been pretty good at getting exclusives, take everything with a grain of salt.
First – Christopher Nolan moving from consultant to producer. This makes sense as he’s had the golden touch with Batman, and the upcoming Man of Steel.
Second – Zach Snyder directing the film. He blew everyone’s mind with 300, and while I liked his take on Watchmen, others were less than impressed at the time. If his Man of Steel truly is “the best film of the year” it would be stupid for Warner Bros. to not consider letting Snyder and Nolan take on the companies biggest project.
Third – While Christian Bale has said he was done with Batman, he also has gone on record as saying that if Nolan came to him with a great story he’d be back on board. If this s the case, look for Bale and Henry Cavill standing side by side in the Justice League feature film.
Fourth – David Goyer putting it all together. Mr. Goyer has been really hit or miss with me over the years. He’s done great work with Nolan’s Batman films, but he was also the writer behind Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and the David Hasselhoff Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD flick. His wins outweigh his fails, and since he’s been all over DC superhero movies and animated films, this seems like a smart move on the studios part.
Fifth – And this is the one that kind of ties it all together, Geoff Johns will serve as either the creative consultant or executive producer for the film. The writer recently left his Green Lantern duties to focus his attention on Justice League of America and the related Justice League properties. Could those other properties include movies?
Bottom Line – RUMOR
Keep in mind that all of this is rumor and speculation at this point as big announcements regarding the future of The Justice League will no doubt be made following early press screenings of Man of Steel, which opens June 14, 2013. If true, look for a packed Hall H in July when I expect Warner Bros. will roll out everyone in a big media presentation.
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IMO Warner Brothers would be incredibly remiss not to look at the success that Disney/Marvel has had with The Avengers by running the Iron Man ball and doing “prequels”. With “The Dark Knight” series already there, a Green Lantern movie series and Superman coming up it would make sense to at least establish one or two more main characters before The Justice League movie. My suggestions being Wonder Woman and The Flash with Cyborg and Aquaman brought in during the film a’la Black Widow and Hawkeye.
But, of course, I’ve been waiting for a Justice League movie since the 60’s just like the Avengers so they’re going to get my money regardless. Sheldon and I will be very happy.
I still have to question if WB can ever bring the project together, from a business and marketing perspective. Afterall movies are a business first and foremost.
The Avengers took a major weakness and turned it into a foundation for its success in that the Marvel characters were relatively unknown, outside the comic book geek community.
This is speaking strictly as a movie IP, mind you. Before their solo movies leading into the Avengers, no average person knew who Ironman or Thor was, let alone Hawkeye or Black Widow. People perhaps had a vague familiarity with Captain America and at best a mediocre opinion of the Hulk. This let them define the characters and tone as they saw fit, and build their universe through the solo movies culminating in the team outing. And there was zero risk of “damaging” the characters’ value as movie IP’s long term, since there was no preexisting image to protect.
WB has much, much more movie IP baggage to deal with. No matter how good the JLA movie might be, people are always going to pine for Batman as a solo project, given Nolan’s tremendous critical achievement. Superman has a checkered history as a movie IP, both with highs and lows, although this new installment might mitigate that somewhat. The two are tremendously valuable properties as solo projects.
But two key characters that are likely members have serious image problems as movie IP’s. Greenlantern (perhaps unfairly) is seen as a failure as a solo character. And it looks like Wonderwoman is in the midst if its second stillborn project in a row. They still can’t seem to decide if she’s Laura Croft with muscles, Xena in a modern time frame, or Ally McBeal in tights.
Green Arrow might be too valuable as a solo TV property to use in the JLA, at this point. Clearly his tone would have to be completely redesigned to work thematically with Superman & Batman. And finally, lets be honest, Aquaman’s a joke and baring brief, brief interludes, always has been. The current stories might be well received, and Peter David had some success, but for most of his history, DC has never been able to figure out what to do with the character. Imagine movie people trying to incorporate Arthur into a team story.
I still think the business people at WB are going to get cold feet over all this and worry that their two flagship characters, Bats and Supes, are too valuable as solo projects, to risk them in a chancy team film, that might damage their long term prospects. Especially if the solo Superman movie is a big winner, as might be the case. And Green Arrow is an Anchor for their TV efforts. From their business case perspective, a rebooted Batman or more Superman might be a better bet than a super expensive and risky JLA project.