For the past couple of months, we’ve brought you reports of the on-again, off-again “Justice League” movie. And there has certainly been no end of rumors that a “Batman vs Superman” movie was just months away from going before the cameras. Fans might have been encouraged by the Easter egg in the near-future post-apocalyptic thriller “I Am Legend” with the movie poster saying the long-promised big-screen square-off between the two D.C. icons had opened in 2010.
“Legend”‘s director Francis Lawrence has admitted in interviews he put the poster in his film because he would love to see such a movie make it to the screen and hoped it might encourage Warner Brothers to ramp up production on a Batman vs Superman movie.
However, it’s looking like such multiple hero movies are being put on the back burner for the time being at Warner Brothers. Instead the studio is set to begin ramping up production on single hero films in the hopes of creating a movie-universe similar to what Marvel films has done this summer with “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” and will in the next few years with several high-profile projects in the pipeline.
The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.
“Superheroes are more global than ever in today’s commercial world, existing in 30 languages and in more than 60 countries,” says Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. The characters are “a world-wide export,” he says.
“The long-term goal of the studio is to take advantage of what has become a very global market by focusing on bigger films that require a bigger commitment,” said Warner Brothers Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov.
For fans, this means that the sequel to “Superman Returns” won’t be happening. Instead, the studio will look to take a page from this year’s “Incredible Hulk” and reboot the franchise. Part of this is a need to freshen the franchise, but part of this can also be attributed to the fact that “Returns” struggled to make back the investment Warner Brothers put into the movie.
That is not the case for this summer’s “The Dark Knight,” a high price tag, high profile project that rules the box-office for four weeks in the top spot and has taken in over $400 million since it was released in mid-July.
And while Warner is looking to pare back the number of films it releases each year, it is hoping to put out more “tent pole” projects like “Dark Knight” to draw in audiences. And with the rich potential of the DC Universe at their disposal, superhero movies look to be a big part of that strategy.
“Films with our DC properties have the opportunity to support other divisions in the company in a way that our other movies don’t,” Mr. Robinov said, for example, with products such as a Superman game or toys. By 2011, Mr. Robinov plans for DC Comics to supply the material for up to two of the six to eight tent-pole films he hopes Warner Bros. will have in the pipeline by then.
Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.
Many of the studio’s directors credit Mr. Robinov for taking Warner Bros.’ films in a darker and deeper direction. Christopher Nolan, who directed “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” says Mr. Robinov “really encouraged the logic of the villain” from “Batman Begins.” That led to focusing heavily on the Joker in the sequel. ”
At the script stage, Jeff really wanted us to be very clear on the Joker’s lack of purpose,” he said.
Jarik says
I guess I shoudn’t hold my breath for “The Legion of Super Heroes” to make it to my local cineplex any time soon.
Magess says
Awww… I liked Brandon Routh as Superman 🙁
Frost says
Brandon Routh was good, but I would really like to see a Superman film where superman is portrayed as a real live person, you know, with lines of dialog and everything. I really like it in the comic books when they focus on Superman being Clark first and Superman second. He and Batman are two sides of the same coin, so the inverse here is fun.
Prest says
How can they cross Superman and Batman in films with the current Batman being dark and grounded in reality (as far as superheros films can be) and then throw an alien in to it.
Michael R. Mennenga says
I never understood the match-up… I mean, Superman is SUPERMAN. He is so off the chart on the kick-ass side of things, a little technology and some martial arts moves are no match for the Man Of Steel. Two minute fight as I see it.
I’ve read the comics, and was never convinced of the storyline. If it went to movie, I doubt they could improve on that aspect of things.