It’s Friday and that means we’ve got a whole week’s worth of DC film news to get through. From changes behind the scenes at Warner Bros. to casting news (and rumors) and even a brand new directing team taking the helm of what’s sure to be one of DC’s most important upcoming films. So enough of an introduction. Let’s dig in!
The Wrap is reporting that Warner Bros. is finally learning that too many cooks in the kitchen does not a good meal make. After Justice League’s performance, and behind the scenes director switch, going forward it’s going to be a yes or no approach. Producer Toby Emmerich will be the green light on film decisions while CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be the red light. One mistake they hope to prevent is leaving off central characters from marketing new films **cough** Superman **cough**. Tsujihara has also admitted that chasing after what Disney has done with the Marvel films is a no-win situation, and, going forward, will focus on making several different types and genres of films without feeling like they need to tie together.
On the subject of behind the scenes news, Michael De Luca has signed on to produce Suicide Squad 2. Scheduled to begin production this year, De Luca’s assignment on the film, is part Warner Bros. attempt to have each movie stand on it’s own. This could mean less cameos in the sequel, and instead focus more on the central team.
Staying behind the scenes, let’s talk about directors for a few minutes. It looks like Flashpoint has found not one, but two new directors to helm the film. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, known for their work as the writers of Spider-Man Homecoming are in talks to direct the flick, which could either be a universe altering story that helps set the DCEU on a new path, or just a Flash story with a familiar title. Let’s not forget that Avengers: Age of Ultron couldn’t even be described as a “loose” interpretation of the comic book storyline it took it’s name from. So let’s keep our expectations in check. An interesting tidbit comes from Variety who reveal that Ben Affleck was offered the job before it went to the duo. Warner Bros. seems to really want Affleck to be a part of the DCEU by any means necessary.
Take this next one as more of a musing than any sort of rumor, but director Doug Liman has said that he would be open to return to Justice League Dark as the director. Liman had previously been attached to the film before moving on to other projects. Liman said in an interview “I would be open to it. I have a very kind of contrarian approach to how I make things and I don’t want to do them the way other people have done them.”
Warner Bros. has been fairly quiet on development of a Cyborg solo movie, but if actor Joe Morton is to be believed, it’s still on track. The Silas Stone actor told Entertainment Tonight “From what I understand, there will be a Cyborg movie. It will be about him and I, and about the family that he came from, how he becomes the Cyborg, etc, but from whence he came, as well.” Morton also went on to say how exciting and important a Cyborg movie would be, especially with the need for more diversity in comic book movies. “I think it’s exciting because there aren’t that many, if any, black superheros, and in his case in particular, because there is no alias, because there is nothing for him to hide behind, and that he has to be who he is all the time.”
In Shazam! news, we’ve got a release date as well as an interview with Mark Strong, where the actor talks about just how important secrecy is in the DCEU. The actor, who will portray Doctor Sivana in the film, says “If you stop reading the script for 20 seconds then the whole thing goes fuzzy and you have to start again. Everything is watermarked and traceable too.” Is anybody else getting flashbacks to how under wraps the scripts were for the Scream franchise? What could they be hiding? Shazam! starring Zachary Levi and Asher Angel as the title character and his child-age alter ego respectively will be released April 5, 2019.
Now on to some Batman news. It’s not day of the week ending in “y” if there isn’t a new rumor about Ben Affleck and his role in the DCEU or the upcoming Matt Reeves Batman solo film. According to Batman on Film, Affleck may make his final appearance as the Dark Knight in either Flashpoint or Suicide Squad 2. As for the new Batman film, Reeves is said to want to start with a clean slate, and that includes a new actor in the role. Whether the film is in continuity with the DCEU or it’s own thing still changes on a daily basis so take everything with a giant helping of salt.
Finally, if you’ve got some time today, make your way over to Forbes and check out a piece musing on if Flashpoint will indeed be the soft reboot that the DCEU has been eyeing and follow more in the footsteps of Captain America: Civil war than being strictly a Flash solo movie. As writer Scott Mendelson mentions, the storyline has been adapted twice, first in the DC Animated Universe movie, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and then again in Season 3 of CW’s The Flash. So fans are already familiar with the timeline-altering ramifications of the storyline and that may allow Warner Bros. the cache to use this as an attempt to “fix” their own universe.
That about does it for this week in DC-related movie news. Next week will surely bring even more, and might just contradict everything I’ve written about today. That’s just how the DCEU works.
Oh, and Lindsay Lohan still wants to be Batgirl. Yeah……
Catch you next week!
