We have obtained WB’s plans for their upcoming DC films from an interview Jeff Robinov has with the Wall Street Journal. The following interview was made available to us thanks to our friends at comingsoon:
“‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”
“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,” it says. Those projects will likely be about single characters at first, and will be darker much like The Dark Knight. With “Batman vs. Superman” and “Justice League” stalled, Warner Bros. has quietly adopted Marvel’s model of releasing a single film for each character, and then using those movies and their sequels to build up to a multicharacter film. “Along those lines, we have been developing every DC character that we own,” Mr. Robinov says.
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.
Well… this is what we were suspecting for some time now. It looks like Brian Singer’s baby was snatched out of his hands and will be delivered to someone new. I cannot say I am shocked by this news, but it is still a bit surprising none the less.
The Dark Night has revealed the potential of a comic book film to WB, and the standard has been set much higher for every project. With luck, we can expect to see better films because of this. If more care and dedication is paid to the quality of the films they are putting out, then we all win. The Dark Knight is now not only a great film for what it was; but also for what it stopped.
Hearing that WB is going to mimic Marvel’s strategy of focusing on the individual heroes first, and then assemble then in to teams, is what we’ve all been waiting to hear. We may see Christian Bale alongside other thespians in tights, preserving continuity and fleshing out the DC universe in film.
This is a bad news day for Brandon Routh, but a great news day for almost everyone else.
