• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Rumor: Warner Brothers rethinking entire DC film slate based on Batman v Superman

Status
Not open for further replies.

Patryn

Member
Drew McWeeny is reporting that apparently the suits at Warner Brothers are less than happy with the initial feedback from Batman v Superman.

If you watch the video, apparently a lot of people are sweating because the reception of those who have seen the film is not what they want. According to him people love Ben Affleck and they love Jesse Eisenberg. The rest? Eh...

In fact he goes on to guess that while Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman will go forward as is, Justice League will be pushed back to be heavily retooled and he'd bet that Zach Snyder won't be directing it. Instead, Warner will shell out whatever it takes to get Ben Affleck to do a Batman film, and then refocus the DC Cinematic Universe around him.

It seems to me that there's an implication there that Superman is, arguably once again, a mess in this film.

Again, this is all a rumor, so nothing's solidified. But I can Warner being nervous given that the trailers haven't necessarily been warmly received.

So what do you think? Would you like to see the DC Cinematic Universe return to a Batman-centric view?
 

DOWN

Banned
Affleck has more star and everyman appeal than Cavill, who is a bit more aloof. I love Snyder's stylish approach though so keep him and just have strong writers focus on Batman with Supes being secondary.

Also Affleck is a real basic director tbh. His films feel like they could be anyone's attempted dramatizations.
 
They literally brought Affleck in to star and direct in Batman films.

That's been the idea since day one, he's WB's golden child
 

Joni

Member
It would make sense for Warner Bros to rush back to Batman the moment they panic, but I'm happy to see it will at least trust Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad. I think those movies are on the right path, despite the whole television embargo stuff.
 

flkraven

Member
The first trailer was awesome, but I think it was the second trailer that really had me worried. It really felt weird. Something about the tone or direction or something felt off. Almost like it was a parody. Haven't seen a trailer since, but I have a feeling this movie will be much more like the 2nd trailer than the first.
 
Nothing about their current approach to Supes works for me. And it really sucks because, for the most part, Marvel stuck fairly close to their comic characters with the MCU stuff and it paid off damn well.

Seeing WB struggle to figure out superman when what most people are okay with is the Christopher Reeve version that is now nearing 40 years old just seems like they simply dont get what audiences want. And don't come with bububub superman returns! because that film is stupid as hell and got supes wrong, too
 

Bronx-Man

Banned
I remember saying this like months ago, but then Bobby Roberts came in to say "No no no dude, WB isn't worried about this at all."

So yeah, don't wanna say that I was right but...
 

Platy

Member
Is this a surprise ?

They give time to show and grow the new big players, Batman and Lex Luthor.

The players who are not new get less screen time, like Superman and the smaller players also don't get lots of screen time like Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
 

Snaku

Banned
It seems to me that there's an implication there that Superman is, arguably once again, a mess in this film.

Why am I not surprised. Jesus Christ, how hard is it to make Superman act like Superman? He's not fucking Batman, stop trying to make him Batman. Batman is Batman. Go watch the Superman TAS and Justice Leage/JLU. Now make Cavill act like that. There, I saved your billion dollar franchise. You're welcome.
 

p2535748

Member
I've seen this rumor elsewhere, though they could be from the same source. I wouldn't be terribly surprised, though I think it would be somewhat funny if the only truly successful thing about the movie is Affleck considering how much uproar there was around casting him.
 

Patryn

Member
It would make sense for Warner Bros to rush back to Batman the moment they panic, but I'm happy to see it will at least trust Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad. I think those movies are on the right path, despite the whole television embargo stuff.

IF this is true (big IF), the only reason Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman would likely move forward as is is that they're both so far into the process that the cost of turning the ship and making a change would be prohibitive.
 
It's the same guy from the "No jokes policy" news last year.

That's all.

Same guy who basically got Abrams' Superman movie shitcanned at the script stage, too.

McWeeny been around. For what its worth, he's standing by the "no jokes" policy reporting, saying that they (thankfully, rightfully) changed their mind shortly afterwards.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Why am I not surprised. Jesus Christ, how hard is it to make Superman act like Superman? He's not fucking Batman, stop trying to make him Batman. Batman is Batman. Go watch the Superman TAS and Justice Leage/JLU. Now make Cavill act like that. There, I saved your billion dollar franchise. You're welcome.
Hasent everyone been saying that nolan's superman has been pretty accurate?
 
They should make a Superman film about how he struggles with his godhood and coming to realization that he can't save anyone.

Not surprising they want to focus around Batman. Batman was always the 'safer' bet between the two.

Superman...Superman doesn't work because he's a literal God who's villains have to be set up for a while before they become a threat. Throwing random mooks at him isn't really tense or anything, because he can just blow them away with his breathe. It's a flaw of the character that makes it so he can't translate into the medium of film, due to the limited amount of time there is to tell the story.
 

kirblar

Member
Why am I not surprised. Jesus Christ, how hard is it to make Superman act like Superman? He's not fucking Batman, stop trying to make him Batman. Batman is Batman. Go watch the Superman TAS and Justice Leage/JLU. Now make Cavill act like that. There, I saved your billion dollar franchise. You're welcome.
Superman is really hard to write. He's a John Cena overdog, not a Marvel underdog, trying to write him in the latter way just blows up badly.
 

phanphare

Banned
shocking, truly shocking

maybe they should just do their own thing instead of trying to emulate what Marvel Studios is doing
 
They should get nontraditional directors to make films for them. David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, and even Kevin Smith would all bring something interesting to the table, IMO. Oh, and of course Edgar Wright. Only problem is that they'd have to give them virtually full creative control
 

antonz

Member
Superman is not an easy character to work with. He is the definition of a character that a 5 year old would think up as far as overpowering and his library of skills.

You either repeat kryptonite over and over to bring him down levels or you have to go with the absurd to create something that can actually stand upto superman.

Not surprising Batman works much easier
 
From the thread this bit of news was taken from:

I think it's less that the movie is bad, but more that they're not sure that it's exactly what they wanted. But then again, it also seems like they're not sure exactly what they wanted going into any part of this.

The picture being painted of WB execs just sorta rolling dice and hoping for the best has been more or less solidified as a narrative, so him & Faraci hearing from people inside the studio that they're nervous about this landing as hard as they need it to isn't really surprising.

Worst case scenario: People want it to be Skyfall and it ends up being Spectre.

That's not good. It's not necessarily BAD - but it's not what they need right now.

I think the speculation that they're trying to get Affleck to move up the Batman movie is a little wrongheaded, though. I'd be more willing to put money on them dumping whatever they can in Miller's lap to take over Justice League.

I think his speculation in that video is a little alarmist considering that Flash movie they have ready, and the goodwill they're likely bound to recieve thanks to Suicide Squad. I don't think they're gonna fuck up the slate too much.

I think the problem is turning production slates into media events in and of themselves.

But when your audience is as big a fan of marketing movies as they are actual movies, you play to that, I guess. They're going to play like a combination of wrestling smark and armchair executive anyway, might as well give 'em limited access to the lobby so as to build the buzz you need.
 

Halcyon

Member
I can't listen to this guy's disgusting breathing. This is how I imagine most of the people on the internet.
 

Ahasverus

Member
McWeeny been around. For what its worth, he's standing by the "no jokes" policy reporting, saying that they (thankfully, rightfully) changed their mind shortly afterwards.
Well, worried does not mean the movie is bad, just not approachable. That makes me more curious evenm I'd hate to get a Thor or some vanilla cartoon shit like that.
 
I don't believe this one bit.

Not the part about Superman being a mess in the movie, that's expected.

But there's no way they're just gonna can their plans that quickly.

If they were gonna change things around so much because of the reception to Superman I feel like they would have done something drastic after Man of Steel.

But I probably don't know what I'm talking about lol
 

massoluk

Banned
Can't be worse than Man of Steel, which was watchable though disappointing, with Chris Terrio and Affleck pulling their weight.
 
Good. Snyder's a mess. This film is a mess. People are much more interested in Suicide Squad. Batman's universe > The rest of the Justice League combined.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom