Warner Bros. Is Already @#$%ing Up Their Justice League Movie
Remember two days ago when I told you that Warner Bros. was putting a Justice League movie in development for the umpteenth time? Well, apparently it’s not alone. From Variety:
This week, the studio revealed it tapped “Gangster Squad” scribe Will Beall to revive “Justice League,” which WB unplugged in 2008, and hired Michael Goldenberg (one of the many writers of “Green Lantern”) to pen “Wonder Woman.”Those projects now join in development films based on the Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Lobo, the Suicide Squad and Shazam. DC and WB are also facing a decision on how to reboot Batman once “The Dark Knight Rises” completes Christopher Nolan’s take on the caped crusader, featuring Christian Bale in the cowl.
…and that’s how long it took for the Justice League movie to be fucked. Let me tell you how this works, based on, oh, how WB has handled this exact same situation at least four times in the last decade or two:
? Someone finally figures out how much it would take to make a good Justice League movie. It’s a lot of money. Rather than taking a chance, WB stalls.
? While they’re stalling, WB decides maybe they should start with a single superhero movie, lay some groundwork for Justice League. It’s what Marvel did, right? Since Wonder Woman is DC’s third most well-known hero, they start with her; WB gets a script, realizes they have no idea what to do with Wonder Woman, and shelve it for another 3-5 years.
? The executives of Warner Bros. argue about money some more, and the only movies that get approved are smaller characters getting small flicks with terrible budgets and no talent. This results in movies like Catwoman and Jonah Hex, and inevitably Lobo and Suicide Squad.
? If the WB executives get desperate enough to take a chance and actually spend some money, they will fuck up somehow, probably by shooting for focus group testing scores over quality or the source material, and end up with a Green Lantern or Superman Returns. This will set back WB’s other major DC movies 2-3 years. I’m guessing Flash, Aquaman and Shazam are locks for this.
? On the off chance WB spends money and actually makes a hit, like Batman Begins, they will be so scared that they’re going to fuck it up by expanding the franchise that they’ll refuse to make Justice League until they’ve exhausted the franchise.
I thought if Warner Bros. was just going to concentrate on Justice League, it might actually have a chance of getting made, although god knows how good it would be. But by working on all these other projects at the same time, they’ve guaranteed they’re going to fuck it all up just like they always have. DC can’t juggle more than one ball at a time. Hell, they can barely hold on to one ball at a time.