
News of Warner Bros. considering pulling back on the number of films released in one year because of Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice‘s poor box office performance doesn’t bode well for the studio. Reports say they will be shifting their attention to their franchises that they own.
While that has yet to be confirmed, the studio will be making a few adjustments to their release schedule. Patty Jenkins‘ Wonder Woman is being pushed up while Andy Serkis‘s motion-captured Jungle Book: Origins is being pushed back. More on the story below.
THR was the first to report on the news.
Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, which sees Gal Gadot reprise her role as the titular character, will be pushed up a few weeks from June 23, 2017, to June 2, 2017. Nothing too big. Other major DCEU films already scheduled for release are Suicide Squad (August 5, 2016), The Justice League Part One (November, 17, 2017), The Flash (March 16, 2018), Aquaman (July 27, 2018), Justice League Part Two (June 14, 2019) and Cyborg (April 3, 2020). Two other untitled DC films, one of them presumably will belong to the solo Batman feature that Ben Affleck has written and is rumored to be directing, are set for release in October 5, 2018, and November 1, 2019.
As for Jungle Book: Origins, Serkis’s telling of the Rudyard Kipling story is being pushed back an entire year from October 6, 2017, to October 19, 2018. This is not necessarily a bad sign. For one thing, it gives some space in between the release of Disney’s The Jungle Book, which comes out on April 15, and WB’s film. Of course with the new date, there is plenty of time to perfect the visual effects. Serkis was even excited to hear that WB was changing the date, as he expressed through his post on his official Facebook page:
Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book was a three-year filmmaking process that pushed the limits of visual effects technology. We’ve reported on how attention was given to even the minute details. But with that film getting huge positive word of mouth and the technology continuing to evolve, the bar has now been raised, and hopefully by the time Jungle Book: Origins comes out it can live up to Serkis’s promise and fans’ expectations. Principle photography began last year. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Tom Hollander, Eddie Marsan, Peter Mullan and Rohan Chand.
[Source: THR| Andy Serkis Facebook]
Poor Box Office performance?! It made it’s production budget and a profit on opening weekend, and is closing in on tripling the production budget in total ticket sales. What’s poor about that?
Comment by Mark M. — April 7, 2016 @ 1:14 pm