Things for Warner Bros.’ DCEU are looking a lot brighter. Following the successes of films like Wonder Woman and Aquaman, the studio is looking to release more character-driven films rather than episodic pieces that lead up to a larger ensemble effort. It’s an approach they likely should have taken right from the start instead of trying to mimic Marvel’s highly successfully cinematic universe. As such, WB will continue forward with these standalone efforts.
Warner Bros. chief executive Kevin Tsujihara confirmed that this will be the studios’ approach to DCEU films for the foreseeable future. More on the report here below.
Tsujihara spoke to The LA Times recently about WB’s new strategy for the DCEU. During the interview, the executive talked about how these films won’t be as interconnected as they were five years ago, and that those overseeing the standalone projects are taking the DC film franchise in the right direction:
“The upcoming slate, with Shazam, Joker, Wonder Woman 1984 and Birds of Prey, feels like we’re on the right track. We have the right people in the right jobs working on it. The [DC cinematic] universe isn’t as connected as we thought it was going to be five years ago. You’re seeing much more focus on individual experiences around individual characters. That’s not to say we won’t at some point come back to that notion of a more connected universe. But it feels like that’s the right strategy for us right now.”
It’s a great move for the studio. Instead of trying to keep up with Marvel Studios, they are making their success at their own pace. Wonder Woman and Aquaman were both critical and commercial successes, with Wonder Woman grossing over $821 million and Aquaman grossing over $1.1 billion at the box office. And while critics weren’t exactly a fan of Suicide Squad, it still managed to achieve some box office milestones by grossing $746 million.
So now WB’s plans for the DCEU have changed and they are changing it following the success of Wonder Woman by focusing their attention on heroes who aren’t the Man of Steel or The Dark Knight:
“What Patty Jenkins did on Wonder Woman illustrated to us what you could do with these characters who are not Batman and Superman. Obviously, we want to get those two in the right place, and we want strong movies around Batman and Superman. But Aquaman is a perfect example of what we can do. They’re each unique and the tone’s different in each movie.”
It’s something that could work. So by focusing on lesser-known heroes like Aquaman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman, general movie audiences are introduced to new heroes they may have never heard of and fans of those heroes will finally get to see them save the day after sitting back and watching some A-list heroes be rebooted over and over again.
But it’s not like Batman and Superman will never get to appear on the big screen again. Tsujihara says they want to get them in the right place and they want strong movies around the two. Plus, we have Matt Reeves’s The Batman, which is currently in development and set for a June 25, 2021 release.
And, of course, we will keep you updated on these films as more information is released.
[Source: LA Times]
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