Is Warner Bros throwing in the towel on DCEU?

[Clone]

https://cosmicbook.news/justice-league-dceu-dead?amp

The Justice League DCEU as we know it is officially dead as the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Toby Emmerich, comments on the DC movie plans going forward, which doesn't involve creating a shared universe as being the main focal point.

In an interview with THR, Emmerich notes, "we're highly focused on DC," and says they are no longer following the Marvel MCU route while discussing what comes next following the billion-dollar success of Aquaman.

"We all feel like we've turned a corner now. We're playing by the DC playbook, which is very different than the Marvel playbook," Emmerich said. "We are far less focused on a shared universe. We take it one movie at a time. Each movie is its own equation and own creative entity. If you had to say one thing about us, it's that it always has to be about the directors."

The latter comment about it always having to be about the directors is an obvious dig at Marvel, but it is also ironic considering the recent information about Zack Snyder's DCEU plans that recently came out. A DC-insider offered that the WB execs at the time really interfered with Snyder's plans. It's also known that before Man of Steel, Zack Snyder wanted his Superman to be not a part of a shared universe and separate from any Justice League movies (similar to the Nolan Batman Dark Knight films). It's also known that WB execs massively interfered with David Ayer's Suicide Squad movie.

So according to Emmerich, who took over as chairman last year, this seems to be a DC course correction, which has worked. WB is no longer concerned with competing with Marvel (which is blamed to have ruined the Snyder films), but will let their directors shine (like James Wan and Patty Jenkins). The solo Wonder Woman and Aquaman movies that were not really a part of a connected universe have been the most successful films bringing in close to $2 billion. Up next includes more solo films for DC including Shazam!, the Margot Robbie Bird of Prey, the Matt Reeves The Batman (said to feature a younger actor), and the Joaquin Phoenix Joker -- all films not building to a shared universe main event film or even really connected.

I hope this is not true. Justice League deserves more than these hacks.

[Skulltaker]

They just went way to fast. That was the Problem. Give them time. Or rather, have them take their time. Shazam! obviously plays in the former SCEU, whatever. Let them find their spot. And then they can tackle Justice League.

[AwkwardSquirtle]

Wise move. Make better movies, and more people will watch them. Funny how that works.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

https://cosmicbook.news/justice-league-dceu-dead?amp



I hope this is not true. Justice League deserves more than these hacks.

They're doing the smart thing. Pushing so hard to make Justice League happen quickly is what got them in to this mess. Building the groundwork for a solid connected universe is the right way to go. Remember...the first few Marvel movies weren't really connected either...aside from the little teasers in the end credits.

[Florena]

Good, they rushed into the shared universe too quickly. They made a comment about 'one movie at a time' but that's why the Marvel one worked. Yes, they had little things here and there to slowly build a shared universe but they took their time. They didn't jump straight into a crossover for their second movie. They didn't force a commercial for all the avengers into their second movie. The connecting tissue was mostly in small moments or after credits scenes.

WB wanted to catch up to Marvel and they wanted it done yesterday, so they cobbled together a mess and it all fell apart on them. They need to do what Marvel did and focus on making good, entertaining movies first, and keep the connective low until things are ready for another try at a Justice League.

[Ryme]

Good, this is the smarter way to do it if you want a successful EU later on.

[Faroth]

Honestly, Wonder Woman rarely goes to Gotham City or Metropolis. Superman rarely does outside of a few big instances. Batman rarely leaves Gotham.

They should have focused on building these three anchor franchises where the only "it's all a shared universe" was LexCorp and Wayne Enterprise branches in other cities and maybe a STAR Labs line on a background news report.

Keep Wonder Woman franchise consistent from director to director for Wonder Woman, Keep Superman consistent for Superman and keep Batman's tone consistent for Batman. Then you branch out building up Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, etc. as their own ongoing franchises.

Everything needs to be tonally consistent within their own franchise, but can be wildly different tones to each other.

You need very minor connections for a share DC Cinematic Universe because these characters only come together when there's Justice League level threats. And you could have waited until every stand alone franchise had a trilogy under its belt before deciding how to build up to Justice League.

DC Comics and the Justice League really are more of a "check in from time to time and someone will call you all if there's a huge emergency" group. The Avengers basically train and work together on an ongoing basis. They're quite different set ups.

DC jumped the gun, they were too greedy and impatient. That's the real reason DCEU didn't work.

[Hadriker]

They just went way to fast. That was the Problem. Give them time. Or rather, have them take their time. Shazam! obviously plays in the former SCEU, whatever. Let them find their spot. And then they can tackle Justice League.

Definitely agree with this. the MCU was built on standalone movies that only tangentially acknowledged each other, usually in after credit scenes up until Avengers. It wasn't until the later phases of the MCU after the main characters were established that we started seeing team ups. DC's rush job trying to play catch up with MCU was their mistake.

[Adam Jensen]

Good, they rushed into the shared universe too quickly. They made a comment about 'one movie at a time' but that's why the Marvel one worked. Yes, they had little things here and there to slowly build a shared universe but they took their time. They didn't jump straight into a crossover for their second movie. They didn't force a commercial for all the avengers into their second movie. The connecting tissue was mostly in small moments or after credits scenes.

WB wanted to catch up to Marvel and they wanted it done yesterday, so they cobbled together a mess and it all fell apart on them. They need to do what Marvel did and focus on making good, entertaining movies first, and keep the connective low until things are ready for another try at a Justice League.

Yep. This my problem with the "muh profits now" people who tend to be in charge. CEOs, shareholders, board of directors etc, in movies, video games and many other industries are so worried about their quarterly reports, they can't see how long term planning might lead to even greater gains in the end despite maybe a costlier or slow growth in the now.

This is a prime example of it. Marvel took their time and built up an universe and made a ton of profit. WB rushed everything and made a bunch of flops.

Unless you're in retail, quality tends to win over quantity. This isn't Walmart.

[smityx]

Orr.... people are getting tired of comic book movies or reboots of reboots. But to be honest I'm not tired of them. I enjoy the movies for the most part.

[Florena]

Orr.... people are getting tired of comic book movies or reboots of reboots. But to be honest I'm not tired of them. I enjoy the movies for the most part.

I don't think so. Super hero movies in general are still doing well. Hell on the DC end, WW and Aquaman did well. On top of the Marvel movies.

It's not that audiences are 'tired' of super hero movies, DC just made a few bad ones and managed their properties poorly.

[Independent voter]

Wonder Woman was good.

I liked Aquaman even though the critics hated it.

But yeah, DC is a pale shadow of Marvel when it comes to movies.

The exception is "The Dark Knight" which is the best comics movie ever.

I also like the Gotham TV show which is DC.

[Hadriker]

They basically tried to get a decade of movies/characters built up in just a few years to try catch up with Marvel, this is a good move.

As far as I can tell, their A game is still animated movies at this point.

I think the animated universe does a decent job of juggling extended universe stuff (the N52 setting) along with standalone movies

[Faroth]

They basically tried to get a decade of movies/characters built up in just a few years to try catch up with Marvel, this is a good move.

As far as I can tell, their A game is still animated movies at this point.

Ironically, I would like the two companies to emulate each other in reverse.

I'd love to see high quality animated offerings from Marvel adapting famous storylines for X-Men and Spider-Man in particular. Fall of the Mutants, X-Cutioner's Song, Age of Apocalypse, Phalanx Covenant, Fatal Attractions, Extinction Agenda, Operation ZERO Tolerance, Secret Wars, Black Suit Saga & Birth of Venom, even Maximum Carnage, Hobgoblin, Kraven's Last Hunt, Sinister Six & Return of the Sinister Six...I'd even go so far as to be down for both clone sagas for Spidey (and that's damn near blasphemy to say!).

Marvel's offerings were fairly middling overall since the 90s (X-Men, Spider-Man were great for their time and even F4 was decent) while DC has been firing on all cylinders ever since with Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Justice League, then the animated films division.

I'd like WB/DC to offer solid film franchises of their major characters and eventually build up to Justice League to the quality of MCU.
I'd like Marvel to do better with animated series and animated film adaptations of pivotal story arcs for their characters to the quality of DC Animated Universe.

[Felnoire]

DCEU won't be given up on, as WB know they could make big money with it. What will change is how they go about it, though it's likely to always lag behind Marvel. As Marvel kinda became the big name for superhero movies, but things could change if WB knuckled down and took their time with what they have.

[NED funded]

Good Call if you ask me. They DCEU was unsalvagable imo.

[smityx]

I don't think people are tired of them at all. We're on how many reboots of Spider-man now, 3? People love the new one(s) and the hype for Infinity War/End Game is definitely there. Even Aquaman seems to have made a fuckton of cash, last I recall (by all means correct me if wrong).

I'll see your Spiderman reboots and raise you Fantastic Four reboots. Meh I'm a sucker for all these movies anyway. I'll usually enjoy even the bad ones a lot of times.

[Drungan]

Well to be fair ... *superhero* movies is on par with zombie movies at this point ..people just got enough but still if a real good one is made it will sell tickets, When was the last REALLY good WB superhero movie ? ... might be time to give this kind on movies a rest and do other stuff.

[Hadriker]

I admit I haven't seen the last handful but I feel like I enjoy every one I watch (though I have a niggling feeling there was one I really disliked but can't remember it).

They recently re-did the Death of Superman and it is much more faithful to the comic. It is updated to fit into the N52 universe they have built through the previous movies, but i think it worked pretty well.

I've enjoyed pretty much all of them. some are better than others, but i don't think I would call any of them bad. I think the next one we are getting is Justice League vs The Fatal Five which is set in the timmverse.

[Adam Jensen]

I'll see your Spiderman reboots and raise you Fantastic Four reboots. Meh I'm a sucker for all these movies anyway. I'll usually enjoy even the bad ones a lot of times.

A bad movie done right can be fun.

Everyone loves Starship Troopers after all.