Former WB President of Creative Development Says Solo Batman Film Will Release in 2018

Ben Affleck made headlines yesterday when he said he was taking his time writing the solo Batman feature, only to reassure the world today that the film was indeed on track telling Variety:

“We’re on the right track with that and everything is coming together. We’re still finishing up a script. I’m very excited.”

While Affleck said he wasn’t concerned with meeting a release date for the project, it seems the solo Batman feature may indeed have one after all.

Greg Silverman, Warner Bros. President of Creative Development since 2013 (right around the time things began to go downhill at the studio), has stepped down from his position at the studio. Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer of New Line Cinema will assume Silverman’s responsibilities, becoming the Chief Content Officer for Warner Brothers. Going forward, Emmerich will oversee films produced by both Warner Brothers and New Line Cinemas.

Speaking to Deadline about his exit from the studio, Silverman addressed the studio’s upcoming slate of projects, casually dropping a major nugget of information regarding the Batman film in development starring Ben Affleck:

“Then in 2018, there is a second Fantastic Beasts film, and Ready Player One feels like an ambitious movie by the world’s best filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, that will set the world on fire. There is Aquaman with James Wan, and Scooby Doo will be a huge launch and then there is Lego Ninjago. And then there is Ben Affleck’s Batman.”

WB currently has a release date reserved for an untitled DC project in July of 2018. Given Silverman’s words, it does seem likely this could be the release of Affleck’s Batman or The Batman as Affleck called it before quickly backtracking on the title. While I do hope they aren’t rushing development of the script to meet the July 2018 release, that is kind of how it works today. Studios don’t just invest in talent and development hoping the film comes to fruition eventually.

As of now, July of 2018 is pretty open giving WB a good opportunity to do major business at the box office. By then, both the young Han Solo film and Avengers: Infinity War will have come and gone, leaving Ant-Man and The Wasp as Batman’s only competition. Ant-Man and The Wasp is not to be underestimated, though, Ant-Man at the time of his introduction into the MCU took home $519 million worldwide. Now that Ant-Man is not only known but loved by a worldwide audience, the sequel is going to be a much heavier hitter at the box office when he returns to theaters.

SOURCES: VARIETY, DEADLINE

David Ayer To Direct ‘Gotham City Sirens’ Movie

After being shunned from the editing room before Warner Brothers sent Suicide Squad off to Trailer Park productions to put together what became the theatrical release of the film, David Ayer has been welcomed back into the DC fold. Rather than lay the foundation for the DCEU — building their rogue’s gallery up— featuring them individually as antagonists in solo hero led features, Warner Brothers yet again has decided to cut corners in an attempt to catch up to the Marvel cinematic universe by throwing a bunch of villains into another movie together, hoping they can match the box office numbers of films such as The Avengers or Captain America: Civil War.

THR reports Ayer will reteam with Suicide Squad’s diamond in the rough, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is set to be joined by Catwoman and Poison Ivey in a team up movie based on the comic series Gotham City Sirens. No doubt even the most avid of Suicide Squad haters can’t deny that Robbie was absolutely fantastic in the role, even if she couldn’t decide on an accent. Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who wrote the script for the Tomb Raider reboot which is currently in development will pen the script with DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns and Justice League producer Jon Berg set to produce the film.

While the idea of seeing Harley Quinn bouncing off of Catwoman and Poison Ivy sounds fantastic, what is alarming is that the move is due only to the response to Robbie’s performance. Rather than focusing on building a foundation for the DCEU by telling the stories they think are the right to tell, Warner Brothers is simply deciding the direction of the DCEU based on the reaction to the characters introduced so far.

Warner Brothers has also tapped screenwriter Christina Hodson to pen the script for a Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey spinoff with a sequel for Suicide Squad and a Deadshot spinoff in development as well. Isn’t a spinoff supposed to be a spinoff from the main stories that flesh out your cinematic universe rather than serve as the tools to do so? Do we stop calling them spinoffs when there are just as many villain led spinoffs as there are hero led films in the franchise?

SOURCE: THR

New Look at Wonder Woman in ‘Justice League’

To celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Wonder Woman, Justice League director Zak Snyder has shared a new photo of Gal Gadot looking incredible as usual as Wonder Woman in the upcoming film.

Justice League hits theaters November 17, 2017.

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

NYCC 2016: ‘Justice League’ BTS Video

Warner Brothers has released an exciting behind the scenes look at the upcoming ‘Justice League’ to celebrate the film wrapping production. The studio has their work cut out for them as they attempt to win audiences back after the negative reception to Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. We’ve already gotten to see a trailer plus reports from the press from their set visit a few months ago. The trailer plus this new behind the scenes look indicates a lighter tone and a general sense of the film being more fun than the dark and dire tone of the previous entries to the D.C. extended universe.

Check out the video below. There looks to be some great action and the cast looks like they had a blast making the film. It’s also nice to see the entire crew recognized for their hard work at the end. I don’t know about you, but this actually gets me excited to see the film now.

Justice League hits theaters November 17, 2017.

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

‘Suicide Squad’ Gets Extended Cut

Coming as no great surprise, Warner Brothers is going to release one of the many alternate cuts of Suicide Squad. After being tested by audiences, the non-sensical film underwent numerous edits resulting in a disjunctive narrative that left many confused and disoriented including myself. The film itself felt more like a few music videos stitched together with action sequences in between.

The cartoonish acid trip will include an additional thirteen extra minutes of footage. Will this footage add the exposition this film was lacking? Will the Joker actually have something to do with the main plot?

Check out the promo for the Blu-Ray below. Its possible it was put together by the folks over at Trailer Park as it has the same spastic editing that the film had.

Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition was a big improvement from the theatrical release and provided the necessary connective tissue the film desperately needed. Hopefully the extended cut for Suicide Squad will do something similar.

Suicide Squad Extended Cut is set for digital release on November 5^th and a Blu-Ray release on December 13^th. Spread the word.

Solo ‘Batman’ Film Gets a Title

In an interview posted today by the Associated Press for the new film The Accountant, Ben Affleck revealed the new solo Batman film will simply be titled, The Batman. The film is currently being co-written by Ben along with President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, Geoff Johns. Ben is set to direct and star in the film which does not yet have a release date.

The movie I think is going to be called ‘The Batman’. At least that’s what we’re going with right now. I might change it… That’s about all I got right now. We’re working on the script, the script is going well, I’m really excited about it.

The title itself is a refreshing antidote to the current trend of overloaded movie titles such as, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Hopefully it doesn’t change. A simple title could be an indicator of a simpler narrative with a tighter focus. Hollywood has convinced itself it can jam pack two movies into one by adding a subtitle to the film’s title. BvS was attempting to be three films in one and it was a disjunctive cluster fuck that barely made any sense. Could the title of the solo Batman film be a sign DC is moving in the right direction? Time will tell…

SOURCE: AP