5 Upcoming DC Universe Movies After Clayface And Superman Sequel Revealed In New Report
by Jeremy Smith · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Last year at this time, there was reason to be bullish on the future of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe. "Superman" had just grossed $619 million at the worldwide box office, and people seemed relieved to be rid of the Snyder-verse. And based on her brief appearance at the end of that movie, Milly Alcock's Supergirl looked to be a perfectly bratty complement to David Corenswet's well-behaved Man of Steel.
One year later, there is cause for concern. "Supergirl" bombed this summer with a $126 million gross against a budget in the $170 million range. Critics were mostly down on the film (it holds a 53% score at Rotten Tomatoes), while viewers polled by Cinemascore gave it a B-. Now that Gunn and Safran are reporting directly to David Ellison after the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, some wonder if they'll have the same degree of creative freedom going forward. There's only one more finished DCU title, "Clayface," which is tracking between $23 million and $33 million for its opening weekend — a good sign, given its $40 million budget. Meanwhile, Gunn's "Superman" sequel, "Man of Tomorrow," is in post-production.
A new Deadline report claims there are five DC projects in early development. These titles are the Batman and Robin pairing "The Brave and the Bold," the Deathstroke and Bane two-hander "Savage Hunters," a live-action "Teen Titans" movie, "Swamp Thing" (which would be James Mangold's first comic book movie since "Logan"), and a "Wonder Woman" reboot. None of these films have been greenlit, and a few are still without directors. Though Gunn seems confident about the direction of the DCU, Ellison is a wildcard. What happens if "Clayface" and/or "Man of Tomorrow" underperform?
Will David Ellison stick with the DCU duo of James Gunn and Peter Safran?
It's way too early to determine whether the DCU is a success or a failure, but I was worried when they hired workmanlike director Craig Gillespie to direct "Supergirl." James Watkins was a safe get for "Clayface," and, judging from the trailers, looks suitably stylish and icky. I also like Andy Muschietti on "The Brave and the Bold" and Mangold on "Swamp Thing." Greg Mottola was rumored to be in the running for "Savage Hunters," which would be a fun change of pace for the talented "Superbad" director. All we know about "Teen Titans" and "Wonder Woman" thus far is that Ana Nogueira is writing them. Here's hoping she does a better job with these than she did on "Supergirl."
Ellison prizes IP properties over original movies. He says he'll make originals, but I'll believe that when the cameras are rolling. In any event, this should be good news for Gunn and Safran, as DC Comics has a deep stable of exploitable characters. Hopefully, he'll leave the DCU team alone, and hopefully those fellas will stay true to their promise that every movie will go into production with a finished script (preferably a good one because, yeesh, was "Supergirl" bad). The worry here is that Ellison values loyalty (which is why Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were replaced with his Paramount duo of Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein), and he might be tempted to replace Gunn and Safran with his own team.
That would be a disaster, but according to industry insiders, a disaster is precisely what's in the offing for Skydance.