The Future of DC Films
How Warner Brothers and the DCEU are finally finding their cinematic footing.
I think many people, DC and Warner Bros. included, were surprised of the news this past week that Aquaman, of all movies, is now the highest grossing DC movie worldwide. A character that was previously a punchline has now become an international phenomenon. With that being the case, DC is eschewing the “shared universe” in favor of individual stories driven by filmmakers. This is a truly exciting development.
When the Marvel Cinematic Universe culminated its Phase One with 2012’s The Avengers, the entire film industry lost its collective mind. Soon, every franchise was banking on its own shared universe, from DC to The Conjuring to the ill-fated Universal Monster franchise. The problem with many of these franchises was that the studios behind them failed to consider what made Marvel’s universe work: patience.
Aside from end credits scenes (and a few unnecessary subplots in Iron Man 2), Phase One Marvel films were largely stand-alone adventures with slight connective tissue. DC tossed that aside, eager to show its audience everything and how it all connected right away, and in choppy, unpleasant ways. DC introduced half of its Justice League team through low-resolution video clips on a security screen, threw their team together in a bland and uninspired way, and burned through five movies worth of material in one over-stuffed, bladder-busting movie. It all culminated in 2017’s Justice League, a lightweight movie that should have been a heavy hitter, bombing at the box office.
The only DCEU movie to be released in 2018 was James Wan’s Aquaman, which seemed like an odd choice to follow up their massive team up movie with. After all, Aquaman is a character that has been a laughing stock for years, and Jason Mamoa’s Arthur Curry failed to impress in Justice League.
Side note: who would have been able to impress with the downright horrendous one-liners Whedon required him to spout constantly?
All of those doubts were quashed when Wan’s film, a fun and colorful sci-fi fantasy adventure, hit theaters in December. The visual spectacle alone was worth the price of a theater ticket, and the movie was surprisingly heartfelt. It was bombastic, cheesy, and humorous in all the right ways. Audiences showed up for it. Then, they continued to show up for it. Over a month later, they’re still showing up for it.
DC has shown that they are listening to what audiences want. Their two biggest successes (critics, audiences, and box office all factor here) are arguably Wonder Woman and Aquaman. What separates these two movies from the rest of the pack? Well, they’re well-written and made with visual flair for one. They’re also stand-alone adventures that general audiences can enjoy without doing homework for them. Maybe the best thing about them is the fact that they are truly the filmmakers’ visions, untethered by studio interference. Whether audiences are aware of interference or not, it shows on screen. Subconsciously, general audiences pick up on it.
In 2019, DC has two films coming out, Shazam! and Joker. These two movies are driven by the filmmakers and seem to be their own thing, with little tying them to a larger narrative. They both promise to be different than what we’ve seen from the DC Universe before, and therefore, has potential to be successful both financially and with audiences.
On top of these releases, DC has more movies slated to arrive in 2020 and 2021, starting with Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5th, 2020. Bringing Jenkins back was a great move; she clearly loves and knows how to bring Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince to life. It’s set in the 80s (which grabs the nostalgic audience), something we haven’t seen in the DCEU yet, and it’s a character with an already established goodwill with audiences. Quite frankly, if it doesn’t bust the box office open, I will be surprised.
This week, DC also finally announced a release date for Matt Reeves’ much anticipated The Batman, which is set for June 25, 2021. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Reeves described his vision as being a “noir Batman.”
It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale. It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been. — Matt Reeves
Reeves clearly has a different direction he wants to go with his cinematic version of Batman. He made the Planet of the Apes franchise his own to tremendous success. To see DC invest in him as a filmmaker and allow him to go with this vision is truly exciting.
That’s not the only great news DC dropped yesterday. It had previously been confirmed that James Gunn was writing the next Suicide Squad movie, and this week, DC announced that Gunn had entered negotiations to also direct the film. Gunn has a very distinct filmmaking voice, one that made his two Guardians of the Galaxy films for Marvel so great. With him taking over a soft-reboot of Suicide Squad (titled The Suicide Squad, out August 6th, 2021), DC may finally have their own property to rival the smash hit of Guardians of the Galaxy.
It seems as though the DCEU has made some steps to fix the errors of their earlier efforts. It’s cool to see a franchise that, instead of linking everything together, is creating compelling and separate narratives with their properties. Hiring top-notch filmmakers and letting them explore the very large playground that comes with tentpole filmmaking makes for interesting and different blockbusters. I can only hope that these films are successful, sending Warner Bros. and DC the right message: trust the artists you hire.
