Warner Bros. Discovery Wants to Expand DC Films Following Merger, Plans to Revitalize ‘Superman’ IP
Following the completion of AT&T’s $43 billion merger of Warner Brothers and Discovery, DC Films is listed as a major priority for expansion. While the company plans to continue developing standalone films unrelated to any shared continuity, there is a desire to greatly emphasize a shared universe – and to put the Superman franchise at the center of things.
DC Films has had a tumultuous history following the beginning of the initiative with Man of Steel in 2013. What was originally planned to be a mostly-standalone Superman trilogy moved toward being the beginning of a shared universe after Warner Brothers saw the success of Marvel’s The Avengers, with the planned sequel shifting to include Batman in the first major live-action DC film crossover. This setting, unofficially referred to as the DC Extended Universe, was made with the intent being to give writer-director Zack Snyder up to four more movies to tell a story arc that began with Man of Steel, while other spin-offs in the universe would grow the overall setting. The intensely negative reaction to the second film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, led to that five-movie plan being reduced to a trilogy, Snyder’s role being reduced as Geoff Johns and Jon Berg formed the top brass of the nascent DC Films studio, and Snyder exited the production of Justice League after a family tragedy (only returning years later to release his version of the film).
While this period under Johns and Berg had its successes (Suicide Squad being immensely profitable despite its critical panning, Wonder Woman being a critical and commercial dynamo, Aquaman being the franchise’s only billion-plus hit, and Shazam! being more profitable than Man of Steel), several projects were either canned or went into development hell under their leadership. Following Justice League losing a substantial amount of money at the box office at the end of 2017, Johns and Berg took the blame and moved to different parts of the Warner Brothers Discovery conglomerate, while Walter Hamada, the producer behind The Conjuring and IT franchises, was tasked with righting a ship as it appeared that the leads for Superman (Henry Cavill) and Batman (Ben Affleck) weren’t going to have a future at DC Films.
Despite the rocky start, Hamada’s tenure under DC Films has allowed for a much greater degree of stability, both with the number of projects being put into production and with a more consistently positive reception overall, continuing his successful tenure at Warner Brothers. Although some projects haven’t reached the highs of their predecessors in terms of box office grosses, the advent of HBO Max has been immensely beneficial to the likes of Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, and The Suicide Squad. Under Hamada’s watch, the franchise has expanded to non-DCEU installments, such as the “Elseworlds” story Joker and Matt Reeves’s The Batman, which have actually fared better than the DCEU itself in terms of financial returns, while the DCEU itself is quickly shaping up to go into a variety of directions that will fill out the setting into something that will rival Marvel Studios in terms of output.
Nonetheless, Variety reports that the Discovery part of the newly-former Warner Brothers Discovery wants to make some changes in order to better make use of their massive library of characters, and one such move being considered is to turn DC Films into a more autonomous entity comparable to where Marvel Studios is under Disney. Discovery particularly wants to make use of a model similar to Marvel’s approach in building a more interconnected universe, something that the likes of the current slate of projects that are in post-production – including Black Adam, Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Flash, and Batgirl – are all building toward. Current DC Films President Walter Hamada is expected to remain until at least 2023, with a renewal on his contract seeming likely based on his recent successes with the brand and the interests of Discovery’s David Zaslav, but it’s possible that he may not be the only sheriff in town.
Some sources say that there is a desire from David Zaslav for a more Kevin Feige-like figure, who interviewed multiple potential candidates for this role, such as Emma Watts from Twentieth Century Studios and Paramount, who ultimately turned the position down. Others say that Zaslav just wants there to be more synergy between the business side of various DC properties going forward. It’s long been rumored that Warner Brothers have wanted to streamline their DC content, but the company’s approach has largely been to have a variety of more creator-driven universes rather than one singular one – an approach that resulted in multiple continuities for the television series on The CW and the existence of more creator-driven “Elseworlds” projects. Confusingly, Discovery wants to have it both ways by having a more singular take on the franchise while also allowing for standalones to exist in their own vacuum – Joker was singled out as a successful standalone project, and the company would like to see more director-driven efforts like it.
There’s also an appetite to revitalize several major DC IPs that the company thinks are languishing, Superman chief among them. It’s been speculated that Henry Cavill will appear in multiple upcoming DC Films projects as the Clark Kent iteration of Superman, but not star in a standalone – at least not at this time. Currently taking precedence on the film front is an African-American Superman Elseworlds project, starring a different iteration of the character in a period piece narrative, is said to be in development from writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and producer J. J. Abrams, with Coates expected to turn in his first draft sometime in the next few weeks. The IP is also ripe for spin-offs, as Michael B. Jordan is producing a Superman project starring the Val-Zod iteration of the character on HBO Max, while a Supergirl spin-off, following the character’s introduction in The Flash, is said to be in active development. What Zaslav wants from Superman specifically remains to be seen, but it is likely that there will be more emphasis on the character and his supporting cast in the not-too-distant future.
Overall, the biggest takeaway from the piece is that they want to have a clearer strategy that they can showcase to audiences everywhere. Aside from the aforementioned projects, projects that are said to be in development at DC Films include Wonder Woman 3, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern Corps, The Batman 2, Black Canary, Static Shock, Peacemaker, The Penguin, Arkham, Green Lantern, and an assortment of shows and movies based on characters from the Justice League Dark franchise.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
