…With the release of Justice League fast approaching (and the film reportedly tracking a $150 million domestic opening weekend), Warner Bros. is stepping up the promotion for the DC ensemble; a new trailer is said to be imminent, and in the meantime the studio has released a series of character posters [see here], character promos and a featurette which sees the cast discussing their respective characters and their favourite on set moments [see here and here], and a selection of new promo artwork [see here]. Meanwhile, Danny Elfman revealed that he’ll be incorporating John Williams’ iconic Superman theme into his score for a specific moment in the film, while Zack Snyder shared some storyboards of a Mother Box being buried, Geoff Johns revealed that Ezra Miller’s Flash has been a fan favourite of the early screenings to date, and some early concept art for The Flash’s costume arrived online, complete with an enormous codpiece that would make Joel Schumacher proud…
…It looks like development on DC’s Flashpoint movie is coming along nicely, with a report this week stating that screenwriter Joby Harold has handed in his draft of the script to Warner Bros., who are continuing their search for a director. Apparently, having signed on to direct Artemis, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are now out of contention, although Robert Zemeckis remains a possibility, while the studio is continuing to meet with filmmakers and is said to be in no rush to make an announcement…
…One DC project that does have a director is Nightwing, and filmmaker Chris McKay responded to a question on Twitter this week asking where the studio is at with regards to the casting of Dick Grayson. “No one has been cast yet. We are taking our time. We are going to cast a wide net because we need to find the perfect person. We need to get the script right. We need this to movie to blow your mind.” Surprisingly, the rumour mill is yet to throw up any possibilities, but it’s presumably only a matter of time before someone decides to knock together a “rumoured” shortlist…
…James Cameron kicked off production on his hugely-ambitious four-movie shoot for his Avatar sequels this week, but he still managed to find time in his schedule to reaffirm his earlier criticisms of Wonder Woman, stating that he stands by his comments about the movie being a “step backwards” for the portrayal of women in film. TV’s Wonder Woman Lynda Carter wasn’t having it though, issuing her own firm response to the filmmaker: ““To James Cameron -STOP dissing WW: You poor soul. Perhaps you do not understand the character. I most certainly do. Like all women–we are more than the sum of our parts. Your thuggish jabs at a brilliant director, Patty Jenkins, are ill advised. This movie was spot on. Gal Gadot was great. I know, Mr. Cameron–because I have embodied this character for more than 40 years. So–STOP IT…”
…DC’s chief creative officer and DC Films co-head Geoff Johns has been chatting about the DC plan moving forward, including the new non-DCEU division: “They’re outside the mainstream film universe and they feature different actors and worlds and takes on the characters. They’re most likely all going to be one-offs. We’ll be announcing the name of it soon-ish, but those films and the approach to those films is going to be a very different approach. The Joker is the only picture to date that is under the banner — it’s a very different take on the character, it’s a very different type of movie, and it’s unconstrained by continuity.” Johns also went on to reveal that future DCEU movies will adopt the Wonder Woman approach of telling their own self-contained stories as opposed to focussing on the bigger picture of the shared universe: ““[Aquaman] is not about another movie. Some of the movies do connect the characters together, like Justice League. But, like with Aquaman, our goal is not to connect Aquaman to every movie…”
…During a promotional interview for his new film Blade Runner 2049, Jared Leto played down his on set antics during the filming of Suicide Squad, stating that: “Most of it was total bullshit. Like that I was giving used condoms to people, which was not true. It doesn’t matter how loud you shout or hold up a sign with your pants off in Times Square — people will run the story that they want. On set, we were all laughing [about the gifts]. People were thrilled to [get] them. Whatever the Joker would give, was the idea. I didn’t really even put them together, basically. It was my team and my assistant. We were all having fun with it. It was really touching. Was I focused when I was doing the scenes? Of course. Look you work the way you work, I’ll work the way I work. You can kiss my ass if you don’t like…”
…Having come close to directing a Batman movie back in the early 2000s with an adaptation of Batman: Year One (along with 2013’s The Wolverine), filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was asked this week if he had any interest in helming a superhero movie, with the mother! directing then name-dropping the Man of Steel – although it sounds like he’s got no desire to work within the confines of the DCEU: “I mean, you know, Superman would always be interesting, but they’re already deep into reinventing him, so that’s not going to happen for a long time. A lot of the great superhero titles are done, people have used them up. So now it’s kinda characters that aren’t as interesting. You never know. We’ll see what comes my way.
…Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons has become the latest person to share his opinion on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and where he felt the much-maligned movie went wrong: “The trend in entertainment now is to actually come up with something which is more entertaining, which is less dark, which is much more full of hope. And I think probably the failure of the Superman-Batman movie was that it was really too dark, and that Superman was made as dark as Batman. And to me, that really doesn’t work, I thought that’s the perfect opportunity to contrast the two characters…”
…Turing to the small screen now and you can read Martin Carr’s review of the second episode of Gotham season four ‘The Fear Reaper’ here, while we also have a promo for next week’s third episode ‘They Who Hide Behind Masks’, which you can watch here…
…Over at The CW and we’ve had two new additions to the cast of Supergirl for its third season this week, with Amy Jackson set to play Saturn Girl and Betty Buckley securing the role of Patricia Arias, the adoptive mother of Odette Annable’s Reign. Meanwhile, The CW has also released a new trailer entitled ‘Hero’s Journey’ [watch it here], along with promo images for the season three premiere ‘Girl of Steel’ [see here] and a synopsis for the second episode ‘Triggers’ [see here]…
…Having claimed to have turned down the opportunity to reprise the role of Superman in Supergirl, Smallville star Tom Welling has now expressed his interest in a guest role in The Flash, stating that: “I am willing to go on The Flash and I have a few ideas on how it can happen if the network asks me. In fact, I think I can make it happen.” Meanwhile, The CW also unveiled a poster featuring a “reborn” and “recharged” Scarlett Speedster [see here], as well as a synopsis for the second episode of the fourth season, ‘Mixed Signals’ [see here]…
…The CW has also unveiled a new trailer for the third season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow [watch it here], along with a synopsis for the second episode ‘Freakshow’ [see here]. And we also have a new trailer for the sixth season of Arrow [watch it here], and a synopsis for the second episode ‘Tribute’ [see here]…
…Lindsey Gort (The Carrie Diaries, Lucifer) has joined the cast of DC’s upcoming live-action Teen Titans series Titans, where she will portray the character of Detective Amy Rohrbach, Dick Grayson’s (Brenton Thwaites) partner at the Bludhaven Police Department…
…As well as the upcoming small screen project Titans, it seems the Teen Titans will be heading to the big screen next year, with Warner Bros. announcing that a Teen Titans Go! animated movie is set for release on July 27th 2018. Meanwhile, in other animated news, Warner has also unveiled a trailer and list of special features for its whopping 30-film DC Universe Original Movies: 10th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray box set [see here], and LEGO has debuted promotional images for its latest The LEGO Batman Movie tie-in set Joker Mansion, which you can find here…
…And finally, after expressing his interest in Superman and Fantastic Four movies last week, director Matthew Vaughn has now revealed that he believes Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars may have put the nails in the coffin of his planned Flash Gordon film: “For me, the only problem with Flash Gordon is Guardians of the Galaxy kind of stole what I would have liked to have done with it. You’ve got Star Wars, you’ve got Guardians, so you’ve got to have your own space opera, but you have to find something that can survive among these two very, very great franchises.”
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
