It has been a very crazy 24 hours for fans of DC on film as yesterday brought reports that new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran are about to make dramatic changes to the DC movie landscape going forward. These include but are not limited to Wonder Woman 3 “dead in its current incarnation” and the return of Henry Cavill as Superman up in the air (or falling down).
Amidst a deluge of questions and confusion, Gunn addressed fans through his Twitter account and while he couldn’t confirm or deny much of the reports as he and Safran map out the next decade of DC films, he sought to at least ease the concerns among audiences.
“So. As for the story yesterday in the Hollywood Reporter, some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, and some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s true or not. Although this first month at DC has been fruitful, building the next ten years of story takes time & we’re still just beginning. Peter and I chose to helm DC Studios knowing we were coming into a fractious environment, both in the stories being told abd in the audience itself and there would be an unavoidable transitional period as we moved into telling a cohesive story across film, TV, animation, and gaming.
“But, in the end, the drawbacks of that transitional period were dwarfed by the creative possibilities and the opportunity to build upon what has worked in DC so far and to help rectify what has not. We know we are not going to make every single person happy every step of the way, but we can promise everything we do is done in the service of the STORY and in the service of the DC CHARACTERS we know you cherish and we have cherished our whole lives. As for more answers about the future of the DCU, I will sadly have to ask you to wait. We are giving these characters and the stories the time and attention they deserve and we ourselves still have a lot more questions to ask and answer.”
So. As for the story yesterday in the Hollywood Reporter, some of it is true, some of it is half-true, some of it is not true, & some of it we haven’t decided yet whether it’s true or not.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 8, 2022
It sounds like it will be a while before we hear whether or not Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins ultimately remain on board Wonder Woman 3 along with Cavill as Superman and Dwayne Johnson’s ambitious plans for Black Adam, as – as Johnson has so often said – the hierarchy of DC is about to change – which indeed it has with Gunn and Safran leading the studio.
DC has four films set for 2023 with Shazam! Fury of the Gods due March 17th, the long-delayed and awaited The Flash out June 16th, Blue Beetle on August 18th and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom December 25th. On the TV side, Gunn is expected to begin the second season of Peacemaker sometime next summer and we have HBO’s The Penguin, a spin-off of The Batman, currently in development, though The Batman and its stories will take place in its own DC universe much like Joker and its upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux are.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.