…Turning to the DC Extended Universe now and Warner Bros. has released a new theatrical trailer for November’s Justice League movie [it’s just a shortened version of the Comic-Con trailer with a few snippets of new dialogue – watch it here], along with a poster and batch of promo artwork [see here] and a new banner and Batman promotional image [see here]. Meanwhile, we also got a look at two of Mattel’s action figures in Steppenwolf and his Parademons [see here], while Funko unveiled a batch of images for its Pop! Vinyl and Dorbz figures [check them out here]…
…Wonder Woman continued its march towards $800 million at the worldwide box office this week by surpassing the global haul of last year’s hit Deadpool, which grossed $783.1 million (for comparison, Wonder Woman is sitting on $791 million going into the weekend). Meanwhile, a now deleted Amazon listing is reporting that the movie will hit Digital HD on August 29th, followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release on September 19th…
…Gal Gadot will be back for her third and fourth outings as the Amazon Princess in November’s Justice League and 2019’s Wonder Woman 2, and it seems we may now be able to add a fifth appearance to that list. A rumour has emerging this week that Gadot will be reprising the role for the revamped Flash solo movie Flashpoint, which is reportedly eyeing a 2020 release date. In the Flashpoint comic book storyline, Wonder Woman and the Amazons find themselves embroiled in a war with Aquaman and the Atlanteans, although there’s no word yet as to whether the movie intends on incorporating this into the storyline…
…From one rumour to another much more dubious one now, and it has been claimed this week that Ben Affleck has signed a new deal with Warner Bros. to star in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, along with a further two movies to make up a Dark Knight trilogy, which will then subsequently lead in to a Batman Beyond film. Plausible, but given that such a deal would surely attract the attention of all the trades, it’s also probably fictional…
…In other Bat-related news, Nightwing director Chris McKay has revealed why the Dick Grayson solo movie was absent from Warner’s DC slate at Comic-Con: “I’ve turned down films because they were backed into a release date that made it difficult to make a great film. This isn’t going to be like that. I want this movie to blow you away. We need time to get it right…”
…One film that was on the slate, but has just hit a bit of a roadblock, is Suicide Squad 2, with director Jaume Collet-Serra opting to pass on the supervillain sequel in favour of helming the Dwayne Johnson-headlined Disney adventure Jungle Cruise. Collet-Serra was reportedly the front-runner for the sequel, after Mel Gibson dropped out of contention…
…The next DC project to go into production is Shazam!, and director David F. Sandberg has been chatting about the film this week, stating that he expects it to be the DCEU’s most lighthearted movie to date: “The big attraction for me with that character is the fact that every kid dreams of being Superman, right? I mean I certainly did, and Billy Batson is a kid that gets that chance. He gets to become the superhero. So it’ll be big with superpowers in a way. In terms of what people can expect, I think this will be one of the more fun or lighthearted movies so far in the DC universe. It certainly will be a departure…”
…The CW has announced the dates for its four-way crossover between Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Arrow, with Arrow making a one-week switch to Monday nights to pair up with Supergirl for a two-night double bill on November 27th and November 28th. “Last year’s (crossover) was the most successful week in CW history in terms of ratings and everything, said The CW chief Mark Pedowitz. “We felt in this particular case we had Flash on Legends paired, so it was better to make it two two-hour movies – a miniseries – we thought this was the best way to go. We had a lot of conversations with producers and marketing people. Next year, we might go back to four nights.” You can read comments from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim about this year’s crossover here…
…Grant Gustin has been talking about the upcoming fourth season of The Flash, promising that it will take the show back to its lighthearted and fun roots: “That was always the goal for our show was we were going to be the lighter, funnier show,” said Gustin. “And you know, sometimes storylines just take you where they take you. I think just because of all the time travel that Barry Allen did, and all the repercussions it had, it took us down the “Flashpoint” road, if you will. We really didn’t do “Flashpoint” for long, but we dealt with the repercussions for an entire season. Barry wasn’t only the big bad at the end of the year, but he was kind of the villain of the season because it was his fault that everything happened. So we’re going to get back to our roots a little bit, and because of this experience in the Speed Force, Barry’s able to let go of things and move on, and he’s able to help the team move on, and the show can get back to its original roots where Barry enjoys having these powers and has fun, and the whole team has a little bit more fun.” Meanwhile, it was also announced this week that Hartley Sawyer (Saving the Human Race) has been cast in the role of Ralph Dibny, a.k.a. Elongated Man, while some set photos surfaced online giving us a look at Barry Allen’s revamped costume for the new season…
…Mistresses‘ Jes Macallan has been cast in the third season of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow in the recurring role of Special Agent Ava Sharpe of the Time Bureau, a top secret branch of the government. She is described as “very smart and incredibly ambitious and always believes she is the smartest person in the room. She is often quite ruthless in obtaining her goals and her drive for perfection has left many discarded friendships (and relationships) in her wake.” Meanwhile, it’s also been revealed that Gorilla Grodd will be making an appearance in the third season, while Damien Darhk will lead a “spooky and supernatural” team of villains, and Matt Ryan may also return to the role of John Constantine…
…Sydelle Noel (GLOW) has signed on for a recurring role in the sixth season of The CW’s DC show Arrow and is set to portray Samanda Watson, an FBI agent investigating Oliver Queen’s (Stephen Amell) connection to the Green Arrow. Her character is described as “intelligent and poised with a no nonsense attitude [and] a woman who won’t rest until Green Arrow’s secrets are revealed…”
…While The CW seems intent on turning its entire schedule into DC programming, one project they won’t be revisiting is the planned Wonder Woman origin series Amazon, with network president Mark Pedowitz revealing that they have no plans to redevelop the proposed show in the wake of the film’s critical and commercial success…
…Casting is underway on Warner Bros.’ live-action Teen Titans series Titan, with 13-year-old Australian actress Teagan Croft nabbing the role of Raven, who is described as “the daughter of a demon [and] a powerful empath who must keep her emotions in check or risk unleashing her demonic side.” The show is being developed by Akiva Goldsman, Greg Berlanti and Geoff Johns and is slated to hit Warner Bros.’ new DC streaming service next year…
…Gotham star Corey Michael Smith has been speaking about the upcoming fourth season of the Batman prequel series, and the “identity crisis” facing his character Edward Nygma, a.k.a. The Riddler: “You know, we play a lot with Edward having identity issues, and so this is another identity crisis for him. His mind isn’t functioning at the level that it was. Whether that can be cured or fixed, he doesn’t know, but his computation is not as it was. So what does that make him now? The thing that he had was his intelligence and his ability to trick people and outsmart people, and so he doesn’t have that anymore. So what is there? So he goes on a new quest. I’m really happy, because it allows for a little comedy. Some of the old comedy we had with Ed, we get to find again. Some of his physical and mental ineptitude is back…”
…During a 20th anniversary screening of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, DC animation legend Bruce Timm spoke about Mark Hamill’s casting as the Joker, which saw him replacing Tim Curry in the role: “[Hamill] was so excited and full of enthusiasm for Batman. He’s a huge comic book fan and he really wanted to play one of the big villains at that time and he specifically mentioned The Joker, and at that time we were using Tim Curry as the Joker. [Hamill] was really disappointed and he said, ‘well, if anybody else shows up like Hugo Strange or somebody, give me a call.’ So many months later we made the difficult decision to replace Tim and we brought Mark in to audition for The Joker and he nailed it…”
…The upcoming Hellboy reboot Hellboy: Rise of the Blood Queen has found its second cast member, with American Gods’ Ian McShane signing on to to play Professor Bloom. Meanwhile, new Hellboy David Harbour has been chatting about Big Red’s heroic qualities, as well as comparing the character to Stranger Things’ Hopper and Hamlet…
…And finally, Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 has snapped up the movie rights to Black Mask Studios’ superhero comic book series Black, which takes place in a world where only African-Americans possess superpowers. The series is now in development as a feature film, with Studio 8’s EVP Jon Silk is overseeing the project and Black Mask’s Matteo Pizzolo producing and Osajyefo and Smith attached as co-producers.
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.
