…Turning to the DC Extended Universe now and early tracking is suggesting that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is set for a a $154 million domestic box office opening, which would be the tenth biggest North American opening of all time behind The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158 million). If accurate, it would be a big improvement on Man of Steel ($116.6 million), but down on both The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and the DC record holder The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million). This week has brought confirmation that the film will open day and date in China, so the stage is set for a heavy international opening weekend…
…As we await the final trailer for Batman v Superman (which has been rated, and should be with us soon), Latino-Review has popped up with a new rumour concerning Scott McNairy’s still-unrevealed character, while a tie-in deal with Dr. Pepper has brought us some new promotional artwork [see here] and five prequel comic books [read them in full here]. And on the merchandise front, Mezco Toys has unveiled its collectible figures [see here], as has Mattel with their Barbie range featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman [see here and here]…
…With Zack Snyder 99.9% finished with Batman v Superman and gearing up for the two-part Justice League movie, the director has spoken about how the team will factor in to March’s big release: “As far as the other Justice League characters go, they play a very small role. It’s really just a whisper they exist. Except for Wonder Woman, we see her really well. But really, the movie is about Batman and Superman. And we really take time with them and we really drill down on the why of them and what they stand for and their beliefs and them as characters. That’s pretty much the why of the movie. But again as I said, it does begin the conversation about these guys are out there…”
…It seems a week can’t go by without Zack Snyder having to defend Man of Steel from criticism, and the director has done so again this week, stating that comic book fans who know the true canon know he didn’t change Superman: “I knew that we were really updating a beloved character. I don’t think ‘changing him’ — People are always like ‘you changed Superman.’ If you’re a comic book fan, you know that I didn’t change Superman. If you know the true canon, you know that I didn’t change Superman. If you’re a fan of the old movies, yeah, I changed him a bit. “I feel like I tried to create a Superman that would set a tone for the world. My point is that, if you know anything about the actual characters… what we’ve done is create a place where they can really be the mythological characters as designed in the comic books. If you’re a fan of them in the comic books, you’ll get a great opportunity to see what they look like, and how they move, [that] they’re real…”
…Snyder has also shared his opinion on Warner Bros.’ decision to keep its DC movie and TV universes separate from one another: “This is the bottom line for me. I have 100% respect and love for what they’re doing on TV. I think it’s amazing. The joy and the fun of them speaks to the iconic, graphic nature of these characters. These characters are bigger than any of the actors playing them. Long after I’m done making a Batman v Superman movie, there will be someone else who makes it. It’s almost like an American tradition now we’ve established that these characters will be played again and again, and they exist outside of us in this moment. I think that’s sort of the thing I’ve embraced, and as opposed to trying to shoehorn all of these storylines into a single universe, we let the characters exist in multi-universe, and therefore it’s a lot more fun and a lot more value for the audience. They get to see their favourite and most beloved characters on different adventures at the same time in different universes and it really makes the meal a lot richer and a lot more fun. We get to go with these guys in all different directions and that’s really the joy of what we’re trying to do over here at DC…”
…In what could be promising news for Warner Bros. and its DC Extended Universe ambitions, a report into social media tracking has suggested that Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad is outpacing all of its Marvel / Fox rivals by 500% with regards to social media mentions. Of course, it doesn’t reflect whether said social media mentions are positive and negative…
…And speaking of Suicide Squad, this week brought us a new TV spot for the supervillain team-up [see here], along with a fan-made animated remake of the trailer [see here]. Meanwhile, Oliver Davis pored over the trailer for his theory ‘Enchantress is Suicide Squad’s Main Villain’ [watch it here], while Samuel Brace also posted the op-ed ‘Has Suicide Squad Sexualised Harley Quinn? Yes, Thankfully’ [read it here]…
…Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller has been discussing his aborted Justice League Mortal film, discussing how it came about and how it also fell apart: “There was a really great script. And Warners said, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s do a Justice League.’ I really was attracted to it. But there was a writers strike looming. We had to cast it very quickly, which we did with Warners’ casting people. And we cast it really quickly and we mounted it very quickly. And it depended on a start date and it depended on some basic rebate legislation that had just got through a new Australian government. But it was just too big a decision for them to make in the time. And that fell through and the whole film fell through. We almost got there. And it wasn’t to be. But that happens a lot, where films line up and the stars look like they’re aligning and they didn’t…”
…Big news on the DC TV front this week, as it has officially been confirmed that Grant Gustin’s Scarlet Speedster is heading to National City – and CBS – for a guest appearance in the March 28th episode of Supergirl, entitled ‘Worlds Finest’. “We are so incredibly excited to announce something that we have dreamed of happening since we starting making Supergirl — The Flash and Supergirl are teaming up!” states executive producers Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti. “We want to thank Grant Gustin for making the time to come visit (on top of his already immense workload) and all of the folks at CBS, The CW, Warner Bros. and DC for working this out. And finally thanks to the fans and journalists who have kept asking for this to happen. It is our pleasure and hope to create an episode worthy of everyone’s enthusiasm and support…”
…Sticking with Supergirl for a moment and this week has seen the arrival of a Super Bowl TV spot for the series [watch it here], along with a promo for Monday’s thirteenth episode ‘For the Girl Who Has Everything’ [see here], first look images from the episode featuring Daniel DiMaggio as the teenage Kal-El [see here] and a synopsis for the following week’s episode ‘Truth, Justice and the American Way’, directed by Lexi Alexander (Arrow, Punisher: War Zone) [see here]. And be sure to check out Martin Carr’s reviews of episode ten ‘Childish Things’ here and episode eleven ‘Strange Visitor From Another Planet’ here…
…The Flash battled Tar Pit in this week’s episode ‘Fast Lane’, and we have a clip from the episode here, as well as Jessie Robertson’s review here. The CW has also released an ‘Alternate Reality Check’ poster [see here], along with a trailer, promo and images for this Tuesday’s thirteenth episode ‘Welcome to Earth-2’ [see here and here], and a synopsis for the fifteenth episode ‘King Shark’ [see here]…
…Colton Haynes’ Roy Harper returned to Arrow this week in ‘Unchained’ and you read Jessie Robertson’s review here, along with a clip from the episode here. We’ve also got a trailer, promo and images for this coming week’s ‘Sins of the Father’ featuring the return of Nyssa al Ghul and Malcolm Merlyn [see here and here], along with a synopsis for the fifteenth episode ‘Taken’, which features the live-action debut of Megalyn Echikunwoke’s Vixen [see here]…
…We’ve also got a trailer, promo and images for this Thursday’s fourth episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, entitled ‘White Knights’ [see here], along with a synopsis for the sixth episode ‘Star City 2046’ featuring a guest appearance from Stephen Amell’s future Oliver Queen [see here], a new team poster [see here], and a ‘wanted poster’ teasing the upcoming first appearance of Jonah Hex [see here]…
…With Gotham still on its winter break, Fox released the first episode of its animated motion comic Gotham Stories entitled ‘Penguin’s Cold Surprise’ [watch it here], while the network also kicked off the promotion for the ‘Wrath of the Villains’ with a promo for the season two midseason premiere [see here] and a batch of set photos arrived online showing Nathan Darrow in full costume as Mr. Freeze [see here]. And for UK fans, be sure to listen to the Gotham TV Podcast review of episode four ‘Strike Force’ here…
…TNT may have pulled the plug on the pilot, but DC’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns has revealed that the publisher still has plans for its live-action Teen Titans show: “We [at DC] have known about [Turner nixing Titans] for months and months and months. That’s not new news to us. We have plans for Titans. It’s a huge piece of DC and we have plans…”
…And finally, on the DC animation front, be sure to check out david j. moore’s Blu-ray review of Batman: Bad Blood [see here], while we’ve also got a clip from Warner Bros. and LEGO’s next DC offering LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Cosmic Clash which sees Brainiac preparing to do battle with the League [watch it here].
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.
https://youtu.be/XUGnM460Waw?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
