…Take this one with a pinch of salt for the time being, but it has been reported this week that Fox is developing a new Fantastic Four movie with writer Seth Grahame-Smith, although this one will look to distance itself from Josh Trank’s failed effort by focussing on Franklin and Valeria, the children of Reed Richards and Sue Storm, and having a “kid-centric” vibe…
…Turning to the DC Extended Universe now and Wonder Woman may be falling down the box office charts, but the film has now passed the $600 million mark globally and will become the highest-grossing movie from a female filmmaker this weekend when it surpasses the $609.8 million haul of 2008’s Mamma Mia. Meanwhile, Gal Gadot has shared a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes from the film [watch them here], while alleged details of her salary for Wonder Woman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League also surfaced online [see here]. And you may also want to take a look at the paintings produced to illustrate Queen Hippolyta’s story to the young Diana about the origin of the Amazons, Ares’ betrayal of the gods and defeat at the hands of Zeus; check those out here…
…Although Wonder Woman 2 is yet to get the official green light from Warner Bros., DC Films’ Geoff Johns has revealed that he’s started working on the story with director Patty Jenkins: “Patty and I are writing the treatment right now. The goal is to make another great Wonder Woman film. I had a blast making it with Patty the first time. We’ve got a cool idea for the second one…”
…Suicide Squad star Jared Leto was asked this week whether he’ll be reuniting with director David Ayer and co-star Margot Robbie for the female-led spinoff Gotham City Sirens, although he wasn’t giving anything away about a potential Joker return: “I have no idea. Y’know, I can’t confirm — maybe I know — but I can’t confirm or deny. There are a lot of moving parts for that stuff, and we’ll see what happens next.” Meanwhile, Leto also shared some praise for Wonder Woman, stating that: “I thought it was incredible. They did such a good job. I watched Wonder Woman as a kid, I really enjoyed it. I was on the road with my band, 30 Seconds to Mars, and we rented out a theater, and brought the whole crew, and it was really fun. All of us enjoyed it…”
…Moving on to DC’s next offering and this week has brought us promo images for two action figure tie-ins to November’s Justice League movie; you can take a look at Mattel’s SDCC exclusive 6″ Cyborg Origins figure with Mother Box packaging here, along with Tamashi Nations’s S.H. Figuarts 6″ Batman figure here…
…Justice League is currently undergoing reshoots under Joss Whedon, and DC Films co-chief Jon Berg has been talking about how the Avengers director came to be involved with the DCEU: “He’s a big part already. We love him. He’s a great partner, collaborator; we want him to be ensconced. We bring people by, have general meetings and talk about comics and their favorite superhero movies. With Joss, he saw the master board, and he saw a Batgirl title and he said, ‘You guys seriously want to do Batgirl?’ And we said, ‘Absolutely.’ He said, ‘That’s my jam…’”
…Berg and his fellow DC Films boss Geoff Johns have been reflecting on the lessons learned from previous instalments in the DCEU, with Berg stating that: “There are lessons from every movie. You would be silly not to analyze how a movie was received — what went right and what went wrong on the making of a movie. On Suicide Squad, the movie did incredibly well commercially. It didn’t work narratively. You had some great casting and some great characterizations, but where the story fell down was on narrative, on plot. We could do better. Batman v Superman was tonally dark. People didn’t respond to that.” Asked why people embraced Wonder Woman so well, Johns replied: “Most of the DC Universe is known as being a hopeful and optimistic place. It’s known for characters that are inspirational and aspirational. Anyone who knows and loves the DC Universe knows that a lot of that has to do with its hope and optimism…”
…As production on Aquaman continues Down Under, a set video has arrived online this week showing Dolph Lundgren rehearsing for an underwater scene as King Nereus; check it out here…
…Having been fired from Lucasfilm’s young Han Solo Star Wars spinoff this past Monday, it seems that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been in touch with Warner Bros. about potentially helming The Flash solo movie. The duo were originally attached back in 2015 and wrote the treatment for the film, and now that they have a gap in their schedule they’ve surely jumped towards the top of Warner’s shortlist, which reportedly has Robert Zemeckis as frontrunner…
…With War for the Planet of the Apes set for release next month, it won’t be long until Matt Reeves shifts his attention to The Batman, and the filmmaker has revealed this week that he wants to take inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock when it comes to his Dark Knight solo movie: “For me, point of view is really important. I want to make sure you are experiencing something from the perspective of the main character in the story. I’m a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan – I like the idea of being immersed in that perspective…”
…A week after apologising for Batman & Robin, director Joel Schumacher has revealed where he’d have liked to have taken the franchise next, had he not killed it with his 1997 effort: “I always wanted to do a whole Arkham movie, and did a scene at the end of Batman Forever when Jim Carrey is in a straitjacket and Nicole Kidman comes to see him. And it was just a nod to back to Arkham Asylum which I love, and I thought it would be fun to put the other villains up there…”
…In another case of what might have been, Josh Hartnett has been discussing his decision to pass on the role of Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, stating that his biggest regret from the experience is missing out on the chance to work with Nolan, rather than not donning the cape and cowl: “I would welcome the opportunity to be in a relationship with a great artist in our film culture, no matter where they’re making films. In that instance, I think my regret mostly was not forming the friendship or the creative partnership with that director, more than it was [not] doing Batman. It wasn’t about not doing studio films. At the time, what I was interested in was…the film that I did instead of that was a tiny film about a guy with Asperger’s Syndrome, falling in love with a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome. It was a true story [called] Mozart And The Whale. It was more a question of what I wanted to do as opposed to what I didn’t want to do, and I always try to look at things that way…”
…Sticking with the Dark Knight and it’s been announced that the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie release Batman and Harley Quinn will receive its world premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con next month, and will also receive a one-night-only theatrical release in both the UK and the US on August 14th ahead of its Digital release on August 15th and Blu-ray and DVD release on August 29th. Meanwhile, Batman fans will also be excited to hear that the classic Batman: Mask of the Phantasm has received an HD remaster, and will be hitting Blu-ray in July…
…HBO is taking another crack at bringing Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen to the small screen, tapping Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) to develop a TV adaptation of the iconic graphic novel. Details are scarce, but it’s said that it will have no relation to Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie adaptation. And speaking of the movie, a new video arrived online this week showcasing Snyder’s use of colour in the film; watch it here…
…In CW news, Supergirl co-creator and co-showrunner Ali Adler has stepped down, with the network promoting Jessica Queller (Gossip Girl) and Robert Rovner (Dallas) to co-showrunners alongside Andrew Kreisberg for the upcoming third season, while we also got a VFX featurette for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow which breaks down the ‘Invasion!’ battle from the crossover episode with Supergirl, The Flash and Arrow; take a look at the VFX featurette here…
…With Titans set to begin production on its pilot this September, four character breakdowns have arrived online for the live-action Teen Titans series, which suggests that the core cast of the show will consist of Robin/Nightwing, Raven, Star Fire and Beast Boy; take a look at the casting breakdowns here…
…And finally, Dean Cain has suggested that he’s keen for a return as the Man of Steel for a revival of the hit 90s Tv show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: “Well, you know what, we ended our show after four seasons in a weird way because we’re supposed to do a fifth season. Teri Hatcher got pregnant in between and couldn’t work on that fifth season so they decided to shut it down. I would have liked to done that fifth season, I think we still need a fifth season, we need something, at least part of a fifth season. So I’m hoping that we get a chance to maybe finish up the series.”
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.
