So we all know the BIG news of the last 24 hours in the world of movie fandom is Peter Safran and James Gunn unveiling the rebirth of DC movies, in the form of the DCU. Their first slate of ten movies and was announced yesterday as DCU Chapter One: Gods And Monsters.
As more news is reported from the press event, we are hearing more about what was actually said during the presentation and the subsequent Q&A. There are some really interesting views expressed here that reveal a lot more about what might be coming.
DC and their stuttering, badly planned, and poorly thought out cinematic universe stumbled and failed while the rival Marvel effort turned into a movie machine. Now one of the DC Studios chiefs, Gunn, has been open, honest, and blunt about the failures of the previous approach:
“Well, the history has been shit. It’s been a real fucked up journey for DC. I think that there was basically no one minding the mint, and they were giving out IP to any creatives that smiled at whoever was in charge.
There was never any real power given to the people in charge. And so somebody could always go over their head and do whatever they wanted. We had the DCEU, which then became the Joss Whedon Justice League, but it also became the Snyderverse, which became this.
We have Wonder Woman, then we have Wonder Woman 2, which doesn’t even match what happened in Wonder Woman 1. And then we have the Arrowverse, and even us coming in with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker and, what is it exactly? And then all of a sudden Bat-Mite’s a real guy.
So how can we take these things together and make them make sense and have them unified and have it one real universe, one real world?”
Wow! When was the last time you heard anyone in Hollywood talk as bluntly as this? How do you tackle this, then, when you still have four movies from the old regime to go before you can even get started? Well, other comments made by Gunn seem to clarify this, including something that has long been rumored:
“I think that we’ve gotten lucky with the next four movies, frankly, because we have [Shazam! Fury of the Gods], which leads into The Flash, which resets everything, which then goes into Blue Beetle, which is totally disconnected. He can totally be a part of the DCU, [which] goes into Aquaman [and the Lost Kingdom], which leads into [Superman: Legacy], our first big project.”
So he confirms The Flash is a reset, that paves the way for what is to come. This would explain why Cavill and Gadot cameos were rumored to have been cut. Blue Beetle is separate, post The Flash and not impacted, so can take place in the new timeline or reality that The Flash and multiverse shenanigans will create.
Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom will then lead directly into Superman: Legacy, if he is talking literally. This would explain why Jason Momoa was so happy post his meeting at DC Studios. Somehow, in all this, Aquaman will potentially cross multiverses and remain, and be a factor in Superman: Legacy? It sounds all baked in:
“But the one thing that we can promise is that everything from Superman forward, or, actually, you’ll see in a second, from our first project forward, will be canon and will be connected. We’re using some actors from the past.
We’re not using other actors from the past, but everything from that moment forward will be connected and consistent.”
On the business side, Safran revealed that opportunities may be far wider than we had thought. He echoed that there is a single, unified creative voice at DC Studios free from interference and with no route over their heads, with movies, series, animation, and gaming under their remit. This is presumed to be James Gunn. However distribution channels may vary.
“[We] have the ability to sell outside of HBO Max, if that makes sense. [We] like the idea of having shows on Amazon and Hulu and Netflix…”
Safran said Warner Bros. Discovery are completely committed to this.
“Their investment in content creation is spectacular. It’s huge. There, they haven’t cut back. There’s no question of ‘Do we have the resources?’ I have zero doubt that they will commit.”
The question still remains, creatively, just how will James Gunn have some of the DCEU (Waller and the Peacemakers, The Flash, Shazam, Aquaman) make it through to the brave new world, and leave others (Cavill, Affleck, Gadot, Black Adam, the Arrowverse etc.) locked away forever?
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