On March 29, 2011, an article in the Los Angeles Times Online spoke about the possibility of a Justice League movie, inspired by the success of the X-men movie franchise.
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Warner Bros. executive Jeff Robinov is already thinking about DC Comics movies for 2013 and beyond, and he’s got “Justice League” and a reinvented Batman on his mind.
The president of the Warner Bros. motion picture group, who recently sat down for an extensive interview with The Times, discussed his long-term strategy for DC beyond movies already in the works, such as June’s “Green Lantern” and next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Superman movie.
The first priority for the man with the ultimate say on what films get made at Warner Bros. was this: Finally getting the Justice League, DC’s team featuring all its top characters, on the big screen in 2013. The picture had been very close to production in late 2007 and early 2008, but was killed by the Writers Guild of America strike, tax credit issues in Australia, and concerns by some at Warner about presenting a competing (and conflicting) version of Batman while director Christopher Nolan’s films were breaking box office records.
But Robinov said a new Justice League script is in the works. Also being written for Warner are scripts featuring the Flash and Wonder Woman, who could be spun off into their own movies after Justice League. Though Wonder Woman is also in the works as a television pilot for NBC produced by Warner, Robinov dismissed that as a sticking point. “Wonder Woman could be a film as well, the same way that ‘Superman Returns’ came out while ‘Smallville’ was on,” he said, referring to the 2006 film that put Brandon Routh in the cape and the television show starring Tom Welling that is now in its 10th and final season.
Robinov knows that the most bankable part of his superhero empire has been Nolan and his Gotham City films – the studio has yet to deliver a 21st century superhero blockbuster hit without Nolan in the director’s seat. Batman will continue to be a centerpiece property beyond next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Nolan’s departure from the franchise. “We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman…Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.”
[Exceptional posters were created by pro artist Alex Ross]
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My Reflections...
I don't really know if the execs at Warner Bros are serious about their listed project proposals.
Are they really going to execute a live-action Justice League movie? The past JL animated series and spin-off movies have actually done quite well - and perhaps it is debatable to consider that the cartoon medium has been the best creative outlet for the massive showcase of super powers that the JL characters possess. But the X-men have powers as well, and they have been able to successfully graduate from the level of cartoons to big box office movies.
[Classic Justice League Wallpaper / Poster above was drawn by Ed Benes]
Maybe its always been the tight leather & black spandex that helped Marvel movies, vs. the idea of heroic adults wearing capes and red speedos in modern times...
So they really want to reboot the latest Batman movie franchise after the third installment? Why spoil a good thing? And why would you create an outfit for the new Wonder Woman series pilot on NBC that looks like a cheap Halloween costume?
...There are many mysteries in this world. And I have no intention of solving them...
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EDIT: June 28, 2011:
Per several news reports floating on the Web, DC comics have been going through a lot of changes recently, in terms of their premier product line. It is rumored that they'll loose the rights to the Superman character in 2012 [it will revert back to ownership by the family of the character's original creator]. Thus DC Comics are probably looking at options for having another flagship personality in their comic universe, other than Batman...
Additionally, many classic character redesigns have been announced by the DC execs. Here is the latest interpretation of the New Justice League, with artwork by Jim Lee, the guy behind the peculiar New Wonder Woman outfit [which was used in the rejected NBC TV show pilot]:
[Artwork by Jim Lee; image sourced from bleedingcool.com]
The main members of the New Justice League, From left to right: Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Flash and Cyborg [Alumni from the classic Teen Titans]. The new cast will debut in the fall of this year, in a story arc drawn by Jim Lee; more samples of his exceptional art shown are below:
The NEW 52 from DC Comics
The execs at DC Comics also announced this month that they are focused on launching a HOST of brand new Issue #1s in the fall [about 52 of them, to be exact], in order to give a fresh start to all their major characters. I know this is supposed to be an effort to revamp their iconic rosters and possibly set up their characters for making jumps into other mainstream media outlets [and preferably into the movie medium, which has been rather disastrous for DC Comics as of late]. Yet when I look at the posters/wallpapers above for the New Justice League, I see the same old thing.... Yes, Superman is finally wearing his red speedos under his blue tights, but he's still the same old guy. Wonder Woman has a new outfit, bu that new costume of hers appears to have some sort of curse, since it was rejected along with the proposed prime-time WonderWoman TV series created for the NBC TV network earlier this year.
In my opinion, you can change the color of a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, but beneath the glossy new paint job, it will always be the same old car that just needed a new V8 engine...
MORE OF THE NEW 52 DC COMICS COVER ART BY JIM LEE, FEATURING SUPERMAN, AQUAMAN AND WONDER WOMAN:
Check out these Blog articles on Wonder Woman, with more cool art: http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com/2010/11/wonder-woman.html
Article that talks about the Wonder Woman Cancelled TV pilot: http://dsngsfm.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-on-wonder-woman-tv-series.html