Monday, July 20, 2009

More DC Films Finally Getting Made

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "A year after 'The Dark Knight' became a worldwide phenomenon, there are more DC Comics adaptations in the works than at any other point since the company was acquired by Warner Bros. in 1969."

DC fans should start shouting from the rooftops, but lets take a look at all these projects because some of them have been kept hidden while others are being dragged around the spotlight.

We know about "Green Lantern," "The Losers" and "Jonah Hex," but what else is there? Thankfully, the Hollywood Reporter article looks at all of the DC Comics movies in the works and a bit of news about hiring on a few DC writers as consultants. It looks like DC might finally be setting up their game to compete with the ever-growing Marvel Studios.

Warner Bros has been changing the way they work with DC Comics over the last year. One part of that reorganization involved secretly hiring three of DC's biggest comic book writers - Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman - to act as consultants and writers for its superhero movies in the works. Johns, known best for his work on the on-going Green Lantern comics and one of the creative geniuses behind Infinite Crisis, has been working on a new version of a "Flash" script, that was first written by Dan Mazeau. Johns will also produce, but no director has been hired yet for that. The projects Morrison and Wolfman have been working on haven't been revealed yet.

The process involves one writer taking point, though the trio do collaborate on projects, reading one another's materials while hashing out a story that will be at once accessible to nonfans yet still adhere to each character's long history. The writers also work in tandem with producers, writers and the Warners execs overseeing the projects, showing them treatments and providing notes on scripts.

"The creative process is by and large a true partnership," DC's Gregory Noveck said. "They'll ask us a ton of questions, and we'll give a ton of answers. We will talk back and forth. We'll discuss writers and talent, but ultimately it's their decision."

Other DC projects that they're developing include "Aquaman" and "Adam Strange." There is also a "Constantine" sequel still in the works, a "Green Arrow" project, and the "Shazam" movie that director Pete Segal has been attached to for a while.

There is also a "Bizarro Superman" movie being written by David Howard and Robert Gordon, the two who last brought us "Galaxy Quest." Bizarro is a supervillain with similar powers to Superman. He resides in his own Bizarro World, where he's a superhero, not a villain. It sounds like they're going for the comedic version of Superman with Bizarro, but it's too early to tell. The other DC character most may not recognize is Adam Strange, a sci-fi jetpack superhero with similarities to "John Carter of Mars." Adam is transported to a mysterious planet named Rann where he fights the aliens and falls in love with a local woman there.

So for all DC fans out there, what film is the highest on your list of must-see? "Green Lantern" already has a director, actor and release date. The other films are still in the embryonic state but are hoped to be hitting the big screen sometime in the next few years.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: First Showing, The Hollywood Reporter

2 comments:

Trehern said...

From what I know, Grant Morrison has been well-known for writing Batman, Superman and Animal Man (one of his first major characters), so maybe that mean something.

Also, Wolfman was the man behind Crisis of Infinite Earths and Teen Titans in the 80s. The complexity of Crisis is what I like about it the best, and hopefully if he writes movies, they carry the same weight.

And although I'm jealous as hell of him, anything Johns writes is gold. (Maybe even a Booster gold move????)

Head Hero said...

I am more of a Marvel guy, but in the past year or two I have slowly been catching up with the DCU (starting with Batman, of course).

I think that the complexity of any of the Crisis Sagas won't be too much in films because multiple realities are still too difficult for GMA (General Movie Audience) to comprehend.

Ha! Booster Gold the movie? If that guy was real he would advertise the heck out of that!

All in all, I wish they would bring in Dick Grayson to the Batman franchise so they could make a Nightwing spin-off (and maybe Teen Titans too).