'Flash' Productions Slows Down

With the "Green Lantern" film moving forward and scheduled to start production next year, the question comes up about the other DC comic book character films. There will undoubtedly be a third Batman sooner or later, but what about "The Flash"?

Not only has Adam Brody's planned Flash appearance in "Justice League: Mortal" been indefinitely sidelined by Warner Brothers, now it seems the hero's planned standalone film will have to run on without the involvement of "The Dark Knight" producer Charles Roven.

In an interview with IGN, Roven discussed his former attachment to the project, which hadn't had much traction since last year.

"I was involved at one point with 'The Flash,'" Roven told IGN. "And Warner Bros. came to me and said, 'The work that you've been doing hasn't yet resulted in something that any of us, including the filmmaking team, feel could be greenlit as a movie. We're trying to accomplish something that takes into account the entire, rich DC character world, and we'd like to pull it back. That doesn't mean that you aren't going to be a part of it. We just want to take a different kind of approach. Do you mind if we try that?' If we had something that was really working…"

Well, we at least know that "The Flash" is part of DC Entertainment’s game plan. By “rich DC character world,” does WB mean that they want more characters involved, possibly crossing over with their other in-development projects like Green Lantern?

Aside from the early departure of director Shawn Levy, "The Flash" hasn't seemed to suffer from lack of creative interest, but rather a sort of runner's fatigue as the right people weren't lined up in time to work with the studio's vision for the film.

Roven offered no hard feelings and even expressed optimism at taking another lap with the scarlet speedster if the opportunity presents itself.

"Like, for example, they had something that was more or less working for them on Green Lantern, and now you have Martin Campbell directing it…But we didn't," Roven said. "The David Goyer screenplay, that didn't work. Goyer left the project. We then embarked with David Dobkin, trying to come up with another approach. We hadn't even hired a writer at that point. So for us, we completely understood. I've been making movies with Warner Bros. for 15 years, so that was fine, but I hope one day there's a way for me to get re-involved in the project."

Despite these departures, "The Flash," still seems to be on track under the guidance of longtime Flash and Green Lantern comics scribe Geoff Johns, who was brought on to assist with a script treatment as well as to serve as a producer and consultant on the film back in July. At the San Diego Comic-Con this summer, Johns was tight-lipped and held back on revealing any details on his script treatment for the flick.

I’d like to see more DC live-action flicks come out to compete with the onslaught of features by Marvel Studios and Fox Studios, and like those two studios’ franchises of film, I’d like to see the DC solo character titles cross-over leading to some team-up event.

What do you want from "The Flash" movie and DC Entertainment’s line-up?
More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, MTV News