DC cinematic universe general stuff

Slydice

jeez.. I still have to give his creepy spooky superman a shot.. I dunno though.

The White Wolf

https://www.ign.com/articles/ben-affleck-never-direct-film-james-gunn-dcu

This has gone under the radar somewhat. Affleck really goes hard in his quotes, kind of embarrassing for Gunn given he said they had discussions about Ben directing a DCU film. Based on these comments I can't see how they even spoke beyond it being very brief.

Can't blame Affleck either as it sounds like the whole experience really put him through the ringer and like Cavill, it's probably a mercy for him now that it's firmly over.

He does seem to be holding back on Whedon's time...

GeneHunt

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/shazam-fury-gods-box-office-opening-1235355902/

It's early days yet, but it's not looking good for Shazam! Fury of the Gods either, I saw it on Friday, I enjoyed it, I felt it was better than the first Shazam! movie and way better than Black Adam. I don't want to spoil it by mentioning anything from the movie, but if you do go to see it, there are two post credit scenes, a few people left the cinema before the first post credit scene, almost everyone left the cinema after the first post credit scene and missed the second scene.

Penn

Seems like The Rock threw his weight around with WB to get the post credit scenes in Black Adam and Shazam 2 changed. It was supposed to be Shazam who showed up at the end of Black Adam instead of Superman, but more interestingly, members of the Justice Society were meant to appear in the post credits of Shazam 2 but The Rock made them change it. Kind of confirmed by Zachary Levi himself.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zachary-levi-blames-dwayne-johnson-post-credit-scene-shazam-1235357847/

We all knew he pushed to get Superman in his post credits and didn't want to appear in Shazam 2 himself, but to try and stop other Justice Society members appearing in it is strange. Unless he felt it would still intrinsically link his character to Shazam.

Slutmonkey57b

Sheds more light on why WB allowed the whole "you're dumped" situation, but I still don't think it made them look good as a company. Better off to write off the rock as someone to work with, let it be known behind the scenes, and let it play out quietly in public.

The White Wolf

I haven't seen Shazam 2, and The Rock absolutely acted like a brat, but WB is up to their old tricks again in blaming him.

Even without seeing Shazam 2, The Rock's "interference" was the least of its problems (did the first one even hint at BA as the villain? Wasn't Mark Strong playing the villain in the post credit scene?)

Poor marketing.

The announced DCU killing whatever interest there was in last remaining DCEU films bar maybe The Flash.

The film just looking like nothing new or worthwhile based on the trailers. Marvel is suffering from this so DC wasn't going to get away with it either.

They're just 3 pretty big reasons I can think of for why it's failing. Gunn and Safran would want to up their game big time if these sort of leaks are the best they can come out with. New regime, same lousy tricks.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120389155#Comment_120389155

Oh yeah WB would definitely be as much to blame for kowtowing to The Rock's requests. The first Shazam film didn't really have any links to Black Adam (apart from I think showing an empty chair in the wizard's cave showing there are supposed to be 7 people with Shazam powers, but there's only 6 of the Shazam family). Ultimately, Shazam and Black Adam are as linked as Superman & Zod. Sure, Superman and Shazam have different enemies they have to fight against, but Superman and Zod's stories, background and powersets are directly linked. Same with The Flash and Reverse Flash.

It seems The Rock was initially signed to play Black Adam as the villian in Shazam, but as his profile rose, he convinced WB to give Black Adam his own origin film, then in recent years wanted to skip over any links to Shazam and have Black Adam fight Superman instead and position himself as a linchpin of the DCEU going forward. But it's WB who ended up so directionless with no-one steering the ship that meant they were probably happy to go with The Rock just to have some kind of direction for those films, before they decided to go for a quasi-reset with James Gunn (and bumping up Peter Safran).

Now that BA underperformed and Shazam seems to be doing poorly (likely because everyone knows the DCU will essentially be reset so there's little appetite to go see this), WB are probably more than happy to sit back and have The Rock take a lot of the blame. But I don't think he's blameless either.

pixelburp

I suppose what it amounts to is two large brands clashing in some respects: the last megastar in "The Rock" perhaps trying to drive the bus of the DC Universe, with his own star power potentially on the wane? Black Adam a bit of a wet-fart, Jungle Cruise a flop, Red Notice being god-knows though he was certainly paid plenty for it. Not sure where Hobbs & Shaw sits on that front (760 worldwide on a budget of 200?), though I don't think there's any sequels planned? Fast & Furious he left IIRC 'cos everyone hates Vin Diesel eventually.

All the blather around Black Adam sounded like The Rock operating under the presumption of here we go: the DC's Big Ticket draw is coming. The Rock versus Superman; and nobody cared.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120391083#Comment_120391083

From what I recall, with the Fast & Furious films it seems like Rock was trying to push himself more to the forefront with spinoffs rather than be part of Dom's crew (whereas the likes of Jason Statham has no issues doing both), and Tyrese Gibson had been calling out Rock for being selfish and putting the franchise at risk if I remember right. I think it's even been claimed recently Rock wants to do a sort of Logan-type film for Hobbs (which is a fairly laughable idea), but still isn't willing to return to the F&F films themselves.

The Rock can be a decent actor. Even action stuff aside, he's capable of decent performances (I really enjoyed him in Walking Tall back in the day). The last 10 years or so though, he's just all about protecting his brand and advertising himself and his products. It's why Dave Bautista and John Cena have far surpassed him in terms of acting. They may not be making the money he's making, but they're willing to push themselves more with interesting roles and characters, and be part of a whole even if they're not the star.

With The Rock, you know what you're going to get every time. He plays small variations of the same character and chooses very safe roles. He definitely has star power and can pull in audiences, and he's a marketing machine all by himself, but there's just too much ego there.

The White Wolf

I admire Johnson for having enough belief in himself that he could get things back on track, but BA was never going to be the character to do that.

I read a claim that he has a clause in his contracts that he can't lose a fight, which means he would have either beaten Superman or have some screwy finish where they're equals.....which is just awful.

I like Henry Cavill but I don't know whether to feel sorry for him to be used in such a way, or to facepalm at his idiocy that he was willing to do that.

Cotts72

The way they portrayed BA he was always going to be an anti-hero/tweener so that fight would never have happened unless Superman was corrupted

pixelburp

I don't think Hollywood has it in itself to really commit to a ... "genre" film about a definitive, unrepetent Bad Guy as its lead. Not when it's a 4 Quadrant picture, with a giant budget. And if they do, the bad guy will have a tragic backstory to soften their actions or - as is more often the case - the script will introduce an antagonist who just happens to be even MORE evil and vicious. See Maleficent, Cruella, Black Adam etc. etc. It's not out yet, and I know it's based on an actual novel, but I imagine it'll be thus for that Hunger Games prequel where audiences will follow the young President Snow. Ya know, the vicious, poison happy bástard who ran the world in the original story?

Joker kinda came closest to taking a pop-culture icon and just running with the idea of them being utterly awful, but it flubbed that by trying to be "about something" with a lot of superficial hand-wringing about mental health, or some mealy-mouthed "eat the rich" fist-shaking. Joker couldn't just be a madman, he had to be pushed.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120391461#Comment_120391461

I'm not too sure if that thing about the clause in Rock's contract is correct. I think it was mostly just related to the Fast & Furious films; that he couldn't lose a fight to Vin Diesel, and then both Rock & Statham had clauses for Hobbs & Shaw that they couldn't lose a fight to the other. Usually it just means a fight between them is interrupted or broken up, particularly since they're not the actual antagonists of the films. I'm sure if the DCEU had gone as far as having Superman V Black Adam, a bigger threat would be revealed so they'd ultimately work together and part ways respectfully, kind of like Batman V Superman in the film Batman V Superman.

But that's what I mean about Rock being careful in the roles he chooses. He's never going to pick a role where he's going to end up looking weak.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120391876#Comment_120391876

But the Joker is meant to be pushed. It's why he is attracted to Batman, he thinks that he can give him that extra push to be as bad as he is.

He can not fathom why somone as close to the edge, as he was, does not fall in

His goal is to destroy Batman, not kill him.

CastorTroy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS3_72Gb-bI

Blue Beetle trailer.

Looks to be well done with the armour looking like the comic and Young Justice

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120437615#Comment_120437615

it looks cookie cutter and almost parody or Sat morning kids tv?

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120437615#Comment_120437615

Yeah something reminded me of the tough feel from young justice. Feels a bit more comical here.

pixelburp

The whole vibe seems like it's quite deliberately aiming itself at a younger audience; which in of itself is noteworthy considering how aggressive the DC films were in trying (too hard) not to be kid-friendly. So by all accounts the trailer made me think Nope!, but it's also not aimed at me either ...

dublinman1990

Some interesting news from Deadline.

https://deadline.com/2023/04/aquaman-2-minecraft-wise-guys-color-purple-release-dates-1235318958/#comments

Aquaman 2 is now out in cinemas on December 20th. WBD did a direct swap of Aquaman 2's release date with musical The Colour Purple produced by Oprah Winfrey & Steven Spielberg. The Colour Purple will be out in cinemas on Christmas Day.

CastorTroy

Well seems they decided to see if they could do better with the home market. Out today

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/shazam-fury-of-the-gods-home-video-release-date-new-featurette-exclusive/

pixelburp

Ooof. That's not good: streaming is a huge market n' all, but not so big and important that a Blockbuster, a mere 3 weeks after its release, getting shoved onto digital isn't embarrassing. The old DCEU is truly going out on a whimper.

...Fury of the Gods will be available to own for $24.99 

The concept of "ownership" of digital goods seems so perverse now (though open to correction if it's an actual file you download and can play on any common media player)

Beta Ray Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120451001#Comment_120451001

I wanted to see this in the Cinema but circumstance would have it that I just didn't make it. There are still showings, I might go tomorrow

I think that days of the Super Hero Movie are coming to an end. MCU phase four was a 6/10 over all for me with the exception of No Way Home.

4 years is to long to wait for a sequel, Iron Man had releases in 08, 10, 13 with an Avengers move in 12.

I get we had a pandemic in the middle but even still.

I loved the first Shazam and The Suicide Squad movie. They were defo the best DCEU movies for me, they had the right ingredients in the right proportions.

I though that Peacemaker Series was brilliant too.

When they did the shake up earlier this year, I think Joe public gave up on inflight DCEU movies which may be the reason why this one performed so poorly

dublinman1990

Four members of the U.S Congress had written a letter to the Justice Department on Thursday to investigate whether anti competitive practices have taken place after the completion of the merger of WBD.

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/warner-bros-discovery-merger-congress-anticompetitive-practices/

They had written in the letter that the moves made by Warner Bros. Discovery after the completion of the merger has been "harming workers and creatives in the media and entertainment industry."

I hope something good comes from this process by the Feds because it might bring back the Batgirl movie and Scoob! Holiday Haunt onto the our screens in the near future.

The main focus is to try and re-instate the pay and healthcare entitlements that were cut off to employees who worked on the now cancelled productions at HBO Max.

JP Liz V1

Emma Mackey, Samara Weaving, Rachel Brosnahan and Phoebe Dynevor are all being considered for the role of Lois Lane - Hollywood Reporter

Cotts72

Samara Weaving would get my vote from that lineup

That article also lists Nicholas Hoult as odds on favourite to play Lex and David Corenswet favourite for Superman ( looks a great fit as a younger CK to be fair)

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595214#Comment_120595214

There's been a few reporters online that have said that Hoult is actually being considered for Superman not Lex.

Superman is an easy character to play. Clark on the other hand...

It's Clark they need to cast. As long as a good actor is 6ft+ and has a bit of a jawline he can play supes, being a convincing socially awkward and reserved man is something no Superman has done correctly since Reeves (outside DC animation).

Closest they got was Brandon Routh but they crippled that by making a direct follow on from Donner's Superman

JP Liz V1

David Corenswet has a similar look to Cavill

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595216#Comment_120595216

I just seen those rumours. To be honest someone like Hoult as Superman would be a good interesting take. I'd rather see someone like that cast than trying to emulate the physical aspect.