The DC Cinematic Universe Post-Justice League

I guess the same-day launches on HBO Max are over.

Not really the point, but am I the only one who thinks it looks weird in every one of those shots where Zoe Kravitz is speaking? Are they doing some kind of effect to her face or mouth?

Both of her shots look like the dialogue was dubbed in over the footage with some attempt to tweak the video to make it fit. Not uncommon to mess with dialogue like that in trailers, a little less common for it to be so noticeable.

That makes sense. It really threw me off.

Not sure why DC is farming all their best stuff to TV adaptations (Swamp Thing, Sandman) and keep trying with all this superhero junk that no one cares about (well, except for Batman).

I think this looks really good! I’ve already said this about The Batman separately, but I hope we get four really good standalone superhero movies, and not four on-ramps to a potential future team-up movie.

I do have to say, it’s strange that their tentpole movies are now Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Black Adam. But then again, it was probably weird to people back in 2008 that their tentpole movies were Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America (and not Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.).

Because what they’re doing has been wildly profitable. The 11 DC movies since Man of Steel have made $7 billion in box office. The only ones that flopped were the ones that were released during the pandemic.

The thread title is kind of funny for talking about the future of the franchise though :) Justice League was released in 2017; there are more post-JL DCEU movies than pre-JL ones!

Ah, but Justice League was also 2021, with only one movie since, from a certain perspective!

I’m not sure the numbers add up on that one: Sure, Aquaman cracked $1 billion worldwide (the only DCEU movie to do so), but Shazam only made $363 million, and Birds of Prey hit $201 million. For movies with a budget around $80 million, that’s not great.

I would say that “post-Justice League” refers more to DC shifting their movie plans after Justice League didn’t turn out as well as they expected. It made less money than all the DCEU movies before it, which isn’t what you want with your big team-up movie. I am interested to see how they pivot going forward!

I was pretty deliberate in writing DC rather than DCEU there; Joker also inexplicably made more than a billion. My understanding is that out of the movies in the opening post, the Pattinson Batman won’t be in the DCEU either.

The IP they’ve been using for movies has been very successful for them overall. Saying that nobody cares for the “superhero junk” and they should make a Swamp Thing movie instead just doesn’t seem justified.

2.5x the budget in box office is definitely no longer a flop, and 3.5x has to count as a success.

Yeah I’m curious about that. I feel like if the movie is a runaway success, they may be able to throw enough money at him to come back. As opposed to Joaquin Phoenix, who I’m pretty sure was just in for the one film.

I’m pretty sure they’re already discussing a sequel potential for The Batman, and I’ve heard we’re likely to get a Phoenix-Joker sequel as well.

I think DC is for the moment happy to pursue them both as (potentially) successful franchises regardless of any current or future connections to the DCEU.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “The Flash” are both being pushed from 2022 to 2023 due to COVID-induced production delays with visual effects. The Jason Momoa-starring sequel is being pushed back from Dec. 16, 2022, to March 17, 2023. Meanwhile, Ezra Miller’s first solo outing as Flash is speeding away from Nov. 4, 2022, to June 23, 2023.

Dwayne Johnson’s “Black Adam” is being pushed back three months to Oct. 21, 2022, and “DC League of Super-Pets” is moving to July 29, 2022, which was “Black Adam’s” original date. “Super-Pets,” in which Johnson voices Superman’s canine best friend, Krypto the Super-Dog, was previously dated for May 20, 2022.

In non-superhero release moves, Timothee Chalamet’s turn as chocolatier Willy Wonka in the origin story “Wonka” is being pushed back several months from March 17, 2023, to Dec. 15, 2023.

Finally, the shark disaster movie “Meg 2: The Trench,” starring Jason Statham, swims into theaters on Aug. 4, 2023.

I’m sorry, what?

We don’t need a Willy Wonka cinematic universe. The original movie is perfect. Stop.

I know! You just can’t top Johnny Depp!

I watched the Johnny Depp version in the theater. It was good. A weird movie, but good.

But I watched the Gene Wilder version last year (finally!), and it was really great! I recommend that one if you haven’t seen it yet Andy.

I wish I could keep up this pretense, but yeah I’ve seen the Gene Wilder version more times than I can count. I love it! (But there are still things I really like about the Johnny Depp version, like the music. Fight me.)

I pretty much just liked that one joke about cannibalism tbh.

Remakes of great movies like the original Gene Wilder version are mostly silly. Those movies had unique aspects to them that made them stand out in our memory. Statistically, out of the tens of thousands of movies in the past X years, we remember these movies as being great. What are the chances that the remakes will also stand out? Very, very low. Aside from cashing in on the name, these remakes will just be forgotten and disappear into the shadows of the thing they’re remaking. And that applies to almost every single great movie Hollywood remakes: Total Recall, Ghostbusters, the Disney animations etc.