Well, under its new leadership, Warner Bros.' DC Films division has finally admitted that it's looking to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for inspiration!
During today's Q2 investor call Q&A, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was asked about the backlash stemming from the studio's decision to completely scrap the Batgirl movie, and while he didn't address the move directly, he remained steadfast in his commitment to the theatrical model.
“Our ambition to is bring Warners back and produce great, high-quality films,” he said. “We can build a long-term sustainable growth business out of DC. We’re not releasing a film before it’s ready.”
“The focus is to make these films as good as possible," he added.
There has been a lot of speculation that other DC Comics-based projects could follow-suit and fall by the wayside, and while we may see further delays and maybe even some more shelvings, it sounds like three of the biggest upcoming tentpoles are safe.
“We have seen The Flash, Black Adam and Shazam 2,” said Zaslav, “We are very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better.”
The executive also announced a new "10-year plan" for The DCEU (or whatever it ends up being referred to), making it very clear that what Kevin Feige and co. have managed to achieve with the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be a big influence.
“You look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman — these are brands that are known everywhere in the world,” Zaslav added. “We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we are going to focus, where there is going to be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. We believe we can build a much more sustainable business.”
“It’s very similar to the structure Alan Horn, Bob Iger and Kevin Feige put together very effectively at Disney. We think we can build a much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC.”
Fair enough, - but as the great Public Enemy once said, that thought was thought before!
This would hardly be the first time the studio implemented a new policy to restructure/rejig its DC Films Universe, so it's a hard to remain optimistic about this latest "10-year plan. At any rate, this "reset" will likely stem from whatever Flashpoint-like adventures await us in The Flash, so WBD does have an opportunity to make some major alterations over the next couple of years.
What do you guys make of Zaslav's comments? Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place.