Warner Bros. hopes to cure a case of superhero Envy.
After years of lagging rival Marvel Entertainment in adapting comic-book properties for the big screen and other media, the Burbank studio unveiled a major restructuring of its DC Comics unit that will bring its operations under tighter control.
The move is an effort by Warner Bros. and corporate parent Time Warner Inc. to implement a new strategy for DC Comics, which will face stiffer competition from a steroid-charged Marvel as a result of Walt Disney Co.'s deal last week to acquire it for $4 billion.
For the four decades that Warner has owned DC, the publisher of such classic comics as "Superman," "Batman" and "Wonder Woman," the New York publisher has operated largely independently of the studio.
As superhero movies have become one of the most profitable genres in Hollywood, tensions between DC and Warner have contributed to the studio's inability to match the success of Marvel, which has scored on the big screen with such A-list characters as Spider-Man and lesser-known ones such as Iron Man and X-Men.
"It almost appears as if Warner Bros. were just buying DC now and deciding what to do with it," Numerous DC properties, including "Wonder Woman," "Justice League" and "The Flash," have languished in development at Warner Bros. for years, with little coordination among the studio's producers and executives and the comic-book publisher.
In one notable example, the CW Network, which Warner Bros. co-owns, last year announced plans to produce a show based on Batman's sidekick, Robin. Several months later it was killed after Motion Picture Group President Jeff Robinov and "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan, who hadn't been consulted, expressed their disapproval, according to people familiar with the situation.
Warner has had a mixed history with the DC properties it has adapted for other media.Its biggest success, 2008's "The Dark Knight," generated more than $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales and was a top DVD seller.
However, the studio's "Watchmen" movie released was a box-office disappointment, 2006's costly "Superman Returns" wasn't successful enough to merit another sequel, and films that were a flop "Catwoman," "Jonah Hex," "The Losers"and "The Green Lantern."
Seemingly in response to the Marvel/Disney buyout, Warner Brothers have announced a surprise restructuring, creating its own in-house IP-development company, DC Entertainment. Which means WB might be jump starting its stalled-out superhero movies — hopefully including Wonder Woman.
This clever marketing move hot on the heels of the Marvel announcement was no doubt pushed out early to keep up with the Disney hype machine. But Warner Brothers President, Jeff Robinov has always had a plan for DC.
DC seems to be having trouble emulating Marvel's strategy of putting out multiple super-films per year. But that may soon be changing.
It's a fact: Despite having a huge library of legendary comic book superheroes to draw from, DC Comics has not capitalized on their catalogue the way Marvel has. But that could be about to change. Yes, it's been said before, but this time DC and Warner Bros. mean business.
The Flash. Wonder Woman seems to have stalled. We're hoping to soon hear more on the status of the troubled Justice League waiting in the wings. Furthermore, Shazam! is supposedly coming our way. Teen Titans has been announced, but has gone mostly silent since last year. Remember Plastic Man? Aquaman is highly-anticipated, but it doesn't seem to be in active development. And let's not forget about Supergirl.
There is no question Marvel studios is on top of their game in recent years. Their franchises continue to impress audiences in transferring from comic book form to the big screen. Sure, there are the occasional misses with both critics and audiences but for the most part, they're on a roll with their perspective franchises. In the past, Marvel would sell the movie rights to their superheroes and graphic novels and there would be a hodgepodge of various big screen versions hitting the screen from different studios at any given time.
That said, they have a lot of new movies to oversee. Here's a list of upcoming Marvel based movies:
Doctor Strange
Luke Cage
Wolverine 2
Punisher 3
Iron Man 3
Sub-Mariner
Nick Fury
Iron Fist
Ant Man
Black Panther
Thor 2
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Fantastic Four (reboot)
Daredevil (reboot)
X-Men First Class 2
The Avengers 2
Captain America 2
No more of that from Marvel. The studio has began a policy of taking over their movie rights and character storylines and staying in charge of their properties. If you include the equation that Marvel Studios is now maintaining more of that controlling grip on any future film adaptations of their films, it can only be more positive for Marvel and its leadership….That is all.