I have been meaning to write this article for some time but with the recent comments from Mark Millar ("Batman works because he's more human for the big screen and more empathetic, but I fear The Flash and others would just meet the same fate as Green Lantern. They're just too outrageous to provide tension in a live action format and I'd love to see them done, Pixar style, as brilliant, theatrical animated movies.")I couldn't wait anylonger.
DC constantly fails us at the box office. Is it possible for DC to make a decent live action film (other than Batman)? I think so... and this is how.
Ok, let's look at what the recent history of CBM film making has been. Ever since the first X-men trilogy we have seen a steady rise in the credibility of great characters from Marvel while DC was busy with... well, Batman. But really we did not see the shift that has made Marvel the CBM powerhouse that it is today until Iron Man. Marvel introduced a level of continuity in their films that had only be dreamed of prior to all the Avengers talk that Iron Man ended with.
Since then continuity has become a buzz word associated with CBMs at large.
THIS IS WHERE I THINK DC CAN BREAK THE MOLD!
And Actually I think that they already have. We all know that Marvel is dominating the live action market... but you were be hard pressed to convince me that Marvel is even touching DC's greatness in the Animated film Market!
Why is Dc winning in this market?
DC has dominated the animated market because they have thrown continuity to the wind and just given us great films based on already successful story lines that are unattached to each other.
Why not follow this model into the live action market?
DC will never defeat Marvel at their own game. The intensely tied together Marvel movie universe will not be matched in the cinema anytime soon. So why go that route? Why not follow the DC animated model onto the big screen? If you think about it the most successful live action DC films have been one shots based on awesome books.
Why this idea is AMAZING!
If DC decides to go this route we will have the opportunity to see some of our greatest fantasies come true on the big screen. Books that we all love, story lines that we all want to see but could never see in a continual DC movie universe would have the opportunity to reach the Silver screen!
We won't have to worry about the aggravation of actor changes (hey that's not Rhodey!). There would be no need to worry about that because in an unattached film universe Nathan Fillion could play Hal Jordan in "Emerald Twilight"
while Chris Pine could play him in "Blackest Night".
This will take some getting used to...
Will this transition be easy? No. At first (non Comic Book) people will be confused. (I still remember arguing with a (non Comic Book) friend after seeing "Batman Begins" because they thought it was a prequel to the Jack Nicholson Joker.)
But over time I think people will catch on. In the end I believe movie goers will appreciate the absence of another boring origin story every time something is rebooted.
...in the end DC could make reboots obsolete