Greetings CBM readers.
After all the excitement about Man of Seel and the possibilities that this movie opens for a DC Cinematic Universe, I have given some thought about how Warner Bros can successfully turn it´s DC and Vertigo properties into movies, just like Marvel Studios have done.
I have to say that WB is my favorite Entertaiment Corporation. Beyond DC Comics, they have created many of my favorite movies and tv series like Casablanca, The Matrix, The Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, The Big Bang Theory and so on. Probably this is the only entertaiment mega corporation that can look eye to eye to the mighty Mickey Mouse Empire.
Despite the fact that I enjoy reading comic books from DC Comics and Marvel, I have to confess that a lot of editorial decisions made by Marvel, specially regarding my favorite characters Spider-man and X-23, have pushed me away from the House of Ideas. On the other hand, due to great work of Warner Animation in the las 20 years, I began to get closer to Batman, Superman and other DC Characters, and now that comic books are no longer impossible to find in my country (Costa Rica) and that a lot of information about comic books is available online, I lean towards DC ranks.
That been said, let´s move on...
WB Executives
Warner Bros. have shown in the past that its executives (the suits) don't know anything at all about the DC properties they work with, even household names like Batman and Superman. If you don´t believe me, you should watch this hilarious video by Kevin Smith and his experience writing a Superman script for Warner Bros.
The problem within Warner Bros is not lack of talent. Actually some of the most talented people in the comic book and the movie making industries already work for Warner Bros. The problem is the studio´s management, the suits. When we have people like Christopher Nolan enjoying enough freedom to make a movie we get awesome things, like The Dark Knight. When the suits enter production and begin to mess with it, we get Batman and Robin. If the director and the producers are not brave enough, and bend over to the suits' ideas for making more toys or to make the movie more family friendly... things go wrong, awfully wrong.
Recently the studios have gone through a series of importante changes that will certainly impact the future of DC Movies. The appointment of Kevin Tsujihara as the new CEO, Jeff Robinov leaves his job as the Film Studio Chief and more recently the break up between the Studio and Legendary Pictures, co producers and financiers OF the Dark Knight Trilogy and several Zack Snyder movies, including Man of Steel.
When Tsuhihara won the office, several people praised the change hoping that him will be willing to take more risks. The new CEO has said that DC properties are very important to him and that he will back up the studio efforts to make them successful at the cinemas. He worked closely with DC Comics, Paul Levitz had to report to him when he was DC´s publisher and president.
Then Jeff Robinov leaves, after been critized by his decisions and his performance as the head of the film studio. Robinov was an important runner up to the CEO position and his relationship with Tsujihara was reported as cold, despite the fact that he supported his election. He also clashed with Thomas Tull,Head of Legendary Pictures over creative control and the differences between the 2 partners began and recently Warner Bros confirmed that it won't continue the business relationship with Legendary.
Christopher Nolan
Due to the critical and box office success of The Dark Knight, many people became Nolanites and placed their hope on this British director to become the creative force behind the DC Cinematic Universe. His influence is strong within the studio and he is responsable for several successful movies like Inception and more recently his debut as producer of Man of Steel. Many people wanted Warner Bros. to use the Nolan formula in all the DC movies.
However, we need a reality check. Christopher Nolan is tired of making superhero movies. You can easily tell by looking at his work in The Dark Knight Rises. The first 2 movies had Nolan interested and working at his best, but the last installment was like a contract obligation to the studio more than a project he really wanted to do. He hesitated but he went on and did what he could to prevent the movie from being a complete disaster.
His involvement with Man of Steel was more like a favor to his friend David S Goyer. He liked his draft for Superman and was the link between him and Robinov, and became producer in the process. He picked Zack Snyder to direct the movie and then left to focus on his next project, Interstellar. Man of Steel is a Zack Snyder´s movie, Nolan used his influence to make the project possible.
However his influence on Warner Bros was based on his good relationship with Jeff Robinov. He went to Paramount to do Interstellar and Warner Bros actually had to sacrifice Friday 13th and South Park to Paramount to be part of this movie. With Robinov out of the picture, I wonder if the relationship of Warner Bros with Nolan will remain strong.
What should WB do?
First, they need to give DC Comics it´s own studio. The worst mistake Warner Bros can do is to mix these movies with the rest of their extensive movie catalog. With Legendary out of the picture, they need to fill the void.
Then they need to build a team to run this studio. I won't consider Nolan for the job. He is a film maker, not a producer or an executive and I understand that he doesn´t want to limit himself to comic book movies.
They need an executive that have bring in talent and have good connections to producers, financiers, directors and writers. He or she needs to work well with movies, but also with television, comics, digital content and so on. He or she needs to be able to move across easily through the Warner Bros structure. Unfortunately I am not that savy about Hollywood executives and I can´t propose any names. Above all,he or she needs to know how to balance the commercial and creative aspects of the business.
Then, with this smart guy or girl running the show, he or she can gather the talent within the company.
I would propose Geoff Johns to a position similar to the one of Kevin Feige at Marvel. Of course DC will loose one of its stars, but for a good reason. Johns knows the characters better than nobody. He was able to turn Class B characters like Green Lantern and Aquaman into household names with the comic fandom. He has experience with film making and as Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics he is responsable to promote DC properties into different forms of media, and right now, movies are the most important outlet for these characters.
If somebody can ensamble a good DC Cinematic Universe, Geoff Johns is the man for the job. This is like creating a comic book event, with a different, more complex and expensive medium.
Johns can bring in people like Paul Dini, even David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan to work the scripts for the movies based on his ideas. They have experience writing for these characters. Working together they can bring a lot of good elements to these movies.
We have people like Zack Snyder, that visually understand how to portrait comic book caracters. He is my choice to have a similar job to Joss Whedon at Marvel. Snyder has shown that he is able to do good movies if the script is good and that he knows and respect these characters. Plus he is willing to take risks.
Snyder can direct a Justice League Movie, but he needs to be involved into all the process to build up this Cinematic Universe, including working together with other directors as a producer or consultant. This will give visual and tone integrity to all the movies, however I also hope for some degree of originality in each one them.
This is a lot of work, and as Henry Cavill said, despite the rumors, a Justice League movie is not around the corner if WB wants to make it right. I hope that Tsujihara is really smart enough to guide this project and pick the right people for it. The talent is there.
As a DC fan and as an adult moviegoer, I also hope that Warner continues to deliver more mature movies. This must be in my opinion what will make the difference to the work done at Marvel. I am not against light funny movies, but I like what they are doing in the comics, bringing more complex and adult story telling. These characters are NOT FOR KIDS, they have a teen and adult audience and as the videogame industry learned, the majority of the consumers of these products are in their 20´s and 30´s and don´t depend on their parents (at least not most of them).
Let´s hope for the best and see how WB works out this puzzle.
Sources:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/01/28/dc-comics-safe-in-kevin-tsujiharas-hands/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-kevin-tsujihara-how-416623
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kevin-tsujihara-named-ceo-warner-415860
http://collider.com/jeff-robinov-fired-warner-bros/
http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/content/jeff-robinov-exiting-warner-bros-movies
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/christopher-nolans-interstellar-warner-bros-562879
http://www.slashfilm.com/legendary-pictures-may-part-ways-with-warner-bros/