Whether you loved or hated
Justice League, you have to admit that it didn’t make the kind of money Warner Bros. was hoping for. The film pulled in around $94 million in its opening weekend, falling well short of initial expectations.
And while the upcoming holiday weekend in the United States might help limit the film’s week-to-week drop-off, the movie’s box office performance so far will likely cause Warner Bros. to re-evaluate their plan for the DCEU.
So what should be the next step for this cinematic universe? Let's look at three of the studio’s options.
Focus On The Standalone Films
It’s not a coincidence that two best-reviewed movies in this franchise,
Man of Steel and
Wonder Woman, are just focused on one hero. Many of the criticisms of
Batman v Superman,
Suicide Squad and
Justice League centred on the fact that the movies felt overstuffed, but this hasn’t been a problem when the films have one solid main character. While
Man of Steel is a divisive movie, most critics disliked the film’s tone and not its plot elements.
Wonder Woman has undoubtedly been the greatest success of this cinematic universe so far, so making a sequel is an easy decision. The character’s popularity was also a factor in
Justice League reshoots, as scenes were added to put more focus on Diana Prince. In all likelihood, assuming the sequel does well, we will be getting a Wonder Woman trilogy no matter what changes Warner Bros. might make to the DCEU. Also, there’s a good chance that Diana might make some cameo appearances in other DC movies.
The next entry in the DCEU is James Wan’s
Aquaman, and if that film is a success, the franchise will have another strong character to build on. The upcoming Flash movie, however, is a bit of a different situation due to the subject matter that screenwriter Joby Harold is adapting...
Reboot The Franchise
The plan for the Flash movie is to adapt the
Flashpoint story arc, so it wouldn’t exactly be a straightforward standalone film. With Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Batman confirmed to be appearing in the film, and with several other super-powered characters likely to also show up, the movie might end up feeling too crowded. This is a bold plan that easily backfire, but if done well,
Flashpoint could be an incredible movie.
Fans have speculated that the reason Warner Bros. wants to make a
Flashpoint movie is because the time travel aspect will give them a chance to reboot the universe. This would give them an excuse to recast Batman if Ben Affleck wants out, and let the filmmakers make any other changes to the universe they wanted. It would also potentially give us a chance to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan suit up as the Thomas Wayne version of Batman, which would be pretty awesome.
Flashpoint could be the vehicle for a soft reboot, where the best parts of the DCEU could be kept intact and the lesser parts changed. However, there is also the option of completely rebooting the universe with a new cast. This is a risky move since a full-scale reboot would likely only confuse the general audience.
Since Justice League introduced a more comic-accurate version of Superman, something many fans have been clamouring for, it would be nice to see Henry Cavill get a chance to play the character in a standalone Superman film. The DCEU has a mega-popular version of Wonder Woman, and a Superman with a pulse, so it seems like the foundation is there for some great future movies. Now they just need to get their Batman situation sorted out.
Take The Fox Route
With Ben Affleck looking likely to leave the role of Batman, lots of rumours about his replacement hit the internet leading up to the release of Justice League. The latest actor attached to the role is Jake Gyllenhaal, as word is that the Oscar-nominated actor will play a younger Bruce Wayne in
The Batman. There have been lots of conflicting reports about Matt Reeves’ upcoming film, with it being described as both a standalone and part of the extended universe.
Considering the uncertainty surrounding
The Batman, and the Martin Scorsese-produced Joker origin story that is also in development, it’s possible that Warner Bros. is going to put less emphasis on the interconnectedness of its future films. There have also been rumours of a
Superman: Red Son movie that would bring Mark Millar’s
Elseworld story to the big screen. Since these are both pretty intriguing ideas, Warner Bros. might pursue them and take an approach similar to what Fox is doing with the X-Men. The continuity of Fox’s superhero films is a total mess, but since the studio has been making really great, unique movies like
Deadpool and
Logan, there haven’t been many complaints.
The quality of the movie should always come before forced universe-building, and maybe this is a lesson that Warner Bros. can learn from Fox. What’s your plan for the future of the DCEU? Share your thoughts in the comments.