The debate continues as to why Warner Bros. can’t get a Comic Book Movie right to save their lives. And yes, the problem is Warner Bros. NOT DC and definitely not their characters. DC is a victim of the corporate minds at Warner Bros. I love DC characters and I see the potential they have, so the point of writing this is to be constructive, not just to bitch. And let me clarify, this isn’t a Marvel vs. DC thing either, because I have the mental capacity to enjoy them both, but I love DC and their pantheon, so I hate how they are being treated.
Im breaking this article into three Parts 1) Movies 2) Comics, Television and Animation 3) Suggestions
Having been a marketer, creative director and writer for over twelve years and having to consult in similar such corporate environments many times, the problem seems crystal clear to me and I can speculate at the things happening behind closed doors at WB: They are being Reactive to whatever is successful; they are not Proactive with anything. Whatever is successful they simply try to hop on the bandwagon.
PART 1 - MOVIES
At first WB was against a shared universe due to the success of The Dark Knight, then they reconsidered when Marvel was so successful and Green Lantern failed. Then they were against a JLA movie, now they want one because of the success of Avengers. EVERYTHING they do is reactive, tit-for-tat.
Their answer to Iron Man: they have Barry Sonnenfeld developing Metal Men, or their answer to Wolverine: a Lobo film. Now, Avengers is successful, so they plan a JLA movie… and a JLA Dark. All that these decisions mean, are that the execs don’t know a anything . Again, they just look for what’s SIMILAR in their pantheon to something that is already successful.
Well, first off, Lobo and Metal Men are both poor choices that don’t need to be made before characters such as Flash, Martian Manhunter or Aquaman. Second, as much as I want to see a JLA movie, they can’t honestly believe it will have the level of success that the Avengers had. Besides the fact that Avengers was a great movie, the reason it was so successful is it had the Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: First Avenger and The Incredible Hulk movies all acting as 2 hour long commercials spread over years, building up the hype for Avengers. (I knew way back, before they even picked a Director, when Avatar smashed records I said, when Avengers comes out it will come close if not beat Avatar simply because of the number of years in it’s marketing campaign.) Then finally there’s JL Dark, yes that could be a cool film, but again not on the top of any priority list. But the execs at WB probably think “hey let’s make a JLA and a JL Dark movie too, we’ll be twice as successful as Avengers”.
The Dark Knight elevated CBM’s in the eyes of many viewers, but at the same time, Nolan may have inadvertently doomed DC CBM’s through no fault of his own but because of Warner Bros.’ limited, visionless, text book, way of thinking, they want to use his formula for everything. Only an idiot would think that a single formula will work for all characters. There is no single formula. Nolan’s approach works for street level heroes only. (I bet he could make a KILLER Daredevil movie)
To the execs at Warner Bros…. Do Your Due Diligence and stop trying to find a “universal formula” that will work on all your characters. “Edgier and darker” isn’t the answer either. I understand market research, but seriously, obviously it isn’t working very well for you. Trust the source material, and try hiring people that love your characters, then trust them to handle them correctly.