In the summer of 2019, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams signed a huge overall five-year deal with Warner Bros. It was reported to be worth as much as $500 million, with the plan being for him to find new talent for the studio and develop projects for them.
Half a decade later, the studio has little to nothing to show for all that money. Despite that, he's just struck a new, far more modest agreement which will keep him tied to Warner Bros. for at least a couple more years.
In Variety's piece on the news, the trade reiterates that his Constantine TV series remains scrapped. As for the Superman movie he was producing which was set to feature a Black Man of Steel, it's "technically still alive but has seen no forward movement since early 2023."
Ta-Nehisi Coates was writing the script and we'd heard the plan was for us to pick up with Kal-El in 1930s America as a Black man facing the prejudices of the time.
Since it was first announced, DC Studios has been formed and James Gunn's Superman reboot is being released in theaters next year.
Answering fan questions on Threads this past January, the DC Studios co-CEO confirmed that, "yes," the movie is still in the works.
He didn't elaborate on those comments and has said nothing since. Still, it lined up with what he said last year. "[Superman: Legacy and Abrams' Superman movie] are totally unrelated," he explained. "That’s an exciting movie. I know that Chantal Nong, who is the executive on that project, is extremely excited about it."
"So if it comes in and it’s great, which I haven’t read the script, and if the timing is right, that could absolutely happen. That’s totally unrelated. It would be an Elseworlds tale like Joker."
It appears DC Studios will have final say on the project and if Coates is no closer to finishing a screenplay, this could be another of those superhero movies that simply never becomes a reality. Very little has ever really been said about his and Abrams' plans, though the latter did say in 2021, "I will not be directing that movie, but I can't begin to express how excited we are for that project."
That came following reports that Warner Bros. execs had decided his being at the helm would be in bad taste.
Considering the fact none of Abrams' DC projects came to fruition (and now won't thanks to the DCU reboot), something tells us this take on Superman won't ever see the light of day. That's a shame given the potential this story has; we've also heard nothing about Michael B. Jordan's Calvin Ellis TV series.
As always, keep checking back here for updates.