Writing about the latest developments in movie-centric news isn’t a bad job, by any means — I could be mining ore and plucking chickens like my Eastern European forefathers — but some days still make you wanna sharpen up your morning coffee with something a little stronger. The recent trend of movie studios airing brief mini-trailers to tease the release of upcoming slightly-longer trailers numbers among my least favorite developments in online buzz-cultivating, and leave it to Zack Snyder and the DC cinematic universe to take that to the next level. Running a trailer for the trailer is some weak-ass bull, the sort of thing those nerds at Marvel would do — this is DC, baby, where they run five trailers for the trailer.
A new Batman vehicle demands, in a more literal sense, a new Batman vehicle. As Ben Affleck prepares to don the cape and cowl once more to reprise the role of Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League movie, modifications have also been made to his singular whip, the teched-out Batmobile. Snyder applied his bigger-is-better filmmaking ethic to the Batmobile in last year‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, diverging from Christopher Nolan’s utilitarian, industrial look towards something a little more tanklike. And today, Snyder’s taken to his favored social media channel of Vero to offer fans an advance look at what the latest edition of the Batmobile has to offer.
Over the weekend, USA Today dropped their 2017 movie preview featuring new photos of some of the year’s most anticipated movies. One of those was, of course, DC’s Justice League. We’ve seen some behind-the-scenes footage and some new looks at Wonder Woman, Batman, and The Flash, but now the whole gang has arrived.
Not long ago, we published a list of suggestions for how Warner Bros. could fix some of the issues with the DC Extended Universe. To date, the studio has delivered three superhero blockbusters — all of which were massively budgeted and hugely successful at the box office, sure, but they could have performed even better had they been genuinely good films. Although recent comments from WB execs and Ben Affleck imply that the studio has learned a few lessons from its mistakes, new comments from a top DC movies producer prove otherwise.
With all the heroes joining Batman and Wonder Woman (and Superman) in Justice League, plus almost all of them getting their own solo movies, it’s almost impossible to find room for them all. Warner Bros. recently did a bit of reshuffling with their slate of films, and pushed back the release of Justice League: Part 2, which until now had had a mid-2019 spot, to make room for Ben Affleck’s Batman movie. And now that Snyder has some free time on his hands, he’s turning his attention to Afghanistan war thriller The Last Photograph.
Hard to believe, but production on Justice League, which doesn’t hit theaters until next fall, is already nearing an end — at least according to Zack Snyder, who shared a new photo revealing Batman’s latest costume upgrade. What, you didn’t really think Batman would make another on-screen appearance without getting a fancy new super-suit, did you?
Following Batman v Superman’s underwhelming box office, DC’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns was promoted to the position of creative head for WB’s DC Film franchise, overseeing the studio’s upcoming slate of comic-book movies. In addition to co-writing the new solo Batman film with Ben Affleck, Johns (who recently confirmed Joe Manganiello’s casting as DC villain Deathstroke) is heavily involved with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and in a new interview, the exec reveals how they’re making some adjustments to address complaints about Snyder’s Dawn of Justice.
There were a lot of rumors about perennial DC Comics bad guys Deathstroke the Terminator showing up in Suicide Squad. He’s gonna be in the movie! (He wasn’t.) He’s gonna be a hired assassin competing with the Suicide Squad! (He didn’t.) He’s the breakout character in the movie! (He wasn’t.) Scott Eastwood’s gonna play him! (He didn’t.) So, so many stories about this character who wound up not being in the movie at all, in any way.
Just yesterday, Warner Bros. revealed a new heavy metal logo for Justice League, which — as I pointed out — looked like exactly the sort of thing that Jason Momoa’s Aquaman could get behind. Is Ben Affleck’s Batman recruiting a team of superheroes, or assembling a heavy metal supergroup? Thanks to this new set photo, we have an answer.
The flurry of Comic-Con 2016 afforded us our first look at the big-screen Justice League all suited up, while a few doors down saw DC’s TV heroes similarly previewing their next appearances. TV Flash Grant Gustin even had a chance to check out his big-screen counterpart’s Flash-ier costume, noting that the CW version had more of a “street, vintage” feel.