By Travis Johnson
Oh Warners, you just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to your superhero properties. Two years back Jon Berg and Geoff Johns were named co-heads of the DC Extended Universe film portfolio, with an aim to give that particular slate some direction and coherence (and bring in some of that sweet Marvel money and esteem). As of today, they’re out; following the lukewarm reception of the tentpole Justice League movie, producer Walter Hamada has been named President of DC Film Production, according to Variety. Veteran comics dude Johns will remain DC’s President and CCO, but that seems to be very much comics-focused – or at least, not film-focused.
Here’s what’s interesting: Hamada is a horror guy, it seems, having produced the hugely successful It last year, and shepherding The Conjuring franchise during his tenure at New Line. That means he’s tight with James Wan, whose Aquaman might be the last non-Wonder Woman DC film we see on the big screen for a long time. That’s a plus.
The negatives? The Flash currently doesn’t have a director (that may change in the 30 seconds between typing this and publishing), The Batman may or may not have a leading man, and Gotham City Sirens, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Cyborg are all early enough in development that they barely exist (we are never, ever getting a Cyborg movie). Even Suicide Squad 2 feels shaky now – and Suicide Squad was a financial success.
It’s possible Hamada has some incredible Hail Mary play up his sleeve (maybe it’s Justice League Dark? That would have a certain frisson) but this feels like yet another desperate move from Warner to try and salvage their cape stable. It’s all getting rather depressing – this is, beyond the shadow of a doubt the Age of the Cinematic Superhero, and one of the biggest and most important studios, who own one of the biggest and most important comic book publishers and the rights thereof outright, can’t keep it together.
Still, Wonder Woman 2 should be good.
