Will We Get JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK or THE FLASH Released in 2018?

Matt Key

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Justice League Dark - Comic

The Batman was scheduled to go into production this year with Ben Affleck both in front of and behind the camera. However, that all changed when he vacated the directors chair and Warner Bros. brought in director Matt Reeves. Recent rumors have stated that part of the deal that Reeves made with Warners was that he’d get creative control of the film and that part of that would be a page one rewrite of the script. We should offer up this caveat that none of this has been confirmed by the studio; it’s all hearsay.

However, Variety reporter Justin Kroll tweeted out this morning three tweets that seem to confirm the rumors that The Batman is being pushed back and this would seemingly confirm it’s creative upheaval. And we don’t mean upheaval in the pejorative but as “The Batman’s state is in flux.”

His tweets are below.

 

So, if we’re reading this, Warner Bros. wants to push through one of these five films — Green Lantern, Suicide Squad 2, Sirens, The Flash and Dark Universe, which is also known as Justice League Dark.

Let’s briefly reexamine the status of each of these films.

green-lantern-corps

First of all, Green Lantern is the longest of long shots. As far as we know, there is no script, director or actor in place for the film, so gathering all three of those assets in time to lens the film, do post and get it into theatres seems like a stretch.

Suicide Squad

As for Suicide Squad 2, that’s a bit more plausible, but not by much. Their was an announcement just a couple days ago that Legend of Tarzan writer, Adam Cozad, was in negotiations to write the film. As for directing, we know that Mel Gibson has taken meetings with them and now Jeff Sneider of The Wrap is reporting that Shallows director Jaume-Collet Serra is in talks. If we take this all at face value, the studio is pushing for a script and is vetting directors for a sequel that has it’s cast already in place.

Gotham-City-Sirens-triptych

Then there’s Sirens. That film is being directed by Suicide Squad director, David Ayer, and written by Tomb Raider and Sherlock Holmes 3 writer, Geneva Robertson-Dworet. It also has a star in place with Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. However, production on David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was problematic due mostly to how fast WB pushed it through, so it seems unlikely that the studio would ask Ayer to put himself in that position again.

The last two films make the most sense and are a toss-up for which they’ll choose.

Guillermo-del-Toro-Justice-League-Dark-script-finished

Dark Universe has Doug Liman in place to direct and a script from Guillermo Del Toro. It’s also rumored to be separate from the mainstream DCEU, which could actually work in its favor for a more fast-tracked production since they don’t need to attach it’s strings to anything else in the universe. The biggest thing they’d need to pull together is its cast, which, as far as we know, is not in place in any capacity.

landscape-1469528374-the-flash-in-the-justice-league-trailer

Finally, there’s The Flash. This project had a treatment done by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. They were also originally going to direct, but then dropped out. They were then replaced by Seth Graeme-Smith, who wrote the script and had planned to direct, but then also dropped out. He was replaced by Dope director, Rick Famuyiwa, who brought Kiersey Clemons in to play Iris West, but then dropped out himself as director. That being said, The Flash has more than enough material for a script as well as two of their main cast in place, they just need a director who won’t want total creative control in the same way that Matt Reeves did for The Batman.

Of course, as Justin Kroll said, “…if scripts aren’t ready to go, studio is content just shooting AQUAMAN this year till films are ready to go.” This is a good thing. It seems that the Brothers Warner have learned the lesson from last year that the happier the butts in the seats the better.

Matt Key
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