DC Entertainment Gives New Hope for Comic Book Movies.
Following the Disney acquisition of Marvel, and now seeming a response to that deal, Warner Bros. has announced a new company called DC Entertainment, which will apparently be an umbrella for DC Comics as well as, presumably, whatever film projects the WB plans to adapt from its publications. This may just be another false promise that the corporation is finally getting its shit together in order to compete with the more prolific Marvel Studios, but DC fans at least have a new hope until the next round of disappointments. However, the first noticeable changes are already buzzing around,with Paul Levits leaving the charge of Chief editor at DC comics.
Really, there’s not even official word that the creation of DC Entertainment has anything to do with plans to get more comic book movies into gear. There’s some general implication, but no specific revelations.
Check out what the other film blogs are saying about and hoping for with this announcement after the jump:
- Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily had the scoop on this before the trades:
I know what everybody is thinking: that this move is in response to the announcement August 31st that Disney is buying Marvel. You can think that, but you would be wrong. This change has been in the works quietly for two years…I’ve also learned that Robinov for months has quietly gone to producers like Chuck Roven and Joel Silver and Akiva Goldman and “called back” all their high profile DC titles in development like The Flash and Wonder Woman.
- Heidi MacDonald at Publisher’s Weekly’s The Beat references an old Finke piece to offer doubts concerning the future of that latter adaptation:
what might happen to that Wonder Woman movie? Some of you will recall that Robinov is notorious for his “no movies with female leads” edict, which led to the Kate Beckinsale led WHITEOUT being kept on ice for two years.
- Bob Westal at Premium Hollywood is optimistic that Wonder Woman will be okay with Diane Nelson running DC:
Certainly Robinov’s sub-moronic move in 2007 could give people pause, though it might be less an example of blatant sexism than the kind of bizarre thinking that often runs Hollywood…Lets hope that Ms. Nelson insulates DC from that sort of thing, or it’s bad news both for movies and comic books. Something like this probably had to happen, but I certainly hope this doesn’t bland things out in our already too bland media landscape.
- The Playlist is happy about the restructuring’s effect on the mentioned filmmakers:
This is good news if you’re people like us and think Silver and Goldman are total hacks (which they are), so they won’t be able to destroy these super hero adaptations if and when they come to pass.
- Rick Marshall at MTV’s Splash Page sees a bright future for DC movies:
the move certainly looks good for WB’s much-discussed problems getting films involving DC characters off the ground. Fans hoping to see the Superman franchise finally return to theaters will likely get their wish under the new, re-structured DC Entertainment banner, and many of DC’s other notable properties will probably receive more attention from the studio than ever before.
- Lane Brown at Vulture skeptically notes that we haven’t heard anything of real value yet, though he’s got related some financial advice anyway:
DC Comics and parent company Warner Bros., too, have done something to better exploit their own character library! Says a press release!…What does any of this actually mean in the long term? Your guess is as good as ours, but we’re totally buying stock in capes.
- Meredith Woerner at io9 similarly recognizes this is just hype for now:
What does this mean for you and me? Not much just yet…As of right now, it looks more like a clever marketing move to make sure that the WB can stand toe to toe with Disney. But creating the WB-backed DC Entertainment could forcibly lead to a lot of “the studio knows best” decisions for movie future of DC characters, as DC will have to report to Nelson and Robinov.
- Rob Bricken at Topless Robot acknowledges the lack of value, but he’s hopeful:
While this company transformation guarantees nothing, I’d say it’s a huge step in the right direction. Getting some Warner movie execs in charge of DC is probably the best way to get DC movies made, and since they’re DC people now, hopefully they’ll be inclined (if only by virtue of their fellow comics employees) to be reasonably true to the characters and properties.
- Josh Tyler at Cinema Blend reminds us that DC hasn’t had a problem with quality, just quantity:
The Dark Knight is the biggest superhero movie of all time and even Superman Returns, which is often labeled as a failure, earned more than either of Marvel’s Hulks. Warner Bros. problem isn’t that their movies haven’t earned, it’s that they aren’t releasing enough of them.
- Rodney at The Movie Blog addresses the reason for that prior lack of quanity:
DC, owned by WB had its titles in competition with the flood of other films WB has in consideration. So while Marvel just has to decide which of its properties to do next, DC had to justify the potential of a Wonder Woman film in the same ring as 17 Again and the Informant.
For every Final Destination taking up Warner Brothers coffers, a DC property does not get made. Now that WB has created its own DC branch of the WB trade, they will have their own dedicated resources and budgets to create whatever they see fit.
- Brandon Lee Tenney at FirstShowing makes us wonder if the promise that we’ll finally get more movies doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll finally get good movies:
DC is still a far-cry away from Marvel’s stranglehold on the comic book-movie genre. Perhaps under the fixated umbrella of DC Entertainment, DC Comics can more equally compete with Marvel in theaters. Though, as a branch of Warner Bros, it’s as of yet unknown if WB will be as hands-off as Disney has promised for Marvel, or if DC Entertainment will hold as much control as Marvel did when they were self-financed.
- Paul DeBenedetto at Wednesday’s Child fears this deal will put comic book development under the same sort of process as film development:
Thing is, we already know this happens in Hollywood with producers and studio execs looking to the internet to gauge fan reaction and possibly make changes to their productions. Now that Warner Premiere is more or less being merged with DC it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the new management might react the same way. Thing is I’m not sure that kind of reasoning is a good thing for the comics industry (I’m hesitant to believe it’s good for film), since most comics fans tend to be a bit more obsessive and character-minded than most film fans.
- Devin Faraci at CHUD.com was also immediately more worried for the comics than excited about the possible movies:
This could mean a new rush of DC properties in development, with many – like Wonder Woman – suddenly rescued from development hell. But what does it mean for DC Comics? The comics company has worked fairly independently under Time Warner, but that could be coming to an end as Robinov and Nelson start paying better attention to what’s going on.
- Mark at I Watch Stuff thinks this will just give us another logo to look at before the next Batman movie, assuming that will remain the only DC property regularly making its way to the big screen. His further, sarcastic rejection of any good news to be found here:
I hope the broad term “entertainment” includes elements of breakfast. It’s about time someone makes a Batman waffle maker, which would make waffles shaped like Batman.
