DC Going Forward Post- Justice League

So the Overall Opening Weekend Box Office haul has come in for Justice League (2017) and is, unfortunately, the lowest Opening numbers for a DCEU film. Opening at $96 Million in the U.S. $14 million short of predictions, and the first DCEU film to not gross over $100 Million in its opening weekend domestically. However, It's not a failure. These are only the domestic numbers. Globally, the film has earned $285 Million, which puts it in a good place. And, with the B+ CinemaScore, heavy praise from fans and the Thanksgiving weekend coming up Justice League can still turn a sizeable profit. The only issue is that it wasn't as big a splash as Warner Bros. was hoping it to be.  Because of this, the company may be a bit concerned with the future of the DCEU and so, they'll have to review the entire property. Look at what's working in the films and what's not. And so I've decided to come up with a list of things that Warner Bros should look into in terms of the DCEU going forward.

Justice League 2/The Injustice League

I feel like this is a top priority for Warner Bros. right now. With Justice League receiving heavy fan praise it's quite clear there's an audience for the brand. When the film came out the End Credit scene with Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Deathstroke (Joe Mangienello) where they tease the Injustice League (Other times referred to as the Secret Society). And the reception from that clip alone has been overwhelmingly positive. And so, I would say that DC should make the Secret Society the main villains of the sequel, and shelf the story with Darkseid and Apokalips for the third film. It would be a good idea to have different villains pop up in the Solo DC films that would become members of the Injustice League. For example, Aquaman (2018) is the next DC film set to hit theatres next year and will feature two villains: Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson). Two characters that have been part of the Injustice League at some point. So they either one could be in Justice League 2. 

Establish Darkseid before JL3

Working from the previous point, if the Secret Society is in Justice League 2 then Darkseid should be in the third film. Darkseid has been alluded to in both Batman V. Superman and Justice League but he hasn't been properly established yet for anyone to be properly hyped about him. in Justice League Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) briefly speaks about Steppenwolf's (Ciaran Hinds) past but it wasn't enough for audiences to know about Darkseid (Steppenwolf's master) or how big a threat he is. In fact, he only got one name drop in the entire film. Darkseid, in the comics, is the ultimate bad guy. He rules over his own planet, Apokalips, he is one of the "New Gods" and is strong enough to defeat even Superman (Henry Cavill). So he's a really big villain that needs to be established long before he steps up as the main villain of a film. My advice is to have a film about the New Gods. It was rumoured that Zack Snyder (Batman V. Superman, Justice League) approached Geoff Johns (Head of DC film division) about making a New Gods film. It's a really good way of introducing audiences to the New Gods, there are a lot of interesting characters that come from that Mythos, such as Orion and The Forever People, it's a good way of establishing Darkseid and Apokalips and it could help bring more personality to Steppenwolf (If they bring him back), something I felt was lacking in Justice League. So by the time Justice League 3 comes out audiences will know who Darkseid is and know why he's a force to be reckoned with.

The DC Trinity

This is quite a big component for the DCEU that really needs to be strengthened. For those who don't know who I'm referring too, the DC Trinity is Superman, Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). In an Interview with Dan Didio on DC All Access, he said that "When Superman's working, when Batman's working, when Wonder Woman's working the rest of the line feels strong" (Here is the link to that interview if you wish to watch it). And I believe this method of thinking should be the same for the films. At the moment the Trinity seems to be in a good place, particularly after Justice League. But there are some things that need to revise in terms of DC's plans for them.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman (2017) has gone on to become the highest grossing Superhero Origin film of all time and is the most well-received DCEU film at the moment. And now the sequel is scheduled for 2019 and will have director Patty Jenkins (Monster) return, which is really good. So Wonder Woman is in a good place. However, trading writer Allan Heinberg (Scandal, Grey's Anatomy) for David Callaham (The Expendables) is something of a mistake, as I feel that Heinberg did a lot to strengthen the Wonder Woman script, and Callaham doesn't have much of a reassuring line of work. So I would suggest getting back Heinberg and dropping Callaham from the title.

Batman

As for Batman, Ben Affleck (Argo, The Accountant) has been plagued with rumours of him leaving the title role. This isn't something that's new, as rumours like this emerged around San Diego Comic-Con and were then shot down by Affleck himself. But now it seems the rumours are back (Conveniently around the time Justice League has been released). But, until anything has been officially confirmed by either Affleck or Warner Bros. I would take those rumours with a grain of salt. As for the solo film coming up, Affleck has Matt Reeves (War For The Planet Of The Apes) directing, which is a good shout as War For The Planet Of The Apes (2017) was a huge success, in terms of critical reception, and the desire to make The Batman a Noir-styled film is something that fans have been waiting for since the Nolan trilogy ended in 2012. So Batman is in a very strong place right now.

Superman

At the moment, the only weak link in the Trinity is Superman. Who's had something of a shaky time on the big screen as of late. With many criticising Man Of Steel (2013) and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) of making Superman "Too dark" And wanting something similar to what was presented in the films from the 1970's with Christoper Reeve (Superman: The Movie, The Remains of the Day). Whilst a lot of very vocal fans are very defensive about the different portrayal of Superman on film, describing as a modern representation of the character. In Justice League, it seemed that Zack Snyder (Man Of Steel, Batman V. Superman) was able to find the right blend between his more grounded version and the older version. And I would urge DC to continue with this path that Superman is on. Not to go completely back to the 70's version as it's quite a dated version of Superman. In fact, out of all the Solo DC films that are still in development, I would say the next Superman film should be DC's highest priority. Because like Dan Didio said on DC All Access "When people are excited about a Superman book, the rest of the line seems to elevate with it." and that applies to films as well.

Get rid of the Joker Origin film

I have already written about why I think this film is a bad idea (Here is the link if you wish to read that). And going forward I still believe it's a bad idea for there to be a film about a character who already has both an established film interpretation and even a television interpretation right now. And for other characters to receive this treatment as well. Different Elseworld versions of characters work in comics but do not work on film. And particularly when you don't know exactly where the DCEU is going in terms of story, it's not a good idea to jump start another line-up of the same characters. As I already said, this could work if they wanted to titles from DC's Vertigo line, which is already separate from the main DC stories, but not characters that already have ongoing film versions.

Studio Vs Directors

This really needs to be discussed. I touched upon this in my Suicide Squad Review. Warner Bros needs to set up rules for their film-makers! First Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) gets 30 minutes cut out of it. Suicide Squad was edited to the point where it barely resembled what was shown in the trailers, and now it appears that even Justice League had some parts of it edited to fit Warner Bros's vision of what the film should be. And this resulted in a film cut down to less than 2 hours and with reshoots which, in some cases, didn't really fit in with the rest of the film. What the heads of the DCEU, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg have two options ahead of them. Either let the filmmakers do what they want with the characters or get a firm grip on where they think the films should go, creatively. Personally, I'd say they should od the former. The film where the studio interfered with the lease is Wonder Woman (2017) and that was heavily loved by critics and fans and is my personal favourite DCEU film. Now, I know that reshoots and re-edits are a common practice in Hollywood, but the DC films have had these things happen on a lot of their films and it's rarely for the better.

So these are my ideas of what should be done over at the DCEU. What do you think should be done? Do you disagree with anything I've said? If so then please leave a comment down below. And, if you liked this post then please follow this blog for more content and follow me on Twitter at @Cinema_Stuff. Thank you for reading. :)