Yesterday afternoon Warner Bros. announced that Executive Producer Walter Hamada (The Conjuring, It) has been named President of DC films. The announcement comes after Jon Berg left the position in December due to Justice League (2017, Zack Snyder) met disappointing box office results. Warner's President Toby Emmerich had this to say about Hamada:
"Walter is creative, resourceful and committed to excellence and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our Superhero films. He's a terrific production executive and served as an executive producer on two of the summer's most popular films, New Line's It and Annabelle: Creation. I'm confident that Walter and Geoff (Johns), working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences as well as DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter's a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post."
Walter Hamada
As it says in Emmerich's statement, Hamada oversaw both It (2017, Andres Muschietti) and Annabelle: Creation (2017, David Sandberg). And whilst I haven't yet seen those films I can't deny how successful they were at the box office. It earned $698.1 million globally, making it the highest grossing horror film of all time, while Annabelle: Creation earned $306.5 million. Very good box office returns, particularly in the horror genre. Hamada has also overseen Warner Bros.'s The Conjuring franchise, which has become very popular among horror fans. In fact, the horror films at Warner Bros. has become one of their strongest divisions. So, if Hamada can bring his skills as an executive producer from the horror division into the Superhero division, then things might swing in DC's favour.Geoff Johns
Many fans were hoping that Geoff Johns would fill the role of Head of DC films. Both he and Jon Berg co-worked together on DC's 2017 slate. And, whilst Wonder Woman (2017, Patty Jenkins) was a big success, becoming the highest grossing Superhero origin story of all time, Justice League was a disaster. It was able to break-even, but it wasn't the success that Warner Bros. was depending on. So I believe Johns has now been restricted to a consulting role for Hamada, to suggest to him what direction the DCEU could go
Kevin Feige
The main reason why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the well-oiled machine that it is today is Executive Producer Kevin Feige. Who oversees every film made by the Marvel Studios. Even the new Star Wars films have Kathleen Kennedy overseeing all of them. But the DCEU hasn't really had someone in charge of their films. Whilst they tried to have Geoff Johns and Jon Berg co-lead the franchise together that didn't really work out. But now that they have just one person at the helm then perhaps things will begin to run a bit smoother. Now, whilst Hamada hasn't yet proven that he's Feige material, as he hasn't really worked on a franchise as important as this one, his body of work
James Wan & David Sandberg
Two directors who are currently working on DC films at the moment are James Wan (Aquaman) and David Sandberg (Shazam). And I suspect that they both helped get Hamada this job, as both have worked on films that he produced. What this also suggests that the suits at Warner Bros. are feeling quite confident in these two projects. As, if they were able to get Hamada this role then they must be doing something right!
DC's Future
Ever since Justice League, the future of the DCEU has been put into question. With many suggesting a reboot with the Flashpoint film. Whilst nothing else has been announced yet concerning the DCEU, and this looks to be a quiet year for them, with just one film being released in December. But I expect there will be some changes made to any future planned projects for DC. Hopefully for the better. But Hamada has had quite a successful career so far and I imagine he will continue this streak into the DCEU.
So this is my analysis of Walter Hamada's recent promotion as President of DC films. What do you think of the news? Are you excited or anxious about it? Leave a comment down below. And, if you enjoyed what you've read then please follow this blog for more content. Thank you for reading. :)
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