Two years ago, James Gunn and Peter Safran shook up Hollywood when they established DC Studios, and sought to start over where the previous DCEU era had failed. They announced an ambitious slate of projects, one of which we’ve already seen, the Max animated series Creature Commandos, and the big one, Superman, that’s right around the corner. While there have been a lot of positive updates, such as the growing cast of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the second season of Peacemaker, the anticipated Lanterns series, and the Bat-spinoff Clayface, some of their plans have hit delays or haven been deprioritized.
“We are writer-driven,” Gunn told THR and other outlets at a recent press event. “We are not going to greenlight or put anything into production until we are happy with the script….It is hard enough making a good movie with a good script, it’s almost impossible to make a movie with a script that you’re writing on the run.”
One of those projects to have hit a wall, no pun intended, is Waller, the Viola Davis-led series that acts as a spinoff to The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.
“We’ve taken a couple of cracks at it but still haven’t been able to land,” Safran said. ‘Waller’ has been a bumpy road.”
Davis’ Waller is the longest-running character at this point, having first appeared in 2016’s Suicide Squad followed by numerous appearances in the DCEU and newly launched DCU where she appeared in Creature Commandos.
Not much is known about the DC Studios plan for The Authority, based on the hit comic book about an ultra-violent Justice League-level superteam. Gunn admits it “has had a harder time coming along,” and “It hasn’t been much of a priority.” We still have no info on who is writing or directing that one.
Also, James Mangold’s Swamp Thing seems to be going nowhere, despite this being one of the more high profile projects. Mangold has been busy on the awards campaign trail for his film A Complete Unknown, and after that he’s got Dawn of the Jedi for Disney/Lucasfilm.
“We talk about it occasionally,” Gunn said, suggesting it is definitely not front of mind at this stage.
A series on the wise-cracking future hero Booster Gold was supposed to happen but seems dead now, “maybe he fell out of love, maybe he got busy,” Gunn says, “but we had to pivot.”
Then there’s The Brave and the Bold, a Batman film featuring Bruce Wayne and his assassin son, Damian. While The Flash director Andy Muschietti had been announced for it, Gunn seems to have taken it over with Muschietti barely involved…
“We’re developing the Brave and Bold script right now and he’ll be the first one to see it,” Safran said, referring to Muschietti.
Gunn added, “Everybody knows I love Batman and it’s important to me so I’m working very closely with the writer on Brave and the Bold,” he said.
Three years later, and there’s still no script for Matt Reeves’ sequel to The Batman, although Safran says what he’s read is “incredibly encouraging.”
Marvel Studios had to learn this lesson the hard way, too. It’s a bad idea to announce future projects that aren’t already in production or very close to it. When they hit snags or creatives fall away, it has a ripple effect. These bumps in the road are pretty normal, if you ask me.
Back to the positive spin, Luca Guadagnino’s Sgt. Rock movie is moving forward despite Daniel Craig recently dropping out. There’s also a live-action Teen Titans movie in the works, and more with Blue Beetle, one of the few DCEU characters to make the jump.
Honestly, this could all be moot for DC Studios if Superman isn’t a hit with fans when it arrives on July 11th.
