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[B]Behind Warner Bros.’ Search for a Black Superman[/B]
[I]When Warners announced in February that celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the screenplay and Abrams is producing, it did not address the matter of helming. But insiders say Warners and DC are committed to hiring a Black director to tackle what will be the first cinematic incarnation of Superman featuring a Black actor, with one source adding that putting Abrams at the helm would be “tone-deaf.”
In a fitting twist, the director search is pitting DC against none other than Marvel. As Warners looks to fill its Superman vacancy, Marvel is on the hunt for a Blade helmer and is combing through the same list. But the question will come down to what kind of filmmaker Bad Robot and Warners want: an up-and-comer who can be backed by Abrams, who knows his way around tentpoles and franchises? Or an established filmmaker like a Barry Jenkins or a Ryan Coogler?
The former list can include Creed II’s Steven Caple Jr., J.D. Dillard, Regina King — who got raves for her drama One Night in Miami — and Shaka King, who is popular at Warners thanks to best picture Oscar nominee Judas and the Black Messiah. Some potential directors have met with both studios for both films, even as one agent said the process was “phenomenally early.” Meanwhile, Coogler may be a nonstarter for either assignment given that he will be occupied with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which releases July 8, 2022.
Coates isn’t expected to deliver his Superman script until midDecember. Likewise, Marvel isn’t rushing with Blade, whose start date was pushed from this September to July 2022, so that the studio can spend time working on the Stacy Osei-Kuffour-penned script.
While the next Superman will likely land with a name director, the star could be a relative unknown, as was the case when Brandon Routh suited up for Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns and Henry Cavill donned the cape for Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Steel. Neither Superman Returns nor Man of Steel lived up to outsized expectations, with the former earning $391 million worldwide and the latter taking in $668 million. By contrast, James Wan’s Aquaman nabbed $1.15 billion in 2018 and Todd Phillips’ Joker scored $1.07 billion (and multiple Oscars).
But establishing a new tone with the launch of the next Superman franchise is key to Warner Bros.’ DC film future. As such, little will remain of the so-called Snyderverse vision, which enjoyed its last hurrah with Snyder’s four-hour Justice League bowing on HBO Max in March. Among his hand-picked stars that remain are Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Ezra Miller (The Flash).
DC sees its upcoming Flash movie, which began production in April in London, as its way forward in this post-Snyder world. With the inclusion of such characters as Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Michael Keaton’s Batman, one thing Flash does is set up DC with a multiverse that allows for many of these incarnations and story universes to co-exist and have superheroes interact. So far, every movie and TV show, with the exception of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and set for release in March, HBO Max’s spinoff Gotham PD, and Joker and its planned sequel, will take place in the same universe.
The Superman film appears to be moving onto its own track and won’t be part of the universe, as of now. Sources tell THR that Coates is crafting a Kal-El in the vein of the original Superman comics and will have the protagonist hail from Krypton and come to Earth. While the story is currently being crafted and many details could change, one option under consideration is for the film to be a 20th century period piece.[/I]
Full article: [url]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/black-superman-ta-nehisi-coates-warner-bros-movie-1234947599/[/url]
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Would have been more impressed if they had gone with an asian or latino Superman honestly. This just feels lazy after Black Panther. Guess WB is forever doomed to be behind the curve. That and going with Abrams who is increasingly being seen as a underwhelming.
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[QUOTE=The World;5523490]Would have been more impressed if they had gone with an asian or latino Superman honestly. This just feels lazy after Black Panther. Guess WB is forever doomed to be behind the curve. That and going with Abrams who is increasingly being seen as a underwhelming.[/QUOTE]
Have you heard of Kenan Kong?
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[QUOTE=Last Son of Krypton;5523476][B]Behind Warner Bros.’ Search for a Black Superman[/B]
[I]When Warners announced in February that celebrated author Ta-Nehisi Coates is writing the screenplay and Abrams is producing, it did not address the matter of helming. But insiders say Warners and DC are committed to hiring a Black director to tackle what will be the first cinematic incarnation of Superman featuring a Black actor, with one source adding that putting Abrams at the helm would be “tone-deaf.”
In a fitting twist, the director search is pitting DC against none other than Marvel. As Warners looks to fill its Superman vacancy, Marvel is on the hunt for a Blade helmer and is combing through the same list. But the question will come down to what kind of filmmaker Bad Robot and Warners want: an up-and-comer who can be backed by Abrams, who knows his way around tentpoles and franchises? Or an established filmmaker like a Barry Jenkins or a Ryan Coogler?
The former list can include Creed II’s Steven Caple Jr., J.D. Dillard, Regina King — who got raves for her drama One Night in Miami — and Shaka King, who is popular at Warners thanks to best picture Oscar nominee Judas and the Black Messiah. Some potential directors have met with both studios for both films, even as one agent said the process was “phenomenally early.” Meanwhile, Coogler may be a nonstarter for either assignment given that he will be occupied with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which releases July 8, 2022.
Coates isn’t expected to deliver his Superman script until midDecember. Likewise, Marvel isn’t rushing with Blade, whose start date was pushed from this September to July 2022, so that the studio can spend time working on the Stacy Osei-Kuffour-penned script.
While the next Superman will likely land with a name director, the star could be a relative unknown, as was the case when Brandon Routh suited up for Bryan Singer’s 2006 Superman Returns and Henry Cavill donned the cape for Zack Snyder’s 2013 Man of Steel. Neither Superman Returns nor Man of Steel lived up to outsized expectations, with the former earning $391 million worldwide and the latter taking in $668 million. By contrast, James Wan’s Aquaman nabbed $1.15 billion in 2018 and Todd Phillips’ Joker scored $1.07 billion (and multiple Oscars).
But establishing a new tone with the launch of the next Superman franchise is key to Warner Bros.’ DC film future. As such, little will remain of the so-called Snyderverse vision, which enjoyed its last hurrah with Snyder’s four-hour Justice League bowing on HBO Max in March. Among his hand-picked stars that remain are Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Ezra Miller (The Flash).
DC sees its upcoming Flash movie, which began production in April in London, as its way forward in this post-Snyder world. With the inclusion of such characters as Supergirl (Sasha Calle) and Michael Keaton’s Batman, one thing Flash does is set up DC with a multiverse that allows for many of these incarnations and story universes to co-exist and have superheroes interact. So far, every movie and TV show, with the exception of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson and set for release in March, HBO Max’s spinoff Gotham PD, and Joker and its planned sequel, will take place in the same universe.
The Superman film appears to be moving onto its own track and won’t be part of the universe, as of now. Sources tell THR that Coates is crafting a Kal-El in the vein of the original Superman comics and will have the protagonist hail from Krypton and come to Earth. While the story is currently being crafted and many details could change, one option under consideration is for the film to be a 20th century period piece.[/I]
Full article: [url]https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/black-superman-ta-nehisi-coates-warner-bros-movie-1234947599/[/url][/QUOTE]
A black Golden Age Superman?
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Way to drop this on Cavills birthday WB. Very classy of you.
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jeez you'd think WB would look at Miles Morales and Sam Wilson and sense opportunity, guess not.
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Eh, I'm exhausted with the complaining over WB's consistent and constant headscratching decisions.
My one constructive thought though is that it is appearing more and more every day that this higher level of synchronization between mediums that we were led to believe was coming was highly exaggerated. If anything the evidence seems to show more a mindset of the individual mediums just completely doing their own thing. Which in general I don't oppose at all, I hate synchronization.
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The dartboard strategy continues to be WB's go-to for planning their DC movies.
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That they're making a black Kal El film NOT connected to the DCEU strikes me as odd. Like: Here's your black Superman, but over in his own little bubble.
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[QUOTE=Sacred Knight;5523740]My one constructive thought though is that it is appearing more and more every day that this higher level of synchronization between mediums that we were led to believe was coming was highly exaggerated. If anything the evidence seems to show more a mindset of the individual mediums just completely doing their own thing. Which in general I don't oppose at all, I hate synchronization.[/QUOTE]
The movie hasn't even a finished script, there's nothing to synch with right now. lol
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[QUOTE=The_Last_Czarnian;5523757]That they're making a black Kal El film NOT connected to the DCEU strikes me as odd. Like: Here's your black Superman, but over in his own little bubble.[/QUOTE]
If it’s a flop they can just abandon it then, much less risky then being stuck with another failed Superman reboot as part of their shared universe. That they’re doing a black Clark basically means it will probably be as repetitive as it can get. I’m expecting Lex to be the bad guy yet again. I have no real interest in seeing this, curious to see if anyone else does though. WB definitely is expecting to see this do Black Panther numbers which is pretty much setting this up to fail.
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The fact that DC is doing this in the wake of Ray Fisher speaking about his mistreatment and the reveal that various POC characters were cut from the theatrical version of Justice League including John Stewart seems very sus.
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[QUOTE=Vordan;5523803]If it’s a flop they can just abandon it then, much less risky then being stuck with another failed Superman reboot as part of their shared universe. That they’re doing a black Clark basically means it will probably be as repetitive as it can get. I’m expecting Lex to be the bad guy yet again. I have no real interest in seeing this, curious to see if anyone else does though. WB definitely is expecting to see this do Black Panther numbers which is pretty much setting this up to fail.[/QUOTE]
I'm definitely down to watch it, just because it is a black superman and it has JJ Abrams and Coates, which I'm fans of. But I will say I'm disappointed that it's not Val Zod or Calvin. So my hype for the movie was at a 10, now it's like a 7-8.
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[QUOTE=Sacred Knight;5523740]Eh, I'm exhausted with the complaining over WB's consistent and constant headscratching decisions.
My one constructive thought though is that it is appearing more and more every day that this higher level of synchronization between mediums that we were led to believe was coming was highly exaggerated. If anything the evidence seems to show more a mindset of the individual mediums just completely doing their own thing. Which in general I don't oppose at all, I hate synchronization.[/QUOTE]
This just makes their pushing Jon all the odder if synergy was a real thing, he’s not Superman [B]anywhere[/B] now, so why are they so committed to that? Guess maybe it was exaggerated how important synergy would be to WB.
[QUOTE=Prime;5523575]Way to drop this on Cavills birthday WB. Very classy of you.[/QUOTE]
Lmao that’s funny, one hell of a birthday present. If they’re considering making this a period piece though, that could mean Cavill will still be in the mainline universe where he can fight Black Adam or whatever. I personally think he’s done though, and he’ll certainly never get a solo film again. I don’t really mind that though, I’m glad to be rid of Snyder’s “vision”.
[QUOTE=BlackClaw;5523813]The fact that DC is doing this in the wake of Ray Fisher speaking about his mistreatment and the reveal that various POC characters were cut from the theatrical version of Justice League including John Stewart seems very sus.[/QUOTE]
I know Ray sees this as a personal attack but I don’t think the two are related. I think the process was
WB goes to Abrams to reboot Superman -> Abrams is still smarting from Boyega’s complaints about how Finn was treated in Star Wars, decides to make a Black Superman film -> Meets with Coates and accepts a pitch from him -> WB sees a chance to cash in on the BP success and accepts their pitch, plans to use the Multiverse to establish this reboot off in its own corner.
I also think this won’t be connected to what Reeves is doing so if Reeves wants to use Superman in his films he’ll go with a traditional take. This feels more so motivated by WB’s failings with the character being blamed on the character and not on their own incompetence, guess we’ll see if third time’s the charm.
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[QUOTE=Vordan;5523846]This just makes their pushing Jon all the odder if synergy was a real thing, he’s not Superman [B]anywhere[/B] now, so why are they so committed to that? Guess maybe it was exaggerated how important synergy would be to WB.[/QUOTE]
By the time that the Coates/Abrams SM will be released or enter in production, the Jon as SM experiment will be already over.
It could be of inspiration for the CW series though.