DCU Movies

[bat39]

The alternative to this was death by a thousand cuts.

Financial flop after repeated flop. Hamada greenlit a series of movies that had no connection to one another, outside of being comic book properties.

Theatrical Justice League - Flopped
Birds of Prey - Flopped. WB still submitted for Oscar nomination and rejected.
WW84 - Flopped. WB still submitted for EVERY Oscar category nomination and rejected.
The Suicide Squad - Bombed and according to Gunn there are no plans for a sequel. Despite Peacemaker and plans to migrate those characters to his new universe.
Black Adam - Bombed
Shazam 2 - Bombed
Flash - Bombed


Don’t forget about the projects that Hamada had in development.

The cancelled Batgirl film that was fully filmed but reportedly awful. Reduced to a tax write off.

The cancelled Supergirl movie with Sasha Calle.

The canned New Gods movie that had Ava DuVernay directing and Tom King writing.

The plans, The Plans, THE PLANS, THE PLANS DC reportedly and repeatedly stated they had for Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.


The scattershot approach of comic book properties, with no overarching plot or “Avengers level event movie” to bring the characters together was a colossal mistake.

WB did this to themselves and for what reason, idk why? The audience wanted more Superman and Batman and WB was steadfast in rejecting that idea. See Gunn’s original plan to have Cavil in his Suicide Squad movie, but WB shut him down. Same with Johnson’s plan to have Supes lead the JSA in the Black Adam movie, but was again shut down. The most we got was that little cameo shot in post-production.


WB did it to themselves and only have themselves to blame. What a waste of and opportunity and talent.

Fair enough.

Not saying Hamada's plan would have necessarily led to great films, or even good ones. Just saying that it was a valid approach.

I mean, I dunno...if being part of a shared universe isn't working, and not being part of a shared universe won't work, then I dunno what will. Maybe WB should just shut down DC Films? (Lord knows they're shutting down a lot of stuff these days...)

I don't think any of those films failed because they weren't building up to a Justice League movie of some sort. But you're right that DC/WB did kneecap themselves with the obstinate refusal to have more of Cavill's Superman in the films. If nothing else, at least having Superman in the films would have got butts on the seats (a post-credit scene in Black Adam alone didn't cut it, evidently).

[skyvolt2000]

I kinda agree. Frankly, when it comes to DC, the only real interest a cinematic universe as such holds for me is the prospect of a Justice League movie. And that's been the biggest failure of the DCEU - the Whedon cut definitely, but frankly even the Snyder cut, while great, isn't exactly my ideal Justice League movie.

I'm starting to think Hamada had the right idea with his Multiverse approach. Let Batman and Joker flourish in their own corners of the Multiverse. Let there be a black Superman movie. Let the remnants of the DCEU carry on with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Supergirl and Keaton's Batman. Some of it would be great and some of it would be crap. But at least there wouldn't be much of a pretense of some grand plan that sinks all ships with it.

Hamada inherited a lot of this. Folks like Ray Fisher keep forgetting that man was not around until after JL was done.
Then pandering to a segment certainly didn't help things.

The scattershot approach of comic book properties, with no overarching plot or “Avengers level event movie” to bring the characters together was a colossal mistake.

They shouldn't have to. WB needs to focus on making the best film they can.

I don't need Blue Beetle in some arch that leads to him being background duty in some Avengers Level event movie. How did that work for Black Panther? Oh it didn't he was barely in the movie. Same with Carol Danvers.

Avenger level event doesn't remove the stink that was Wonder Woman 84 nor Flash.

Was it going to get a Cyborg movie? NO. Nightwing? NO. Booster Gold? NO. Legion? NO.

I rather have those films than some event movie that would nothing more than a worship Batman, Superman, WW, Flash and probably Hal Jordan movie. Where they save the day and we are suppose to bow down and love it.

How does that help Jaime Reyes? JSA? Or all the folks who would be background?

[Serpico Jones]

I wonder what WBD shareholders are thinking right now.

[BlackClaw]

I wonder what WBD shareholders are thinking right now.

Most likely pissed. Very pissed.

[Jokerz79]

I wonder what WBD shareholders are thinking right now.

Probably this

[Robotman]

Fair enough.

Not saying Hamada's plan would have necessarily led to great films, or even good ones. Just saying that it was a valid approach.

I mean, I dunno...if being part of a shared universe isn't working, and not being part of a shared universe won't work, then I dunno what will. Maybe WB should just shut down DC Films? (Lord knows they're shutting down a lot of stuff these days...)

I don't think any of those films failed because they weren't building up to a Justice League movie of some sort. But you're right that DC/WB did kneecap themselves with the obstinate refusal to have more of Cavill's Superman in the films. If nothing else, at least having Superman in the films would have got butts on the seats (a post-credit scene in Black Adam alone didn't cut it, evidently).

If Gunn’s DCU bombs maybe they will. DC movies would just be an entity that they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on only to have them consistently lose them money. They could shut down DC Films and just go back to doing the occasional Batman stand alone and focus on tv and animation.

The DC merch could still be profitable but I’m sure they’re seeing fewer returns with each cinematic bomb.

[Vordan]

We’re literally seeing Hamada’s plan crash and burn in real time, so I don’t know how anyone can think his plan was good. Didn’t matter that the last couple of movies weren’t interconnected, Black Adam, Shazam 2, Birds of Prey, and even The Suicide Squad all flopped. ZSJL didn’t attract enough new HBO Max subs to justify the cost. The Flash which was full of nostalgia and callbacks for both the Snyderverse and the pre-Snyder movies is tanking. The DC brand is simply toxic, only Batman is immune and Batman has been viewed as his own separate entity from the rest of DC since Frank Miller reinvented him.

Hamada’s plan was a terrible one because there simply isn’t any interest in stand-alone movies starring the lesser known heroes like Black Adam or Shazam. Wasn’t even a lot of interest in someone tied to Batman like Harley, Joker succeeded because he’s the second most popular DC character, but Birds of Prey was advertised as a Harley & Pals movie and it flopped. The argument that people would show up if the movies were more standalone doesn’t hold much water for me. I also think that the general public has no stomach for mediocre superhero movies anymore. Unless your movie is great or does something fairly unique, the general public won’t show up for it. If Superman: Legacy flops then it will just be Reevesverse going forward.

[achilles]

We’re literally seeing Hamada’s plan crash and burn in real time, so I don’t know how anyone can think his plan was good. Didn’t matter that the last couple of movies weren’t interconnected, Black Adam, Shazam 2, Birds of Prey, and even The Suicide Squad all flopped. ZSJL didn’t attract enough new HBO Max subs to justify the cost. The Flash which was full of nostalgia and callbacks for both the Snyderverse and the pre-Snyder movies is tanking. The DC brand is simply toxic, only Batman is immune and Batman has been viewed as his own separate entity from the rest of DC since Frank Miller reinvented him.

Hamada’s plan was a terrible one because there simply isn’t any interest in stand-alone movies starring the lesser known heroes like Black Adam or Shazam. Wasn’t even a lot of interest in someone tied to Batman like Harley, Joker succeeded because he’s the second most popular DC character, but Birds of Prey was advertised as a Harley & Pals movie and it flopped. The argument that people would show up if the movies were more standalone doesn’t hold much water for me. I also think that the general public has no stomach for mediocre superhero movies anymore. Unless your movie is great or does something fairly unique, the general public won’t show up for it. If Superman: Legacy flops then it will just be Reevesverse going forward.

All this may be true, but I don't think a whole lot of people are going to be that interested in Gunn's slate. That's a pretty specialized taste he apparently has, and I'm not sure all that many people will share it. DC on film may be doomed, apart from things like Joker and The Batman.

[Vordan]

All this may be true, but I don't think a whole lot of people are going to be that interested in Gunn's slate. That's a pretty specialized taste he apparently has, and I'm not sure all that many people will share it. DC on film may be doomed, apart from things like Joker and The Batman.

His upcoming movies have to be very tightly budgeted. Nothing over $200 million. With DC’s brand being so bad, they have to first win back over the general public with a string of steady successes that make acceptable profit, because that’s all the non-Batman movies can hope for. Most of the B and C-Listers are TV shows not movies. Waller is a show, Booster Gold is a show, even Lanterns is a show. For the movies we have Superman, Batman, and Supergirl which aren’t specialized imo. Swamp Thing is but that’s a movie I see getting made for $100 million max. The Authority is almost assuredly going to have Superman in it, maybe Batman too. Wonder Woman will probably get a movie. The heavy guns are getting used.

[Robotman]

I’ve been dreaming of a Blue Beetle movie since 2006 and it has to happen now when the DC brand is at one of its lowest points in the history of the company. It’s such a bummer.

[Serpico Jones]

All this may be true, but I don't think a whole lot of people are going to be that interested in Gunn's slate. That's a pretty specialized taste he apparently has, and I'm not sure all that many people will share it. DC on film may be doomed, apart from things like Joker and The Batman.

I have always felt that the Gunn announcement, followed by the dog and pony show press conference a month later, was just Zaslav trying to get the stock to shoot up a bit. Didn’t work.

James Gunn has never run anything and his characters are even more obscure than the Hamada lineup. Gunn’s hiring is going to end up just like Zaslav’s hiring of Chris Licht at CNN, once things start getting difficult he’s going to fall apart because of inexperience, imo.

[BlackClaw]

I still think Gunn can pull it off but one thing is certain, these first couple of films in the slate can’t have budgets more than $150 million. They should only be doing bigger budgets when they know for certain that they’ve won the audiences trust back.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I said at the time but the trailers for Shazam, Black Adam and Flash looked terrible and unsurprisingly they all flopped, like go back and see how amazing that first 3 min comic con trailer for BvS was for example

Unfortunately Blue Beetle trailer again was awful. Feels like you've watched the film & I know know nothing about BB but the trailer didn't make me go I have to see that film immediately. Looks like generic super hero movie 3125. And that's twice in 2 screenings no one laughed at the awful Batman is facist joke.

Gunn (and the other geezer everyone seems to forget lol) first order of business is to make sure they produce good trailers that will intrigue audiences and not make it seems like they've seen the film a million times before.

Also they need to hopefully not be concerned about trying to make their films "funny". Just let things happen naturally don't force it, Flash was terrible in this regard several moments clearly where meant for laughs but no one did and the scene came off as awkward (for example when Barry tried running and couldn't)

[Johnny]

Gunn only took the job because of Safran anyway, since he'd "only" have to deal with the creative side of things.

[Morgoth]

Did Hamada even know what he was doing? Completely erase Superman, make Batman an old man, completely forget about existence of Green Lanterns, Bat-Family (except Batgirl), Titans (instead they made a shitty TV-show), Justice League Dark, New Gods and even Justice League itself.
I mean, Gunn at least starting his universe with Superman and Batman. That's already makes his plan more competent.