Time Warner May Try To Clean Up DC Comics

[CmdrWilkens]

Well what hand did Marvel Studios have in the FF films and the 2003 Hulk, hmm?

Oh that's right, as much as they had in the X-Men films or the Spider-Man films, that is to say, not a whole lot - and they didn't profit a whole lot off the movie royalties of those, either.

Yes but starting with "Iron Man" they are expected to do the production in-house and thus get a MUCH bigger share. In the meantime 5% of the Spider-Man gross plus the associated boom in merchandising (where to steal from Mel "the real money is made") is nothing to sneeze at. Certainly as deep in the hole as they had been the roughly $40mil each from the Spiedy franchise would have been a help if not near as much as they have already pulled down from "Iron Man"

[JME2]

DC isn't all bad.

Just look at the Green Lantern titles right now, they're possibly the best they've ever been. Justice Society is also well worth a good read.

Don't forger Manhunter.

But the mention of Green Lantern makes me hope WB will really get in gear and push to get a live-action GL project as their next gig. With the recent success of "Sinestro Corps War" and the building anticipation for "The Blackest Night", the timing's perfect for a GL-media project.

[Havok]

My whole problem with DC/TW is that they have two of the most iconic and recognizable characters out there, plus Wonder Woman, who is a house hold name, and really, the only well known female comic character. And what have they done with them?

Superman Returns, comes out in 2006, almost 20 years after the last AWFUL Superman movie, and isn't a reboot as it should have been, but a sequel to a movie made in 1980, and it is just a fucking remake of the first Superman from 1978. What?

Batman Begins, a correctly made reboot, had to be done to make the memory of the neon lights of Forever and Robin just go the fuck away.

Wonder Woman? Nothing. Not a fucking thing. A character that could be DCs Bond, where a new hot actress could take the role every couple of years, has been squandered. Ridiculous.

So what else has DC/TW done in that time?
Constantine. OK, great character, good flick.
TWO Swamp Things. What?
Supergirl. Did anyone even see it?
Catwoman. I'm sorry... where is Michele Phifer?
Steel. FUCKING STEEL. Are you fucking kidding me?!?!

Granted there have been some other DC properties that have been used. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. V for Vendetta, A History of Violence, The Fountain, Stardust, Road To Perdition, but A) Do most people even know these are comic book based and B) Not one of them were exactly mega hits for DC/TW

Now what about what they HAVEN'T done...
NO Wonder Woman... again... WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
NO Green Lantern
NO Green Arrow
NO Aqua Man
NO Shazam
NO Martian Manhunter
NO Flash

Look at that list again... DC's top tier characters have just been sitting on the shelf. How can anyone look at DC/TW and not think that they don't have their heads up their asses.

Especially when compared with what Marvel, through licensing and now their own studio, has gotten out.

In just 10 years Marvel has released.
3 Blade movies
3 X-Men movies
3 Spider-Man movies
2 Fantastic Four movies
2 Hulk movies
2 Punisher movies
Iron Man
Ghost Rider
Dare Devil
Elektra

That's 20 movies in 10 years, and aside from Thor and Cap, exposure for almost all of their main and top tier names. And Elektra too.

In that same time DC/TW has gotten out, of it's main stable...
2 Batman movies
Superman Returns
and fucking Catwoman.

All of which already had movies in the 80s and 70s. Shit Vertigo has as many movies as DC does in the last decade. Fucking sad and pathetic.

Yeah, someone needs to get fucking fired. What's that Stan? Oh right....
'Nuff said.

[18-Till-I-Die]

If DC had any fucking sense, they'd have rebooted the Superman and Batman franchises with Superman Returns and Batman Begins, THEN release a Flash movie, a Wonder Woman movie and a GL movie...THEN come out with a JLA movie.

That would have been my plan. Granted, by now we'd only have hit the GL movie and the Justice League film would still be two years or so off, but IT WOULD BE ON THE WAY.

DC is fumbling the fall so bad it's really scary. I mean, what are they afraid of? Being embarassed? What so Superman IV, Supergirl (*shudder*) and Batman and Robin werent embarassing?

Well what hand did Marvel Studios have in the FF films and the 2003 Hulk, hmm?

Oh that's right, as much as they had in the X-Men films or the Spider-Man films, that is to say, not a whole lot - and they didn't profit a whole lot off the movie royalties of those, either.

I did not know that. I guess they wont use them then.

Which is kind of stupid, i mean for them not to use them, since they have these series pre-established why not use them? Especially with Wolverine and Magneto, two more Spidermans and a Ghost Rider sequel coming...shame actually cause i'd like to see some of that carry over. Ho hum, at least we still get Cap.

[mr friendly guy]

DC isn't all bad.

Just look at the Green Lantern titles right now, they're possibly the best they've ever been. Justice Society is also well worth a good read.

The sinestro corps war was pretty well done. And the set up for the Blackest Night just screams epic. I am also looking forward to that Superman / Superman Prime dust up with the Legion of Superheroes.

Unfortunately as people have commented, their ability to turn out movies pales in comparison to Marvel.

[Coyote]

Part of it is a lack of successful brand marketing. From Havekof's list, a number of those DC titles... I had no idea were DC. Constantine, for example.

And some of it is poor 'general publicity' marketing. Swamp Thing and Supergirl? I never even heard that there were movies made at all.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Part of it is a lack of successful brand marketing. From Havekof's list, a number of those DC titles... I had no idea were DC. Constantine, for example.

And some of it is poor 'general publicity' marketing. Swamp Thing and Supergirl? I never even heard that there were movies made at all.

Swamp Thing's movies are pretty good, for just general entertainment. I mean, if you just want to watch a movie not be struck by the EPIC of it like Batman Begins or something.

Supergirl...how about no.

But yeah, i also had no idea half of those were DC comics (i know about Constantine but the rest, i had no idea).

[Solauren]

Maybe Time Warner will see DC comics to Marvel....

[CaptainChewbacca]

Trust me, for those of you who never knew Supergirl was made... that's a good thing.

[Coyote]

I am mystified by their lack of work on a Wonder Woman movie. The lack thereof is confusing.

[Tsyroc]

Trust me, for those of you who never knew Supergirl was made... that's a good thing.

C'mon, it was Helen Slater's first movie. She was kind of hot as Supergirl.

The movie even had some continuity with the Superman movies since Jimmy Olsen made a brief appearance. It is a pretty bad movie though.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Trust me, for those of you who never knew Supergirl was made... that's a good thing.

C'mon, it was Helen Slater's first movie. She was kind of hot as Supergirl.

The movie even had some continuity with the Superman movies since Jimmy Olsen made a brief appearance. It is a pretty bad movie though.

I got one word for you:

Omegahedron.

[Solauren]

Counter; Helen Slater in short skirt

[JME2]

I am mystified by their lack of work on a Wonder Woman movie. The lack thereof is confusing.

They've been trying; even Joss Whedon took a crack at her a few years back. When the JLA flick was still on, there was talk of having her in that first, then do a spin-off origin movie. I think part of the problem's Diana's hard to pin down as a character. With Bats, you get it instantly. With Superman, you get it if it's done properly (which Returns, alas, did not). With Diana, there really isn't a definitive characterization because of changing feminist values, viewpoints, and standards over the decades. At this point, the best route would be to probably just adapt George Perez's first arc from '86.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Counter; Helen Slater in short skirt

Riposite; Flying out of the phantom zone while dodging fireballs.

[Havok]

Could a mod move this to Fantasy? I think it would get better traffic for people that want to discuss this topic?

[Tsyroc]

They've been trying; even Joss Whedon took a crack at her a few years back. When the JLA flick was still on, there was talk of having her in that first, then do a spin-off origin movie. I think part of the problem's Diana's hard to pin down as a character. With Bats, you get it instantly. With Superman, you get it if it's done properly (which Returns, alas, did not). With Diana, there really isn't a definitive characterization because of changing feminist values, viewpoints, and standards over the decades. At this point, the best route would be to probably just adapt George Perez's first arc from '86.

I think that would be a good way to go. I also think this might be part of what's been holding things up. Ares being the main antagonist is going to seem very "Xena" to some people. If it's played very serious and straight like the book itself I wouldn't be surprised if WB is concerned about people being turned off by the whole Greek gods thing that is a very strong element in WW from Perez' work onward. It's one of the things I like but I can see there being concern that parents wouldn't want their little girls getting the wrong message from all this Greek god stuff.

Some of the various rumors I heard while Joss Whedon was working on a treatment are also another reason why we haven't seen a WW movie yet. The casting. It seemed like every woman with dark hair who had ever worked with Joss was rumored to be his pick to be WW. My favorite rumor choice was Morena Baccarin. She'd probably fit Perez' early look for the character more than later but at least she can also act.

I'd also heard rumors of Charisma Carpetner, and I think that even by that point she was getting a little too old to be the character if they hoped to use her in a series of films. I'm also not sure I could really see her as WW and not someone dressed up as WW.