Legendary Pictures & DC Comics

[Glitch Girl]

um, okay...  Whereas Disney and Mervel are consolidating, WB seems to be doing the opposite if I'm reading this correctly.

from Comics Alliance: Batman & Superman Film Production CompanyCuts Ties With Warner Bros.

Variety suggests that DC Entertainment is a major factor in the dissolution of Legendary's relationship with WB, as the studio wants to take full control over its superhero franchises in the way it did JK Rowling's massive Harry Potter franchise. Another factor in play is that WB, once in need of Legendary's considerable financial resources to share the risk in tentpole films, can now again rely on its old partner Village Roadshow (The Matrix trilogy and dozens of other films), who just secured almost $2 billion in new financing, and with whom the studio has a more traditional relationship than the one [CEO Thomas] Tull is looking for.

the Variety article: Warner Bros. No Longer in Legendary's Future, Universal, Sony and Fox still in the running

Thoughts?  Is this likely to be good or bad for the long-term movie prospects of DC properties? 

Will we get that Spider-Man/Batman crossover pic we always knew we wanted under the Sony banner? (answer: no chance in hell, but if Sony does partner with them which I seriously doubt, then that... is going to be odd)

[BentonGrey]

Further proof that there isn't a brain to be share in Hollywood.  Why has Marvel been so successful?  Well, it certainly isn't anything they've done to get their amazing movies made.  It must just be luck!

[Talavar]

Further proof that there isn't a brain to be share in Hollywood.  Why has Marvel been so successful?  Well, it certainly isn't anything they've done to get their amazing movies made.  It must just be luck!

As you're not a fan of Man of Steel or 2/3s of the Nolan Batman films, I thought you'd be in favour of a move like this, Benton.

[BentonGrey]

Ehh, I more or less look at it as darned if you do and darned if you don't.  If they actually got their collective acts together and put someone in charge of creating the DCU in film, it would likely be dripping with the things that trouble me about those movies because the average suit can't think beyond 'hey, you know what's hot right now?  Batman!  You know why, 'cause he's DARK!'  Still, IF they were actually to get their acts together, it is just possible that folks who care about the characters might end up helming the films, in which case you never know what might happen. 

This way, we're likely to see just more floundering about and any hope for a JLA movie seems utterly forlorn.

[oldmanwinters]

Well, I can't pass up this opportunity for a chuckle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJGckMYO4

My assumption was that DC was owned under the Time-Warner label.  Does this mean that not even the animated shows and direct-to-dvd films will bear the WB logo after a certain point in time?

[steamteck]

Further proof that there isn't a brain to be share in Hollywood.  Why has Marvel been so successful?  Well, it certainly isn't anything they've done to get their amazing movies made.  It must just be luck!

Its already been shot n the foot a bit by lots of the reaction to MOS. Audiences seem to loving it though and money speaks loudest in the industry. Fist time I've seen people clap in the theater in years and last Tuesday the theater was still full but lots of backlash against perceived darkness. I still maintain The situation might have darker but Superman himself was not but... I think my personal next real hope Wonder Woman is dashed since Linda Carter was even more light hearted than Chris Reeve and I can just imagine the crap a decent WW flick would draw but no one would see a campy one.( including me).

I think the Marvel movies came along and they were so much better than previous stuff we embraced them but now that DC comes along the bar is set higher than  Marvel. See how much better Iron Man 3 was received by critics than MOS. I think many of you will never see the DC movies you want because nothing can be.

[BentonGrey]

I think that's hardly true, Steamteck.  I've seen one DC flick that was almost exactly what I wanted.  I don't think that it would be hard to make good DC movies, they just have to be made by the right people.  Marvel's films came on the heels of the Spider-Man and X-Men series, both of them mostly very good, so it isn't like they existed in a vacuum!  No, they were great because Marvel did it right.  They realized that there were reasons these characters had endured for 50+ years, and it wasn't because they desperately needed some empty suit to "fix" them.

[steamteck]

I  can see it  from your perspective. I still think MOS got it right myself at least as well as Batman begins. Certainly better than Iron man 3