From Mashable: "Zack Snyder's future at Warner Bros.' DC movies: Limited at best, dunzo at worst"

While the Snyders' phasing out may not come entirely as a surprise, it's sure to send a shockwave through DC fandom, which fiercely supported Snyders' films in the face of harsh critical reception. And struggles with the Snyders were not entirely due to the increasingly hostile critical reactions to their films — Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad in particular: Warner Bros. brass was becoming increasingly concerned with their tendency to drive up budgets, and have been anxious for a freshened creative direction that manifested in Wonder Woman, on which the Snyders were producers. 

You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!

Join Captain Comics

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • It's nice to see that Joss Whedon is involved now.

    But I always thought that a lot a fans didn't really like Snyder. And I don't understand the reasoning that Warner Bros brass wanted the fresh direction they saw with Wonder Woman (produced by Snyder) so they want to phase him out?  If they liked Wonder Woman, wouldn't they want to keep Snyder involved?

  • I think that director Patty Jenkins was mainly responsible for Wonder Woman's success, not Snyder.

    It also sounded like the Justice League movie was destined to be bleak also until they started making changes.

  • As noted elsewhere, DC movies make boatloads of money, but nobody* likes them. As I see it, people want to see movies with those characters, but don't like what the moviemakers come up with. (Cases in point: Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.)

    Wonder Woman broke that pattern; people like the character AND liked the movie. And what was different about Wonder Woman, the movie? What Patty Jenkins brought to it, not Zack Snyder's producing.

    Also, Wonder Woman was about a superhero being a hero, something lacking in the Zack Snyder movies.

    *Okay, okay, somebody likes them. But a lot of people don't.

  • Yeah, I figured the success of WW was being attributed to the director. I just thought the article was written in a confusing way.

    Personally, I like what Snyder brought to the movies. But I get why a lot of people don't. He was basically extending his approach on Watchmen into the DCU. I kind of appreciated that he wasn't going for the broad appeal that Marvel has captured so well. I guess I would include Christopher Nolan and David Goyer in there as well. They were all doing the post-crisis Alan Moore/Frank Miller-verse.

    But bringing in Joss Whedon is a signal that want to emulate Marvel's approach. Probably a better approach for long term success but I wouldn't be surprised if these "Dark DC" movies build a cult following going forward.

  • I think Snyder did a good job on the Watchmen movie. It suffered from being released in March and from poor marketing.

    As you can tell from my avatar, I really like Watchmen, both book and movie. That doesn't mean that its tone is appropriate for other superhero movies.

  • I think the DC fandom fierce loyalty bit is PR based, rather than an actual assessment of fandom at large. I've seen  fiercely split as a better descriptor.

    But what's really interesting to me about the current state of flux for the DCEU is the announcement that the Flash movie is going to be based on Flashpoint. Since resetting the timeline in the first movie makes no sense when viewing the character singularly, are they going to use this as a chance to make major changes to overall DC movie universe? Perhaps lightening up Snyder's heavy hand - maybe throw in a splash of colour while they're at it? Maybe un-murder Jimmy Olsen?

    The shift away from Snyder's influence and the Flashpoint announcements a week apart sketch a potentially interesting picture. Curious to see how it gets painted.



  • 3 said:

    But what's really interesting to me about the current state of flux for the DCEU is the announcement that the Flash movie is going to be based on Flashpoint. Since resetting the timeline in the first movie makes no sense when viewing the character singularly, are they going to use this as a chance to make major changes to overall DC movie universe?


    Yes, that is a really odd choice for a storyline. Mostly because Warner has barely established their movie-verse. They're just starting to find their feet continuity-wise and they already want to start tampering with that continuity? If non comic-reading viewers aren't confused already, they soon will be.
  • A columnist at Comic Book Resources seems to be rooting for a full-blown Flashpoint movie with all of its dark twists and turns. 

    http://www.cbr.com/dceu-flash-flashpoint-theory/

    The DC movieverse likes to pretend that the TV shows don't exist. Chances are pretty good that most people interested in seeing a Flash movie have been watching the Flash TV show. If they are anything like me, the movie Flash seems a pale copy of the well-established TV character. I have a hard time accepting him. Also, it seems like following optimistic Wonder Woman and (hopefully) optimistic Justice League with a yet-again-dark movie is a poor choice. They should have Flash battling his rogues wearing their colorful costumes to break the mold we have now. 

This reply was deleted.