DC Studios Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One thing I'm loving about Warner Bros and their DC collection is that they aren't neglecting the boys and girls of their Strange Adventures and Weird Western Tales in favor of flashier and more marketable superheroes. So, all should be suitably intrigued by Variety reporting that Warner Bros is bringing Deadman to the bigscreen. The studio has brought Nikolaj Arcel on to direct, and Guillermo Del Toro will produce alongside Don Murphy. Those who follow the exhaustive properties Del Toro has lined up for himself probably remember that he was eying the director's chair for himself a few years back.

So, who is Deadman? Well, he's that pale fellow to your right, and was once a circus acrobat named Boston Brand. His happy life on the high wire was cut short by an assailant known only as The Hook, but he was given a second life courtesy of Hindu goddess Rama Kushna. She gave his spirit the power to possess any living person he chose in order to find his assailant, and assist in the ongoing battle against evil. With his circus past, he's naturally brushed crossovers with the unfortunate Graysons, and he's met up with lots of dead DC heroes. He's most recently popped up in that Green Lantern arc everyone's talking about, Blackest Night, and is helping fight the good fight. Despite not being that well known, Deadman is an intriguing, eerie hero and very movie worthy.

No start date has been set for Deadman, and I'm ashamed to say that I'm unfamiliar with Arcel's work. But with Warner Bros, DC, and Del Toro backing him, I'm expecting good things. They seem unable to do wrong at the WB.

Things are looking pretty grim for the Man of Steel, at least when it comes to his future on the silver screen. As you might remember, Warner Bros, DC Comics, and the Siegel family have been tied up in court over who is entitled to what when it comes to the Man of Steel. While Warner Bros tentatively won the first round, they only have until 2011 to make a Superman movie before being sued for damages.

But a new ruling has cost Warner Bros and DC Comics pieces of the character. Superman is literally chopped into pieces between the Siegels, DC Comics, and Warner Bros which will do nothing but hurt in the long run. According to Variety, the Siegels have recaptured the rights to the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper strips, and portions of Action Comics and Superman comics. They apparently now control all depictions of Superman's origin story, which means they now own Krypton, its fiery destruction, Jor-El and Lora, and Kal El. In 2008, the Siegels recaptured the rights to the Superman character (which includes his costume and his alter-ego of Clark Kent), Lois Lane, the Daily Planet, its gruff editor, and their love triangle. DC still owns Jimmy Olson, his ability to fly, Lex Luthor, kryptonite, and Superman's expanded powers and origins.

You know, I think Morgan Freeman likes playing in the comic book world. After turns in Wanted, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight, Freeman is currently in talks to join another DC production. According to Variety, he's in talks to costar with Bruce Willis in Red, an adaptation of Warren Ellis' 3-book series.

Ellis' series centers on a former black-ops CIA agent named Moses. He's retired and enjoying the quiet life, and the CIA is happy to let him do so, until a new director is hired, and decides to pull up his file. When the director finds out what Moses actually did, he decides that he's a liability, and sends a high tech assassin to kill him. When the book was optioned last year, it was reported they'd added a love interest, and that Moses would be getting the old team back together. There would also be a generational divide as Moses contends with younger agents who rely on new and improved gadgets. Variety doesn't say whether all those new twists and turns have been kept, but I suspect they have, as three issues aren't quite enough to make a movie out of.

Red is one of the only DC Comics to jump the Warner Bros. ship, and is being produced at Summit Entertainment. Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber are penning the script, and the movie doesn't yet have a director. Maybe Freeman can lure in his Invictus boss, and break him into the comic book world?

Remember earlier this year when I pondered just what the heck was taking so long when it came to DC's big screen adaptations? Well, all we had to do was give them a few months, and they started kicking ass and taking names. The Hollywood Reporter has a big piece all about how DC and Warner Bros have united in a creative partnership that rivals the continuity-happy gang at Marvel Entertainment, and it's a relationship that is hoping to yield some wonderful surprises.

In a show of just how serious they are, Warner Bros quietly brought on comic supermen Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Marv Wolfman to act as creative consultants for their major properties such as The Flash, Teen Titans, and anything else the studio might throw at them. Even now, Wolfman and Morrison are working on super secret productions the likes of which fans can only dream about.

Wait, what was that -- The Flash? Yep, Johns is in the producer chair on the project, and worked up a new treatment for the character. Dan Mazeau is currently writing the script, and the hunt for a director is in the works. There's no Wonder Woman, Superman, or Justice League in the works, but you will be getting Bizarro Superman, which is being penned by David Howard and Robert Gordon. Also in the works is a sequel to Constantine, a solo Green Arrow movie, the Green Arrow prison lark, Supermax, and still-alive Shazam. Plus, if you've got pitches for Adam Strange or Aquaman, the studio would very much like to hear them!

While the Internet was frantically reporting that Megan Fox was at the head of the line to play the Amazon superheroine, Beyonce was quietly meeting with representatives from Warner Bros and DC trying to nab the role for herself.

Hero Complex sat down with the megastar, who gushed about the recent superhero trend, noting that "they're not corny at all," and how badly she would like to be a part of them. "I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?"

Her one misgiving is the costume which, despite her fantastic figure, she admits is incredibly unforgiving. "I would definitely have to keep it right for that costume. The way that Lynda Carter wore it, she was so fine. She was amazing. I saw her costume at the Met. Her waist was unbelievable. It was pretty crazy, actually, her proportions. But I love Wonder Woman and it'd be a dream come true to be that character. It sure would be handy to have that lasso. To make everybody tell the truth? I need that. It would come in very handy."