dc comic movies Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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!

Hey, it has been a while since we last discussed the whole Wonder Woman casting thing, hasn't it? I'm sorry I've neglected you, dear Wonder Woman news hounds (yes, all five of you). But hey, I'm here to make it up to you now with a real doozy. Today's hot rumor comes to us straight out of Bollywood, from one of India's own comic book actresses. A scooper over at sliceofscifi reports the Whedon camp has expressed some serious interest in actress Priyanka Chopra, most recently of Krrish fame. Apparently, Miss Chopra is popularity incarnate in Bollywood right now, and Whedon thinks her charm might play just as well in the West. This does some pretty serious damage to browncoat hopefuls who have been pulling for Morena Baccarin, as Baccarin was leading the popular rumor races of late. Some thoughts suggest Baccarin's newly accepted regular guest role on TV's Stargate might have resulted in conflicting schedules, but I have trouble believing she'd opt for a few TV guest spots over a major motion picture. If she's out, it's most likely because the Powers That Be have rejected her for some reason. Or possibly even Joss himself ...

This continues to be a very, very strange association in my mind. Jack Black is a funny man, and I actually enjoy him as an actor. The Green Lantern is a great super hero, and there's a giant poster of golden age Green Lantern gracing the wall of my study. So to sum of these brief thoughts: I like Jack Black. I like the Green Lantern. So why am I so afraid of the two of them joined together? The best explanation I can think of is another example. I love dill pickles. I also love death by chocolate ice cream. Under no circumstances would I ever want my dbc served with dill pickle topping. Two delightful experiences, but delightful for separate reasons which do not easily overlap.

And yet, Jack Black persists in being interested in a Green Lantern movie project. He was recently giving a radio interview, and mentioned that he'd still like to earn the project a green light (green light for Green Lantern, oh I'm SO clever I should write headlines for the NY Times). According to Superhero Hype, Black is still trying to get a developed script and apparently still has at least some interest maintained over at Warner Brothers. My hope for seeing a GL movie is confused and tainted by my fear of Jack Black being involved. What to do, what to do?

I've taken six tries so far at writing a scathing and witty introductory sentence to this post, but it seriously leaves me flabbergasted. Every clever and biting turn of phrase I invent seems too insufficient to hold all the pain, irony and sarcasm the following news deserves. I could probably write an entire opening chapter and not cover all the jokes that ache to be made here, but frankly, the simple statement itself is enough to convey all the above ideas and emotions I've described:

Halle Berry is entirely willing to make a sequel to Catwoman.

I swear to you I am not making this up. Yes, Halle Berry, who railed against her writers, producers, agents ... really anyone she could find to blame for the critically (and non-critically) lambasted farce that was Catwoman the movie. In fact, at one point Berry avowed she would never return to the franchise... but of course this was after she'd sworn off superhero flicks for fear of being typecast only to months later accept the fated lead role in Catwoman. In a round table discussion in New York, Berry made the following statement: "If they seriously said, 'We want to do another one and here's how we're going to make it better because we learned from the mistakes,' I would because I believe we could make it better."

Seriously Halle, you could dress up an actual black cat in a cape and boots and film it running around in the grass chasing field mice and it would be a better Catwoman film than the one you created. Do yourself and comic book fans everywhere a favor and stay far, far away from any suggestions of a return to the franchise. Please.

Here's an odd and somewhat unexpected bit of news from Joss Whedon regarding his script work on Wonder Woman. Apparently, Joss is going to avoid using any of the classic Wonder Woman villains in his new story,  instead opting to create a new nemesis. Joss has admitted to struggling more with this script than with anything he has previously written, because the studio has asked him to do quite a bit of rewriting. Whether or not the decision to go with a new hero comes from Joss or the studio is still unknown (if you've heard any info on that, please let us know).

It seems odd for a comic book film to depart so drastically from the actual story. I mean, it isn't like all comic book flicks are famous for their attention to canon or anything, but this is pretty big stuff. Now, before making my next statement I'm going to admit up front I've never been a reader of Wonder Woman -- I don't read a ton of DC and she just doesn't make the cut -- but as far as I can recall, there isn't really a strong rogues gallery for the character. Aside from Cheetah, who is really out there worth writing as a movie villain? DC fans, this is where you chime in and help me out.

Some projects seem perpetually doomed to never make it to the silver screen. We hear whispers and rumors, various directors and actors claim interest ... but they just never turn into reality. Among those films has long been a big screen adaptation of the DC Comic book The Flash, which has been rumored to be in the works since roughly the Lincoln administration. There was definite hope when a major announcement was made in 2004 with David Goyer officially attached as a director, but after the announcement the whole thing seemed to die again. Goyer is now talking about his old buddy Wally West* again, and says a movie is far from dead -- in fact, he has the script finished and is working on revisions, with plans to take it to the studio as early as next month. Goyer also still plans to cast Ryan Reynolds as The Flash.

Insert your own joke about how a movie called The Flash took so long to bring about here, because the only ones I can come up with are far too corny for even my semi-professional ramblings. Okay, maybe that's a lie -- but I'm managing to restrain myself for now. If I have to post about this again in the future, you may not be safe ...

*Presumably Wally West. I suppose it could just as well be Jay Garrick or Barry Allen.

As the relationship between comics and film grows ever onward, the producers of both continue to seek ways to expand upon (read: earn more money from) the happy union. It is not unusual, then, for comic book companies to bend the nature of their books to reflect their movie counterparts - sometimes even releasing special movie runs of their titles. DC Comics is jumping right onto this bandwagon, as they announced recently their plans to produce a limited run Superman Returns comic book story arc, written by director Bryan Singer and screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris.

Comic Book Resources provides details of the deal, noting that the run will consist of four issues, each forty pages in length. The story will serve as a prequel run-up to Superman Returns, "revisiting the Man of Steel's origins and witness how the world has been transformed in Superman’s absence." (taken from the press release statement)

As a fan of both comic books and (most) comic book movies, I tend to like anything which attempts to unite the two. Naturally, I prefer the movie to resemble the comic book; but in instances like this where a clear movie story line is existent as a somewhat separate entity, I think it's nice to see comic books which recognize and enhance the separate story.