Is DC even going to try to compete with Marvel on the big screen?

[timeismoney]

Lobo is the best WB/DC has to offer good luck with that one, why Marvel keep on ruling the box office.

[Flashpoint]

Oh yeah. I heard about this a little earlier on Tumblr and thought... is this a joke?

I suppose this is just...yeah. Maybe just one of those B-list superhero movies they make in a while. Kind of like Ghost Rider over at Marvel.

I dunno, I mean, it could be good, maybe if they play the comedy/parody aspect straight, maybe make it a somewhat comedic commentary on all the superhero films coming out, or...but...Lobo?

I read it and all I could do was shake my head. The news that Guy Ritchie was going to direct it before was actually exciting news that justified some enthusiasm for the project. But Ritchie's departure for someone with less stature as a director has killed that for me.

Vibranium never posted those alleged Deadline Hollywood articles about Dan Didio and Geoff Johns getting the runaround from Jeff Robinov. I'm going to do some searches and try to find them myself. My hope is they are old articles from a year or two ago and thus no longer valid.

But if those articles turn out to be relatively recent? I will not be amused.

[SpideyCzar]

I read it and all I could do was shake my head. The news that Guy Ritchie was going to direct it before was actually exciting news that justified some enthusiasm for the project. But Ritchie's departure for someone with less stature as a director has killed that for me.

Vibranium never posted those alleged Deadline Hollywood articles about Dan Didio and Geoff Johns getting the runaround from Jeff Robinov. I'm going to do some searches and try to find them myself. My hope is they are old articles from a year or two ago and thus no longer valid.

But if those articles turn out to be relatively recent? I will not be amused.

It wouldn't surprise me about Didio and Johns getting the runaround. Didio has a history in TV, not anything to write home about but he does have some experience in the medium, but I've heard it's hard to transition from tv to film unless your a big name or have success attached to your name. And Geoff Johns may have the Richard Donner blessing, but the stench of the GL film may be too much to overcome for Johns and DC Entertainment to be taken seriously in the Hollywood circles. Or even if they read the horrible dialogue from the Geoff Johns written Smallville episodes it may be enough for anyone to not take Johns seriously, when discussing adapting properties.

[SpideyCzar]

We're in complete agreement on that. Nolan was the one who chose Snyder; it wasn't Robinov or a WB exec who made the call. It boggles my mind that such a hugely successful director like Nolan known for an unerringly keen eye for intelligent storytelling and sophisticated filmmaking would make the wrong choice for the person to direct a story he co-wrote.

I completely understand fans' trepidation about Snyder, but it is Nolan's judgment and supervision of production on a story that he co-wrote with Goyer (the same team for all the wildly successful and critically-acclaimed Batman films) that mitigates any and all concerns for me. The Nolan/Goyer story combined with Nolan's supervision of production trumps all, IMHO.

One of my points of hesistation for the Snyder/Nolan MOS film is I think Nolan's ultra realistic take on Batman is brilliant and works great for Batman, but it really doesn't work for a larger than life Superman character. From all the early info I've heard it seems like Superman Begins, with Clark traveling the world and finding himself. Not something to get overly excited about as I strongly believe there are 3 characters that don't need an origin Superman, Batman & Spider-Man starving kids in 3rd world nations know those characters origins.

But I'll hold off on judgement until I see a trailer, but I'm cautiously optimistic for MOS, when I should be downright pumped.

[Flashpoint]

One of my points of hesistation for the Snyder/Nolan MOS film is I think Nolan's ultra realistic take on Batman is brilliant and works great for Batman, but it really doesn't work for a larger than life Superman character. From all the early info I've heard it seems like Superman Begins, with Clark traveling the world and finding himself. Not something to get overly excited about as I strongly believe there are 3 characters that don't need an origin Superman, Batman & Spider-Man starving kids in 3rd world nations know those characters origins.

But I'll hold off on judgement until I see a trailer, but I'm cautiously optimistic for MOS, when I should be downright pumped.

I'm probably opening another can of worms, but in fairness it wasn't Nolan who originated the idea for MOS.

Goyer and Nolan were talking about Superman one day while they were working on Batman. Goyer says that *if* he could reboot the Superman movie franchise, he had an idea how to do it. He pitches the idea to Nolan; Nolan loves it and decides to work on it with Goyer. Then eventually Nolan goes to WB and pitches their Superman reboot.

The point is, Nolan didn't come up with the original idea, but he did jump onboard and complete the final story. To me, that's what is exciting about this. A comic geek like Goyer who's into stuff like JSA came up with an action-packed Superman idea that Nolan enjoyed and then decided to collaborate on completing the story. Probably the coolest thing about Goyer's Superman idea was his (rumored) inclusion of Brainiac. I've been waiting for Brainiac to debut in a Superman movie for almost 30 years. The buzz about that just has me all kinds of excited!

Bonus points for NO cheesy Lex Luthor real estate plot.

[Vibranium]

I read it and all I could do was shake my head. The news that Guy Ritchie was going to direct it before was actually exciting news that justified some enthusiasm for the project. But Ritchie's departure for someone with less stature as a director has killed that for me.

Vibranium never posted those alleged Deadline Hollywood articles about Dan Didio and Geoff Johns getting the runaround from Jeff Robinov. I'm going to do some searches and try to find them myself. My hope is they are old articles from a year or two ago and thus no longer valid.

But if those articles turn out to be relatively recent? I will not be amused.

and that is my bad....dug around, but to no avail...but they were from some time ago

I, personally, think they should try Flash first, then go for a GL reboot....

[LoneNecromancer]

I read it and all I could do was shake my head. The news that Guy Ritchie was going to direct it before was actually exciting news that justified some enthusiasm for the project. But Ritchie's departure for someone with less stature as a director has killed that for me.

Vibranium never posted those alleged Deadline Hollywood articles about Dan Didio and Geoff Johns getting the runaround from Jeff Robinov. I'm going to do some searches and try to find them myself. My hope is they are old articles from a year or two ago and thus no longer valid.

But if those articles turn out to be relatively recent? I will not be amused.

Same. I read it pretty quickly the first time and didn't notice Guy Ritchie had departed, so at first I thought, well, maybe he could pull off something here, then- read again... oh. No, never mind.

I'm not even sure this movie will even end up being made without hitting delays or rewrites or god knows what else. Maybe this is their idea of just going for a sleeper hit with a lesser known director and a lesser known character? I don't know.

But at the end of the day, if the movie does end up being a success, it will probably end up bringing in more DC movies, but still... out of all the characters you could take a chance with, Lobo? Is it so hard to make a movie for someone like, say, the Flash? You already have a city, an easy origin, a large supporting cast, a fairly recognisable hero, he has a police background so you could have some of the crime/realism aspects audiences liked in the Nolan Batman films and the special effects are comparatively easy to make, super speed, slow-mo and make a red blur appear.

At this rate Quicksilver will have his solo movie made before the Flash does.

[Flashpoint]

Same. I read it pretty quickly the first time and didn't notice Guy Ritchie had departed, so at first I thought, well, maybe he could pull off something here, then- read again... oh. No, never mind.

I'm not even sure this movie will even end up being made without hitting delays or rewrites or god knows what else. Maybe this is their idea of just going for a sleeper hit with a lesser known director and a lesser known character? I don't know.

But at the end of the day, if the movie does end up being a success, it will probably end up bringing in more DC movies, but still... out of all the characters you could take a chance with, Lobo? Is it so hard to make a movie for someone like, say, the Flash? You already have a city, an easy origin, a large supporting cast, a fairly recognisable hero, he has a police background so you could have some of the crime/realism aspects audiences liked in the Nolan Batman films and the special effects are comparatively easy to make, super speed, slow-mo and make a red blur appear.

At this rate Quicksilver will have his solo movie made before the Flash does.

I doubt it for a couple of reasons. Per Marvel's Kevin Feige, Fox does have the option of using Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch in the X-Men films. So that would torpedo him beating Flash to a solo movie. Also, Marvel has actually dropped the ball before. Universal was interested in doing a Sub-Mariner movie, but it went nowhere. Given the fact that Sub-Mariner is now being pushed as a member of X-Men, that gives Fox an option on him as a supporting character in X-Men, too.

Flash and Aquaman's biggest obstacles aren't Marvel properties; their biggest obstacles are the failure of WB to capitalize on their potential as movie franchises.

[Flashpoint]

and that is my bad....dug around, but to no avail...but they were from some time ago

I, personally, think they should try Flash first, then go for a GL reboot....

No worries and no problem.

Meanwhile, as we debate the competition or lack thereof between WB/DC and Disney/Marvel, there comes this bit of news:
Rich Ross steps down as chairman of Disney Studios

Ross' departure, which was largely expected throughout Hollywood, follows a period of management upheaval at the Burbank-based studio and a pair of two high-profile box office flops: last year's "Mars Needs Moms" and the Martian adventure film "John Carter," for which Disney acknowledged it expected to take a $200-million loss -- one of the largest in movie history.

Ross, who had built the Disney Channel into a global powerhouse, was promoted in October 2009 as successor to studio veteran Dick Cook. Despite achieving success with Disney Channel shows such as "High School Musical," Ross lacked experience in the movie business.

Many inside and outside Disney were skeptical at the time that a TV executive with limited film experience could transition successfully to running a large movie studio.

As I and others have noted, WB's current head Jeff Robinov is very much in the hot seat as his tenure continues to sit squarely in the huge shadow of predecessor Alan Horn's phenomenal success with both Batman and Harry Potter.

Will Robinov match or exceed Horn's success...or be out in a few years like Disney's Ross?

The clock is ticking...

[comicboy53]

No worries and no problem.

Meanwhile, as we debate the competition or lack thereof between WB/DC and Disney/Marvel, there comes this bit of news:
Rich Ross steps down as chairman of Disney Studios


As I and others have noted, WB's current head Jeff Robinov is very much in the hot seat as his tenure continues to sit squarely in the huge shadow of predecessor Alan Horn's phenomenal success with both Batman and Harry Potter.

Will Robinov match or exceed Horn's success...or be out in a few years like Disney's Ross?

The clock is ticking...

Robinov is gone he doesn't stand a chance.

[Vibranium]

I give Robinov another 12-18 months....if there isn't some sort of announcement or something at Comic Con or even NYCC this year, its going to look bad

[SpideyCzar]

No worries and no problem.

Meanwhile, as we debate the competition or lack thereof between WB/DC and Disney/Marvel, there comes this bit of news:
Rich Ross steps down as chairman of Disney Studios


As I and others have noted, WB's current head Jeff Robinov is very much in the hot seat as his tenure continues to sit squarely in the huge shadow of predecessor Alan Horn's phenomenal success with both Batman and Harry Potter.

Will Robinov match or exceed Horn's success...or be out in a few years like Disney's Ross?

The clock is ticking...

I can assure you Ross was told to step down or be fired. It's been expected within the Industry from the onset since John Carter pitiful Domestic box office. I just think the timing of his "Stepping Down" was a little odd given Avengers will make Disney look very good in about 2 weeks time.

[Flashpoint]

I give Robinov another 12-18 months....if there isn't some sort of announcement or something at Comic Con or even NYCC this year, its going to look bad

It'll look worse if Disney announces a slew of Marvel movies and WB announces no significant movement on Robinov's very public statements of a newly aggressive strategy for DC Entertainment. He's got to put up or shut up. He can't continually announce to fans and the media about all his big plans to more dramatically exploit DC's intellectual property to increase WB's market share and profit margin and then not follow through. Shareholders are going to notice that Disney's box office market share is continually expanding and they keep mining Marvel Entertainment's intellectual property through licensing, merchandising and a noticeable increase in television programming.

Robinov cannot keep overpromising on increasing both profit margins and market share with DC Entertainment and failing to deliver. Both shareholders and his immediate supervisors are going to demand answers as to why Disney is increasing their lead in product while WB keeps falling behind and not growing their share of the pie.

[Flashpoint]

I can assure you Ross was told to step down or be fired. It's been expected within the Industry from the onset since John Carter pitiful Domestic box office. I just think the timing of his "Stepping Down" was a little odd given Avengers will make Disney look very good in about 2 weeks time.

No surprise there. What does surprise me is Robinov's high profile interviews stating his ambitious plans to expand and exploit DC Entertainment in the last 2 years without actually following through. That's bad enough, but it's impossible to ignore his bold announcements and pretend they never happen while Disney keeps finding new ways to cash in on Marvel properties in ever larger amounts.

It would be easy to write off Robinov's public pronouncements as mere bravado or empty promises if Marvel wasn't making so much money and getting so much publicity. But with every major studio--Disney, Fox, Sony, Universal--churning out more and more and more Marvel films and selling more and more Marvel merchandise, the glare of the spotlight on Marvel's success at multiple studios casts a very harsh light on Robinov's failed plans. And those he answers to are going to want to know why WB isn't making more money fully exploiting its DC intellectual property and conceding a huge amount of market share to other studios--at theaters, on toy shelves and more.

[Vibranium]

It'll look worse if Disney announces a slew of Marvel movies and WB announces no significant movement on Robinov's very public statements of a newly aggressive strategy for DC Entertainment. He's got to put up or shut up. He can't continually announce to fans and the media about all his big plans to more dramatically exploit DC's intellectual property to increase WB's market share and profit margin and then not follow through. Shareholders are going to notice that Disney's box office market share is continually expanding and they keep mining Marvel Entertainment's intellectual property through licensing, merchandising and a noticeable increase in television programming.

Robinov cannot keep overpromising on increasing both profit margins and market share with DC Entertainment and failing to deliver. Both shareholders and his immediate supervisors are going to demand answers as to why Disney is increasing their lead in product while WB keeps falling behind and not growing their share of the pie.

and the DC Nation block and Green Arrow series (even though I love both) just aren't enough gun right now