Will Justice League Movie be fast tracked now that Avengers breaks records

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

I think money will talk. DC will probably attempt to throw something together. That being said, I cannot currently imagine a JLA live action movie approaching the money the avengers will make, or embodying its respective companies team comic dynamic the way Avengers did.

Speaking of money, does anyone else think that several contracts at Marvel are headed for renegotiation?
And by several, I mean all of them.

[KingofMadCows]

If WB wants to do what Marvel has done then they pretty much have to get Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and the DCAU team involved. It would be a monumentally stupid decision if they didn't. The DCAU people are the masters of connecting different plotlines, maintaining continuity, dealing with changes on the fly, and building on ideas that were never planned to be followed up. If WB wants to make Justice League, they'll need those talents.

[Jim Thompson]

If WB wants to do what Marvel has done then they pretty much have to get Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and the DCAU team involved. It would be a monumentally stupid decision if they didn't. The DCAU people are the masters of connecting different plotlines, maintaining continuity, dealing with changes on the fly, and building on ideas that were never planned to be followed up. If WB wants to make Justice League, they'll need those talents.

Maybe.

I say that because, while I have tremendously enjoyed the work of the folks you've mentioned, executing a live-action, big screen project takes a very particular skill set, and while DC Animated team is doing excellent work, I don't know they'd be able to have the same sort of success overseeing a big budget, live action project. That said, I don't know that they wouldn't do an outstanding job, either.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

Therefore, the fundamental issue is that the GL movie universe has no internal logic (which any narrative--no matter how fantastic--needs) and thus no reason to get invested in it. If you disagree with this, you're also entitled to do that, but please don't try to convince me that I'm wrong here. This is not a knee-jerk reaction, it's something I've had well thought-out ever since I saw the movie. A stupid universe breeds a stupid movie.

Okay, now I understand more clearly. But I don't think this means a top down reboot. It's really a matter of approaching a new script with a new philosophy--which happens all the time in sequels. It seems to me that can be done in a John Stewart or Guy Gardner movie. Redoing Hal Jordan would be too much of what was already in the first movie.

Parallax wasn't really defeated at the end of the first movie and I'm sure the plan was to bring it back in further movies.

There are all kinds of ways of shifting the point of view of the series, without doing a rehash reboot.

[Xenith]

No matter how much I've started to like Aquaman, he seems to get torn apart and mocked in popular media. In fact, Marvel even tried a Ghost Rider movie of all things instead of Namor.

Not entirely true. Marvel does not have the movie rights to Ghost Rider that would be Sony, and until last year Universal held the rights to Namor. Universal tooled around with the idea of a Namor movie for several years with several writers and directors attached...I think it was first announced for 2006? Then it was announced for 2009. For some reason or another it never went thru, but neither the decision to go forward with Ghost Rider or to not go forward with Namor were Marvel decisions.

[BYC]

JLA is too difficult and ambitious. It might be easier to do a World's Finest movie. Just Superman and Batman together would be insane.

[Ghostbuster]

I just can't see them doing anything now without looking boring and copycatish. Even when the Green Lantern trailer first came out people were saying "Why are they trying to copy Iron Man?" I think they were referring to the fact that they changed hal's personality to be more like tony stark. How can they even do a Justice League movie now without people saying "oh we already saw this in Avengers" especially if they use Darkseid because it is basically confirmed at this point that Thanos will be the next big story in the Marvel Cinema Universe people are going to say darkseid is a thanos ripoff. Same thing with that rumored Super Max movie where a costumeless Green Arrow is in prison and has to escape the reaction will be "Oh is this a hawkeye movie?" It's really sad and frustrating because WB has had complete ownership of the entire DCU forever now and had basically all the original characters that a lot of marvel characters are based on but Marvel was smarter and more aggressive and despite not even having all the rights to some of their characters (Spiderman at Sony, Xmen at Fox) they have been able to build an amazing brand and movie universe for themselves.

[BYC]

I just can't see them doing anything now without looking boring and copycatish. Even when the Green Lantern trailer first came out people were saying "Why are they trying to copy Iron Man?" I think they were referring to the fact that they changed hal's personality to be more like tony stark. How can they even do a Justice League movie now without people saying "oh we already saw this in Avengers" especially if they use Darkseid because it is basically confirmed at this point that Thanos will be the next big story in the Marvel Cinema Universe people are going to say darkseid is a thanos ripoff. Same thing with that rumored Super Max movie where a costumeless Green Arrow is in prison and has to escape the reaction will be "Oh is this a hawkeye movie?" It's really sad and frustrating because WB has had complete ownership of the entire DCU forever now and had basically all the original characters that a lot of marvel characters are based on but Marvel was smarter and more aggressive and despite not even having all the rights to some of their characters (Spiderman at Sony, Xmen at Fox) they have been able to build an amazing brand and movie universe for themselves.

I thought about as well, but ultimately if a JLA movie or whatever DC makes does well in theaters, it won't matter. Money will ultimately trump everything else.

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

I'd just like to see them try to tell a different kind of story for once. Comic books tell all different kinds of stories about super-heroes. But when it comes to the movies we always get the same story. It's boring. If the movies were truly different, nobody would be saying that one is ripping off another.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

JLA is too difficult and ambitious. It might be easier to do a World's Finest movie. Just Superman and Batman together would be insane.

I'm sure somebody told Peter Jackson that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was too ambitious, too. I don't think what Marvel did with the Avengers is nearly as hard as what Jackson pulled off with LOTR.

[Mr. Holmes]

Yeah, but I think it's easier to buy a high fantasy medieval-like setting than the Justice League on screen.

[americanwonder]

I'd just like to see them try to tell a different kind of story for once. Comic books tell all different kinds of stories about super-heroes. But when it comes to the movies we always get the same story. It's boring. If the movies were truly different, nobody would be saying that one is ripping off another.

I totally agree. JL will only look like an Avengers rip off if they try too hard to copy Avengers. If they tell unique stories, in unique ways, I doubt many people will care much that they've already seen Avengers. There are lots of options and opportunities.

[KingofMadCows]

Maybe.

I say that because, while I have tremendously enjoyed the work of the folks you've mentioned, executing a live-action, big screen project takes a very particular skill set, and while DC Animated team is doing excellent work, I don't know they'd be able to have the same sort of success overseeing a big budget, live action project. That said, I don't know that they wouldn't do an outstanding job, either.

But WB doesn't have to get Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Dan Riba, Lauren Montgomery, etc. to actually direct the live action movies. They could get them involved in the writing, production, and storyboards.

[Bamf25]

I'm sure somebody told Peter Jackson that the Lord of the Rings trilogy was too ambitious, too. I don't think what Marvel did with the Avengers is nearly as hard as what Jackson pulled off with LOTR.

In fact everyone except Newline told Peter Jackson he was crazy. It was turned down by all the other major studios at the time and that was their last ditch effort. Newline was looking to make a name for themselves (they were mainly a small indie film studio at the time), and they rolled the dice and bet the company on Jackson. Even further, Jackson had pitched the Lord of the Rings as two movies to all the other studios, rumor has it it was a Newline exec that said, why was he proposing two movies when there were three books.

Making JL is not any more difficult than making Avengers in my oppinion. But Marvel was extremely clever and patient, they first teased Avengers in 2008 and had the smarts to wait three years to let the anticipation build (along with more setup films). Furthermore, by doing the other films they were able to dispense with the typical origin film where introducing the characters would have soaked up half the movie. Thus in many ways, Avengers was equivalent to what has traditionally been sequel material in most other comic movies. The long lead in time also gave them ample time to find the right people to make the movie. With Avengers the studio gave Joss Whedon a very broad outline of the film and then pretty much freedom to do what he wanted. They did not do the typical studio thing of telling the writers, producers, etc the exact film they want made, then forcing them to make it, and leaving the actual creators very little leway.

[Bamf25]

Okay, now I understand more clearly. But I don't think this means a top down reboot. It's really a matter of approaching a new script with a new philosophy--which happens all the time in sequels. It seems to me that can be done in a John Stewart or Guy Gardner movie. Redoing Hal Jordan would be too much of what was already in the first movie.

Parallax wasn't really defeated at the end of the first movie and I'm sure the plan was to bring it back in further movies.

There are all kinds of ways of shifting the point of view of the series, without doing a rehash reboot.

If another GL movie is made, I suspect it will be a reboot. The reception and reviews were on par or worse than the first Hulk movie, and Marvel felt the need to completely start over. GL will face a similar fate. Most likely, if it is made, it will be completely recast, and an entirely new creative team brought in. The bad reviews, bad box office, and bad word of mouth will make this nessesary.