Despite the fact that the current run of amazingly successful and highly praised Batman movies, from director Christopher Nolan (Inception), haven’t yet come to a definitive end, studio bosses Warner Bros. are already planning on once again rebooting the Dark Knight for another series of big screen releases.
Aside from the comics, we’ve already had a number of different Batman incarnations; including a camp 60s TV show, Tim Burton’s darker yet still cartoonish movies that began in 1989, the Joel Schumacher Batman’s (which were really a continuation of the Burton series but went way too camp, and managed to grind the successful franchise to an awful stop), and the acclaimed animated series, as well as Nolan’s current Batman series (which began in 2005, with Batman Begins); and with Nolan’s series scheduled to meet it’s definitive end with the release of his third Batman feature; The Dark Knight Rises; it’s no wonder Warner Bros. are looking for a way to continue milking one of their most lucrative franchises.
It’s already been rumoured that many of the top-bod’s at Warner Bros. aren’t looking forward to Nolan’s trilogy meeting a scheduled conclusion (and becoming the first superhero franchise to have scheduled an actual end ahead of time), and studio executive Jeff Robinov recently confirmed to The L.A. Times that they are going to “have to reinvent Batman”; particularly if they intend to continue with plans for a Justice League movie.
Previous attempts to develop a Justice League movie have all been eventually scuppered, but spurred on by the success Marvel Studios seems to be having with its own superhero mash-up; The Avengers; Warner Bros. want to bring together a flurry of DC Comics’ heroes to star in its own team-up film; which would include Batman, Superman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman.
While it appears as though many of the central characters may not have dated as well as their Marvel counterparts, there are currently plans in motion to release standalone movies based on Superman (which is actually being produced by Christopher Nolan), The Flash, and Wonder Woman; which should reintroduce audiences to the classic characters, and make the transition to a Justice League film an easier one, even if meeting Robinov’s schedule seems impossible.
Robinov has talked about getting his Justice League movie ready for a 2013 release; which seems highly unlikely given that Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises will only hit cinemas on July 20th 2012, and Zack Snyder’s Superman isn’t due out until December 2012 (although Snyder has already confirmed that his Superman will not fit into the Justice League world at all), but apparently a Justice League script is already being written; and given the fact that the last Justice League movie was supposed to run parallel to the standalone superhero films (with different actors essentially playing the same roles), there’s still a chance he could pull it off.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: The L.A. Times.
