Screen Rant » wonder woman

DC Entertainment: What’s The Game Plan?

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:19:13 +0000

Yesterday we found out that Warner Bros. has created DC Entertainment Inc. (DCE) to better expand the DC Comics into a multimedia brand of steel . Now comes the inevitable question of “What’s the game plan?”

MTV Splash Page posted a nice piece declaring which DC properties should be put on fast-track under the DCE banner, and this being Friday and all, I thought I’d once again do a little call-and-response on the topic (I now consider Splash Page’s Josh Wigler to be something of a pen-pal).

So in response to the call, here’s my take on the DC Entertainment venture and what paths it should be considering…

BIGGER PICTURE BUSINESS

DC Entertainment Inc. President Diane Nelson has already been grilled by the press and thick-skinned exec has been pretty forthright with her opinions. As she told The Wrap earlier this week:

“…I’m the first one to admit, I’m not by my nature a comic fan. It’s not what I’m bringing to the party. We have so many experts who will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment. What I bring to the party is a skill at moving properties and brands through Time Warner as a company… additionally it will be about how invested our content distribution is in the DC library. If our businesses feel that they have greater access and enthusiasm for new characters to incubate.”

Now some people are going to read that quote and worry that Time Warner is going to “corporatize” (read: taint) their favorite DC properties. I’m going to keep in mind that Nelson is the same lady who helped transform Harry Potter from a lucrative book franchise into a multimedia/merchandising empire, loved by both Potter devotees and newcomers who just know the films. Nelson understands how to take what is at the resonating core of a character and/or story and fit it into the bigger profit picture.

For DC Superheroes, I suspect Nelson aims to give us more Dark Knight quality films and Arkham Asylum video games (read: ventures which transform the core appeal of the properties into commercial appeal), and fewer Catwoman disasters (read: failed ventures that tarnish both the core and commercial viability of the properties). And I see no reason at this point why she’d fail at the task.

DOING THINGS THE MARVEL WAY

No, I don’t want DC Entertainment to try to be the second coming of Marvel Studios, however, the latter did set an interesting precedent by linking all their Avengers related films – Captain America, Iron Man, Thor – in one shared continuity, complete with cinematic cameo crossovers.

Should Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe be disrupted for the sake of a Superman cameo? No. Should The Green Lantern maybe feature an appearance from Supes or (better yet) The Flash? Absolutely. And what would be the reasoning behind doing so? Remember a little project called Justice League that DC/WB tried and failed and failed and failed to get off the ground awhile back? If you want to expand your brand, getting your heroes onscreen together where everybody can revel in them is a great way to do it.

Click to continue reading about how DC Entertainment can expand its brand…

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SR Pick [Video]: Can a Wonder Woman Movie Be Good?

Rob Keyes — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:04:30 +0000

Have you been eagerly anticipating a big budget Wonder Woman film to join in on the fun Batman’s been having and that which Green Lantern will hope to do, two summers from now?

Well, this may be the closest thing you’ll get: Olivia Munn dressed up in her Wonder Woman outfit to show us all why being a superheroine isn’t always as Wonderful as you may think.

Check out the video below:

For me, this parody video goes to show some of the reasons why it may be impossible to make a great live-action Wonder Woman film. I don’t think it can be done, at least not if they keep true to the source material – the character just isn’t made for it.

She flies an invisible plane which will look sweet on the silver screen, but the best part will seeing Wonder Woman fight villains with her… lasso of truth, keeping everyone honest. I Wonder if that has anything to do with why Megan Fox doesn’t like Wonder Woman?

In all seriousness though, from the costume, to her weapons, to her vehicle, to her villains – this stuff can’t be done be done in live-action with a serious tone, without changing too much about the character which would then not be accepted by fans of the character and comics.

That being said, Wonder Woman is an iconic and important character for DC, and if Warner Bros. want to compete with Marvel Studios and their Avengers film down the road, they’re going to have to figure some way of giving Wonder Woman a modernized non-animated film. I just can’t picture a movie like this performing well at the box-office at this point -- It’d have to be loaded with insane action and a cast loaded with bankable actors.

Can Wonder Woman work as a live-action feature?

Wonder Woman has long been in development and its currently tentatively planned for a 2011 release which will likely not be the case.

Source: G4TV

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Megan Fox: ‘Wonder Woman Is A Lame Superhero’

Ross Miller — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:41:55 +0000

The Wonder Woman movie is a project that has been in-development for years and years now. It has been off and on since way back in 2005 (at least), until earlier this year when it was reported that Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures were trying to get the project moved along (finally), looking for a good spec script and the “right” director to bring the female superhero to the big-screen.

Hollywood hottie-of-the-minute Megan Fox has ben rumored to play Wonder Woman in the movie version, and this was only further sparked when a fan-made image of her in the outfit made its way online (shown above and below). However, like the rumors of her taking over from Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, Fox has denied speculation that she would play Wonder Woman.

But if you’re thinking she might want to do it if asked… not only does she deny she’s been approached, but she flat-out disses the character and the idea of a movie featuring her:

“Wonder Woman is a lame superhero… She flies around in her invisible jet and her weaponry is a lasso that makes you tell the truth. I just don’t get it. Somebody has a big challenge on their hands whoever takes that role but I don’t want to do it.”

(Click for larger image)

Megan Fox as Wonder Woman

Wow, Fox certainly doesn’t shy away from saying what she thinks. Not only does it appear that she doesn’t like the character, but that she doesn’t “get” her…. Having said that, I have to say I’m kind of in agreement with her. I won’t go as far to say the character is “lame,” but as superheroes go, I don’t think she’d be the first one I’d set up as my next tentpole movie project (although, perhaps that isn’t fair to say since this has been a project in-development for years, even before other superhero movies were made).

Also, I’m not sure if a Wonder Woman movie would do all that well at the box office. It certainly wouldn’t tank, but I don’t think it would be the smash success that films like The Dark Knight and Iron Man were (I think more along the lines of The Incredible Hulk). On the other hand we ARE talking about Megan Fox in a low cut top and short skirt, bounding about and flying through the air…

Sadly, as it has been for a while now, there is no official news yet as to which creative direction the Wonder Woman movie will go – with neither a writer nor director in tow – but at least we know now who most likely will not be donning that outfit.

What do you think of Megan Fox’s comments about Wonder Woman? Since she most likely won’t play the character, who do you think should play her instead?

Sources: TimesOnline & Cool Photoshop artwork: Wonder-Who.com

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Wonder Woman Movie Gaining Traction?

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:34:41 +0000

IESB is reporting that the live-action Wonder Woman movie (which has started and stalled over the course of the last few years) might finally have found some legs.

According to the report, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures (as in super-producer Joel Silver) are trying to get the project moving ahead, searching for writers with a good script pitch and a director who can bring Wonder Woman to the big screen in blockbuster fashion.

While that all sounds well and good, you’ll forgive me if I remain a bit skeptical. We’ve been promised a Wonder Woman movie so many times before, and so far, nothing’s come of those promises. Will this time be any different?

However, I have to wonder just how much influence the direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman animated feature DC Universe released this month might have had on pushing the Wonder Woman live-action movie forward. The reviews of the animated Wonder Woman were pretty positive; in fact, I’d go so far as to say that the animated feature surprised many viewers. Who knew that a modern day Wonder Woman could be such an entertaining character?

(If you haven’t seen the animated feature, you really need to check it out. It’s a great blueprint for how the live-action film should be done.)

Of course all this talk about a live-action Wonder Woman film moving forward is just rumor and speculation at this point. No word yet on who would write or direct it, or what creative direction the studio is looking to go in.

But still, it would be nice to see WW finally getting an even shot at that the box office. And if they do the whole Steve Trevor origin story, they’ve got to give the role to Nathan Fillion (his voice work as Trevor in the animated feature was awesome!).

We’ll keep an eye out and let you know more details about the film as they come to light. In the meantime, is Wonder Woman a comic book movie you would like to so on the fast track?

Source: IESB & Rotten Tomatoes

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NY Comic-Con 2009: Wonder Woman Review

Kofi Outlaw — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:27:42 +0000

Friday night at the NYCC DC Comics debuted their newest animated feature, Wonder Woman. The movie was produced by DC animation legend Bruce Timm, and featured the voice work of Keri Russell in the titular role, alongside Serenity star Nathan Fillion, Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, Oliver Platt and Virginia Madsen.

The screening, which took place very late in the evening, actually turned out to be the perfect bookend to the day: Wonder Woman is both funny and action-packed and is probably one of the best DC Comics animated features I’ve seen this side of Justice League.

The film opens with an epic (and violent!) battle between the Amazonians of Themyscira and the warring forces of Ares, the god of war. Hippolyta, Queen of Amazons, barely manages to defeat Ares in combat–but instead of letting the Queen vanquish Ares, head-gods Zeus and Hera decree that Ares be stripped of his god-powers by locking him in two iron shackles and making him the prisoners of the Amazons for all time.

Perturbed by the violence inherent in men, the Amazons hide Themyscira from the world wiht a magical spell, forever preserving their utopia. To usher in this new era of peace, Hera blesses Hippolyta with a daughter sculpted from clay, Diana, the soon-to-be Wonder Woman of the amazons.

If you know the origin of Wonder Woman you know what happens next: Col. Steve Trevor crash-lands his fighter jet on Themyscira, where he falls for Diana. Hippolyta decrees that an Amazon emissary must return Trevor to the world of man, and Diana wins a deadly contest to be that emissary. She is given armor, a magical golden lasso and an invisible plane, becoming the super-heroine known as Wonder Woman.

Ares of course escapes, with help from a rogue Amazon, and Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor try to stop him before he can reclaim his god powers. Of course they fail, Ares regains his terrible power and a huge war ensues, with Wonder Woman eventually winning the day and choosing to remain in the world of men as a representative of the Amazons. The end.

What made Wonder Woman so much damn fun was the witty script by Michael Jelenic, William M. Marston and Gail Simone, along with excellent voice work by Fillion and Russell. Much of Wonder Woman’s humor is found in gender jokes, which include Steve Trevor commenting on Wonder Woman’s “nice rack” while under the truth-telling spell of the golden lasso–or Trevor trying (and failing) to drink Wonder Woman under the table in order to seduce her. I don’t usually believe that animated characters can have chemistry, but then, I hadn’t seen Wonder Woman. Trevor and Diana’s dance of flirtation is truly what glues the movie together and everyone in the theater enjoyed it.

Director Lauren Montgomery deserves a lot of credit for balancing just the right amounts of badass action, sexual (as in gender) related humor and feministic attitude into thoroughly enjoyable film.

Wonder Woman is another fine entry in the DC Comics animated library and I recommend you check it out when it hits stores on March 3, 2009.

Source: NYC Comic Con

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David Goyer: Warner Bros. Putting DC Movies On Hold

Carl Lee — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:32:08 +0000

In an IESB interview for The Unborn, director/writer David Goyer says all DC properties are currently on hold for the time being in regards to film development. This comes as confirmation of what we’ve previously suspected.

When probed about Supermax and Justice League, Goyer had this to say.

“A lot of the DC movies at Warner Brothers are all on hold while they figure out, they’re going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause at the moment.”

Including the two movies mentioned, Superman and Green Lantern would also be on hold. With an across the board freeze, Warner Bros. may be looking to create a cohesive DC Universe.

The follow-up question asked whether or not this was attributed to the success of The Dark Knight and Goyer continued.

“It was the double header of both ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ coming out, so more than ever I think they’ve realized, I think DC was responsible for 15% of Warner Brother’s revenue this year, something crazy like that, so they realized that comic books, it’s become a new genre, one of the most successful genres.”

Because Goyer mentions Iron Man, when he could’ve easily just agreed, Screen Rant is led to believe this decision has something to do with what Marvel has built. Perhaps this new “methodology” means tying the films together, much like the other comic publisher has been able to do.

Although Christopher Nolan has been adamant against other costumed heroes existing in Batman’s Universe, perhaps something has changed. The revealed plan of Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America that eventually leads to an Avergers‘ movie could be mirrored in the same fashion to bring about a movie for the Justice League. If Nolan were included–or dare I say, heading–the new plan, DC could create a stronger foundation than what Marvel has already started.

When porting over comic book characters, DC comics has also had a considerable advantage over Marvel. Because all the DC characters are owned solely by Warner Bros., The WB has complete control of integration between characters and a free range of when to use them. Green Lantern and Superman can easily cameo in each other’s individual films and Wonder Woman can create a presence in another property before leading in her own feature. Whatever this “new plan” or “methodology” is, Warner Bros. could turn its DC property into a cash cow and avoid their recent fiancial problems. So long as their films are on par with The Dark Knight, the 15% of revenue that DC provides could be more than a rare occurrence.

Goyer did not answer the next question about Batman. When asked “so when do you guys start writing the third,” he replied “can’t say.”

Is Warner Bros. taking a holistic approach to the DC Universe?

Source: IESB

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Wonder Woman Wachowski Rumors Debunked

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:22:24 +0000

MTV News has been doing a dutiful job trying to keep up with all the wayward fragments of the shattered Justice League movie, like keeping tabs on the Wonder Woman movie, which has been sitting snuggly in the lap of producer Joel Silver (The Matrix) for some time now.

According to MTV, Silver, like the man with his finger on the big red button, had been thinking of handing Wonder Woman over to the Wachowski Bros. (The Matrix). Thankfully, El Mayimbe from Latino Review were able to deflate this troubling rumor, while we here at Screen Rant looked into what’s really going on with big-screen adaptation of America’s favorite Amazon.

According to the rumor mill, fantasy guru Josh Whedon was working on a script for Wonder Woman, but quit the project when producers Joel Silver and Leonard Goldberg decided to go with a WWII-centered script by relatively unknown scribes, Matt Jennison and Matt Strickland.

(You can get a full account of how Whedon would’ve done Wonder Woman in this MTV interview.)

Further demonstrating just what breed of geniuses studio execs really are, Goldberg had this to say about Warner Bros.’ falling out with Whedon:

“We’ve tried that route. We’ve had a writer-director work on it,” said Goldberg, who declined to comment specifically on the Whedon dustup. “But I’m old school. When we have a script to present to directors, we’ll sit down with them and see who has a take that blows us away.”

…Which brings us back around to the Wachowski Bros. Joel Silver and the Bros. have been a team ever since the conception of the universe—and while unlikely, it is at least possible that Warner Bros. is either dumb or daring enough to believe that The Matrix lighting can strike twice.

“At one time, Joel [Silver] said they might have an idea. But they got diverted to another project [and] never followed through,” he said, before adding, “There may come a time when they will be focused on ‘Wonder Woman’ and may come up with whatever their take on it was. They’re certainly very talented guys. Their vision for movies — whether they’re successful or not — is always singular.”

So that’s the reason for Speed Racer. “Singular vision.” Ah.

As it stands now, Matts Jennison and Strickland are buckled down doing a second draft of their script, which Goldberg has stated he hopes to be “more current.” (Duh.) Though, to his credit, Goldberg went on to say that he doesn’t want to see the same old story about pilot Steve Trevor crashing on an island full of Amazons; but rather, like most of us, he wants to see an updated, original spin on Wonder Woman that will knock the socks off moviegoers. (Basically what Whedon would’ve delivered, had he been left alone to run with the project.)

At the end of day, whatever director gets attached to Wonder Woman won’t be the best candidate for the job. That ship pretty much sailed with Joss Whedon. But then, that’s just my opinion, what do you think?

Source: MTV News

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Warner Bros Finally Gets Serious About DC Comics

Niall Browne — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:36:31 +0000

It has been a long time in coming, but it now appears that Warner Bros. has finally decided to make use of their stable of DC Comics characters.

Following the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight Warner Bros. has realized that they are sitting on a gold mine – not only from box office receipts, but also from DVD, television, video games and other sources of revenue.

Last month the company held a strategy meeting in an attempt to figure out what was needed in order for them to match Marvel Comics in the comic book movie stakes, and it would appear that they have finally come up with a plan.

Variety spoke with Warner Bros head honchos Jeff Robinov and Alan Horn who touched on topics such as the sequel to The Dark Knight (and director Chris Nolan’s involvement), the development of DC Characters movies and the chances of there ever being a Justice League movie.

It looks like the company is about to go to town on their stable of iconic characters that includes: Batman, Superman, The Flash, The Green Lantern, Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

Warner Bros chief Alan Horn said that Warner and DC were committed to turning:

“the properties into viable movie product in an intelligent way so that we introduce them like planes on a runway. They have to be set up the right way and lined up the right way and all take off one at a time and fly safe and fly straight.”

With regards to Justice League, Jeff Robinov as good as admitted that the studio almost made a terrible mistake. Robinov said:

“We’re not off the notion of a Justice League. There’s a massive interest and knowledge in the comicbook industry and it takes time to sort of catch up and understand the characters and the history, where they’ve intersected with each other and what their worlds are. That’s part of the education that we’re going through.”

There’s a lot of B.S. that flies around Hollywood, but it’s good to see somebody own up to making a mistake – or as close to owning up as you can in the City of Angels.

That said the studio isn’t totally off the idea of the multi-character superhero film. Gregory Noveck senior VP of creative affairs for DC Comics stated:

“These are big, iconic characters. So when you make them into a movie, you’d better be shooting for a pretty high standard. You’re not always going to reach it, but you have to be shooting for it. We’re going to make a Justice League movie, whether it’s now or 10 years from now. But we’re not going to do it and Warners is not going to do it until we know it’s right.”

With regards to the sequel to The Dark Knight, there is a deal with Christopher Nolan – if he is interested, but Horn says: We have no idea where Chris is going with this. We haven’t had any conversations with him about it.”

I find it very hard to believe that in the month since The Dark Knight has opened and broken all sorts of box office records that the studio has not started talking to the brains behind the film. You can bet that Warner Bros. wants to get into the Nolan-Batman business but it sounds to me like Nolan is playing a bit of hard ball (echoes of the Marvel/Iron Man/Jon Favereau situation). If he does decide to do the film (and I’m pretty sure that he will) Warner Bros will be bankrolling some of his passion projects for the next few years.

There will be more announcements next month with regards to Warner and DC’s plans, but it looks like the studio has finally decided to fight back on the comic book movie front. It would appear that Marvel will finally be getting some serious competition for the superhero limelight.

Source: Variety

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Wonder Woman Movie DOA For Now

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:15:56 +0000

Don’t look for a stand-alone version of Wonder Woman on the big screen any time soon. According to Joel Silver, who was in charge of production on the film, it’s now on indefinite hold due to Justice League as well as The Flash and Green Lantern movies.

Although the character is supposed to have a major role in the JL movie, development on a Wonder Woman movie has suffered the same sort of false starts and stops that plagued Iron Man for years. At one point Joss Whedon was attached to write and direct, and honestly I can’t think of a better choice for a movie with a female superhero as the lead. Whedon’s stock in trade is the female hero and he knows how to infuse the right amounts of femininity, vulnerability and strength into his characters. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the female characters in Firefly and Serenity.

Source: SciFiWire

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Katie Holmes Is NOT Wonder Woman (Duh)

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:33:12 +0000

Earlier today word was all over the place regarding the possibility that Katie Holmes might be up for the role of the in-production-hell movie Wonder Woman. I didn’t swoop on it because honestly, it just seemed ridiculous. Katie’s screen presence amounts to that of a mousy little thing. Very cute, yes – Amazonian Wonder Woman? I don’t think so.

Expectedly, news has come out saying that it’s bunk. My pals over at ComicBookMovie.com got the word from IESB that the rumor is bogus and that the movie is indeed in limbo at the moment.

Source: ComicBookMovie

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RIP: Flash And Wonder Woman Movies

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:13:23 +0000

Talk about a one-two punch.

On the same day come separate announcements stating that David Goyer is no longer writing and directing The Flash and that Joss Whedon is no longer involved with Wonder Woman.

Sucks to be a fan of either one of those now, I’m afraid. I predict development limbo for both of them, if they ever get made. I say that because I really don’t think that the superhero movie genre will be “hot” indefinitely. As a matter of fact this year may be the peak, with three superhero movies being released (Spiderman III, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Ghost Rider).

I really think that 2008 may be the tail end of the “great superhero movie era” with Iron Man and The Hulk (I think) slated for release. Movie genres come and go in cycles in Hollywood (remember after Star Wars when a new Sci Fi movie would come out pretty much every month?), and there’s only so much money to go around for productions.

I was really looking forward to The Flash as I think it’s a great character with a lot of potential. It was too bad that when the short-lived TV series came out it was on the heels of Tim Burton’s Batman… they tried to emulate that dark style for the TV show and it was just plain wrong. The Flash was never a “dark” character, so the show should haven’t attempted to emulate the style of the Batman movies of the time.

As far as Wonder Woman goes, the only reason I was looking forward to that was the fact that Joss Whedon was in charge. His tragically short-lived TV series Firefly was amazing and the film version, Serenity is one of my all-time favorite movies. I just watched it with Whedon’s commentary a couple of days ago and it made me like him and the movie that much more.

Bummer all around.

Source: SuperHeroHype.com

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Will DC Boot Marvel from the Big Screen Throne?

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:23:54 +0000

Brett Ratner has been confirmed as director for X-Men 3. I just thought you’d like to know.

The tide may have turned folks… Can it be that DC has sharpened it’s skills in the TV animation arena and it’s now applying that talent to the big screen? Marvel seems to be overextended… Daredevil (at least the theatrical release) wasn’t that great, Elektra was absolutely murdered by the critics and U.S. audiences stayed away in droves. We have Fantastic Four coming out next month and the buzz is most certainly not positive for that one, despite Avi Arad’s constant cries of “you’ll see, you’ll LOVE it.”

The early reviews for Batman Begins have been excellent overall, and despite the fact that Brandon Routh looks goofy in the Superman suit, Bryan Singer does know how to make a great superhero flick. Joss Whedon is also working on a Wonder Woman adapation and so far his reputation precedes him (positively).

It’ll be interesting to see how things progress between both sides of the superhero battle.

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Wonder Woman newcomer?

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 17:52:23 +0000

The word is that Joel Silver is leaning towards relative newcomer Satu Rautaharju to fill Wonder Woman’s boots. Click on the image to the right for a larger version.

Satu has done some foreign film work and has appeared on a couple of episodes of Dawson’s Creek. I don’t know how she came to Joel Silver’s attention, but at least visually she looks like a good fit for the role. Wonder Woman should look exotic instead of like a WASP. She also looks like she could project the appropriate “superior” attitude which Wonder Woman should have.

Technically WW is still in development heck, but seems to be grinding just a bit forward.

For more photos of Satu Rautaharju and an interview with a co-star from the upcoming Communication Breakdown, click here (FYI, there is some adult language in the video interview).

Thanks to “Mongo”.

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