Building an entire cinematic universe is a daunting job, and Warner Bros. has been working hard to get its slate of DC Comics superheroes onto the big screen in recent years. The studio released Man of Steel in 2013, and with that the DC Extended Universe was born.
As fans know, Man of Steel was followed with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad in 2016. And the studio's schedule has been filling up ever since. Wonder Woman and Justice League are due for release this year, Aquaman in 2018, Shazam! in 2019, and Cyborg and Green Lantern Corps in 2020. And those are only the ones with planned release dates, there are other movies in the works, including sequels to Man of Steel and Suicide Squad, plus The Batman and Nightwing. With a universe that big, and with that many characters available, it's no surprise that the studio could announce another title at any time.
As it turns out, one of those titles could be announced sooner than expected. Now that Aquaman had its release date pushed back to December, most of 2018 is open. And according to Variety's Justin Kroll on his Twitter account, Warners is hoping to take full advantage of that open slot in its schedule.
With BATMAN likely shooting in 2018, WB still would like one more DC property to shoot this year other than AQUAMAN— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) March 16, 2017
The 5 films being considered are SIRENS, FLASH, LANTERN, SQUAD 2 and DARK UNIVERSE.— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) March 16, 2017
That said if scripts aren't ready to go, studio is content just shooting AQUAMAN this year till films are ready to go— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) March 16, 2017
Things would have to move quickly to pull this off, as a movie released in 2018 would need to be filmed in 2017 in order to handle all of the post-production work, not to mention schedule around the availability of the actors and team behind it.
It is probably the time crunch that is making those five titles the most possible. They likely have scripts completed or close to it, and many of them already have lead actors in place. Ezra Miller as The Flash has already been seen a couple of times, a direct sequel like Suicide Squad 2 will be utilizing numerous actors from the first film, and Sirens will include Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Meanwhile, there's so far been no word on casting for Green Lantern Corps, but if Warners is ready to pull the trigger on that film, then fans might be introduced to their Emerald Knights sooner than expected. The surprise here is Dark Universe (or Justice League Dark), which not too long ago seemed to have been put on the back burner indefinitely. Perhaps Warner Bros. was saving the movie for an occasion such as this.
As Kroll pointed out, though, an additional movie will only happen if there is a script ready to go. With all the considerations involved, a decision will need to be made soon. Not only as to which movie could be filmed in time, but also as to whether an extra movie will be filmed at all.
Next: Aquaman Movie Delayed to December 2018
Source: Justin Kroll
