After a 20 month-long battle with the U.S. Justice Department, AT&T's $85.4 billion takeover of Time Warner has finally been approved - meaning that all of Warner Bros.' DC properties now fall under the AT&T umbrella. News of buyouts, acquisitions and mergers can understandably make some fans nervous about the fate of their favorite characters and franchises, but the AT&T/Time Warner deal is (probably) good news for the DC Extended Universe.
The franchise already has a considerable number of projects in development. Aquaman will release later this year, followed by Shazam! and Wonder Woman 1984 next year, and beyond that the films that Warner Bros. has in the pipeline range from a solo Batman movie (and possible reboot) to a solo Lobo movie. Fans who have a keen interest in seeing one or more of those projects come to fruition may be concerned that Warner Bros.' new owner will want to start over from scratch, but the chances of that happening are slim.
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DC Films, the production company behind the DCEU, is some way down the corporate chain. It's a branch of DC Entertainment, whose parent company is Warner Bros., whose parent company is Time Warner (now called WarnerMedia), whose parent company is now AT&T. However, just because DC Films is just one of a great many assets acquired in the deal, it doesn't mean that the change of ownership won't shake things up a bit. Things are only just starting to move ahead, but here's what we know so far about how the AT&T buyout may affect the DCEU.
- This Page: Why the AT&T/Time Warner Deal May Have Saved the DCEU.
- Page 2: The Current Plan For the DCEU
The Deal Might Have Saved the DCEU
Earlier this year it was reported that, if the AT&T/Time Warner buyout ended up getting successfully blocked by the Department of Justice, Time Warner would most likely be broken up into Warner Bros., HBO and Turner and sold off individually - putting DC Films and the DCEU in an uncertain situation. As it stands, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be remaining at the head of the company and, as far as we know, the DCEU will continue along its current path. In an email to Warner Bros. employees, Tsujihara wrote:
While this is truly an evolution of our business, [AT&T CEO] Randall Stephenson and [WarnerMedia CEO] John Stankey have both said the WarnerMedia companies will continue to have the creative freedom and resources to keep doing what we do best.
While that's not quite a promise that absolutely nothing will change for DC Films, it does sound like AT&T will be fairly hands-off when it comes to Warner Bros.' individual movie franchises. Moreover, it's possible that Warner Bros. was deliberately keeping certain projects in limbo until the deal went through (the plans for the buyout were first announced in October 2016), which is why we've heard about so many different movies in development, but so few have appeared to be moving forward.
Page 2: The Current Plan For the DCEU
The Current Plan For the DCEU
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have seen some major shake-ups behind the scenes in the last few months. In December 2017 Warner Bros. co-president of production Jon Berg stepped down from his role, and shortly before the AT&T buyout was approved, Geoff Johns left the position of DC Entertainment CCO and Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Consumer Products, left as well. In January 2018, Toby Emmerich was promoted to chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group and Walter Hamada - the producer behind recent horror successes like The Conjuring movies and IT - was named the new president of DC Films. It's certainly possible that we'll see more shakeups now that the deal was been approved, but for now it seems like Tsujihara, Hamada and Emmerich are staying put.
According to a source at THR, "[Hamada] walked into a s***show, and he's trying to clean it up." The DCEU is in a difficult position right now, after heavy reshoots, a change of director and a bloated budget failed to create a Justice League movie that blew away the box office. One of the key decisions that Hamada and Emmerich have made is not to set release dates for projects that haven't begun filming yet - perhaps a smart move, given that out of the ten DC movies that were announced with release dates in 2014, four have either been delayed or completely stalled. Per THR, Hamada has "a specific design for the universe," but whether or not we actually get to see that plan executed will depend heavily on the first few DC movies produced on Hamada's watch.
Related: Answering The Big Questions About Jared Leto's Solo Joker Movie
The Next Few DCEU Movies Are Crucial
The DCEU is currently in a delicate position. While some have been calling for the cinematic universe's head ever since Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, it's impossible to write off the endeavor completely thanks to the success of Wonder Woman and the as-yet-undetermined potential of James Wan's Aquaman movie. While Justice League generally left both critics and fans dissatisfied, Ezra Miller's take on The Flash was one of the movie's highlights, which bodes well for the solo Flash movie that's currently in development.
With Warner Bros. under new management, Aquaman is about to face a great deal of scrutiny when it arrives in theaters this December. Emmerich told EW that "it's important that [Aquaman] works," describing Wan's film as "a bit of a bridge movie." While he didn't specify exactly where that bridge leads, the current lineup of DC movies in development suggests that Warner Bros. is moving away from the shared universe model, and focusing more on standalone movies with widely varying tones. For example, Todd Phillips' upcoming Joker movie, which is expected to begin filming this fall, has a budget of just $55 million and stars Joaquin Phoenix in the role, instead of the DCEU's Joker (Jared Leto). However, Leto's Joker will also be getting his own solo movie, while the Phoenix movie could end up being released under a "DC Dark" or "DC Black" imprint.
To sum up, while the AT&T/Time Warner deal probably isn't going to kill the DCEU, the DCEU as we know it may be on the way out anyway. Whether or not AT&T will keep the current plan on track or choose to shake up management at DC once again will depend heavily on the performance of Aquaman, Shazam! and Wonder Woman 1984 - so let's hope DC's heroes are up to the challenge!
