WB Should Turn Failed DC Projects Into Animated Films

Warner Bros. has so many many canceled DC projects fans are dying to see, so why not give them the animated treatment? Whether the DCEU is completely out of the woods yet after a tough couple of years remains to be seen. However, after the mega success of Aquaman and optimistic fan and critical expectations for upcoming projects like Shazam!, Birds of Prey and Joker, the mood is certainly brighter for the studio and its oft-maligned franchise.

However, so much of what fascinates us about DC and its place in cinema comes from those projects we never got to see come to fruition. Arguably no other franchise of our current era of cinema has had so many intriguing unmade films as DC. They've had films be abandoned mere days before shooting, some never made it out of the planning stage, and then, of course, there is the ever-present mystery of Justice League and the near-mythic Snyder Cut.

So much of what we talk about with the DCEU today is defined by the various "What if?" alternate histories available to fans. It's no wonder so many are clamoring for closure on some of these projects, and there’s so much that can be done with them. At this point in time, it seems that the DCEU is more defined by the films that haven’t been made than the ones that have. That in and of itself presents a fascinating opportunity for the studio, and one of their rivals may have given them a new route forward. Live-action has been so hit or miss for the DCEU, so why not turn to animation to bring those unrealized projects to life?

This Page: Warner Bros. Has Numerous Canceled Projects
Page 2: Old Canceled DC Projects Could Have New Life in Animation

DC Has Canceled a Lot of Projects After Significant Development

Hollywood cancels and abandons movies all the time. Some of the most iconic directors in history have seen their passion projects be dumped or left to the annals of film history. Most of these titles were merely the stuff of industry gossip and academic study for many years, and they’ve only become public interest over the past couple of decades as access to trades coverage and entertainment business news became more mainstream. For DC, this means a near endless stream of articles, interviews, production details, and much more, almost all of which can be accessed by fans to create a full timeline of their failed projects.

Some of these projects are well-known. Tim Burton's unmade Superman movie with Nicolas Cage, Superman Lives, was the subject of geek lore for so long that it became a documentary (and one of Kevin Smith’s funniest skits). JJ Abrams wrote a script in 2002 for a project titled Superman: Flyby, designed to be an origin story set on Krypton during a civil war, but that was canceled when Warner Bros. decided to go forward with Superman Returns instead. David S. Goyer and Justin Marks penned a script for a Green Arrow film called Super Max in 2008, which was intended to launch the character into the movie mainstream through a story-line involving him being jailed for a crime he didn't commit and having to escape a high-security prison populated with DC's finest villains.

Of the various tentatively planned Batman movies that never got off the ground, perhaps the most intriguing is Darren Aronofsky's planned adaptation of Frank Miller's comic Batman: Year One. That was shelved in 2001 in part because of a negative review of the script published on Ain't It Cool News, but fans remain fascinated by what Miller has described as a "vision of Batman [was] darker than mine. My Batman was too nice for him." Aronofsky's choice for the lead role was Joaquin Phoenix, a choice that feels ironic now due to his status as the new Joker. Before the first era of Batman was quietly retired following the chaos of Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher had planned to direct another sequel called Batman Unchained, with George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell set to reprise their roles. The rumored casting for this film was almost as strange as the films themselves, with Nicolas Cage allegedly being offered the role of The Scarecrow and Courtney Love a favorite to play Harley Quinn.

Before Justice League came to fruition as a big-budget blockbuster, it was intended to be the launching pad for a new era of DC on-screen, way back in 2007 when Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller signed on to direct the $220 million epic. Set to be titled Justice League: Mortal, Armie Hammer was set to be Batman, D.J. Cotrona would be Superman, Adam Brody was The Flash, Common was Green Lantern, and Megan Gale would play Wonder Woman in her movie debut. The story of this torrid production deserves its own documentary, from the struggles of the 2007-08 writers’ strike to fights with the Australian government over tax rebates. The project was eventually canceled and, after the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film failed to ignite its own franchise, the studio went back to square one with Man of Steel.

And then, of course, there is Zack Snyder’s unrealized plans for Justice League and its sequels. Avid fans are eager to see the director’s cut of the film, one that Warner Bros. is said to have no current plans to release, but it’s worth noting just how much work had been completed before the troubles with that film unfolded. Snyder had an immense level of creative control over the DCEU from its inception and the studio were committed to a full 5-part story with these characters. His sequel plans included killing Batman off, something no DC blockbuster has ever done before. If the current iteration of Justice League ever gets a sequel, the chances are it won’t have anything to do with the Snyder material, which has left some fans disappointed. This array of unmade storytelling presents a plethora of creative opportunities for Warner Bros. They may have never made it to live-action, but animation offers its own fascinating possibilities.

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Most Of These Projects Are Still Hot Topics Among Fans

As mentioned above, many of these projects remain fan favorites and frequently come up in conversations over the past, present, and future of the DCEU. The documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? was a hit on the festival circuit and filled in many of the gaps franchise fans had about how Burton’s film would look. Green Arrow's Super Max has been referenced on the CW's Arrow a number of times and became a key plot point in the finale of season six. The alternate universe of Hollywood created by a world where Miller’s Justice League happened and took off is one that would have completely rewritten the modern superhero narrative, so it’s no wonder fans love to speculate about what could have been. The Snyder Cut of Justice League is so coveted by certain DC fans that thousands of them have campaigned for its release. All of this accumulates to show just how much the unmade films of DC remain hot-button topics for the fans. They may not represent the majority of the cinema-going public, but their devotion highlights that there is interest for what could have been and how that could come to fruition going forward.

Old Canceled DC Projects Could Have New Life in Animation

DC and Warner Bros. aren’t new to animation. The original animated series of Batman remains one of the best interpretations of the character and Gotham as a whole, there have been various straight-to-video and DVD movies that have fared well with fans, and of course, there was The Lego Batman Movie. This is an area of storytelling that’s proven beneficial and creatively satisfying for the studio, but it’s one that’s been kept to the sidelines for the most part, an obvious aside to their cinematic output. Even The Lego Batman Movie, which was both critically and commercially successful, was viewed as a separate entity to DC’s movies rather than an accompaniment. However, one of the main competitors to Warner Bros. may have provided a new route forward in terms of animation.

Sony Pictures may end up blazing a trail with their now Oscar-winning smash hit Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a critically adored Spider-Man movie that has nothing to do with the studio’s own Spidey villain franchise plans but stands on its own two feet. There’s been a lot of pressure on the studios trying to replicate the MCU’s structure by keeping every project tied together in the same continuity, but with DC in particular, that has proven unsatisfying. Sony can have Venom and its world and still have a commitment to telling other stories with those familiar characters in their own narratives. DC are now taking a similar path with their Joker stand-alone film and plans for further one-off movies outside of DCEU canon, and animation would fit perfectly into this model.

There are two major routes that DC could harness for animating their most famous unmade projects: They could make lower budget straight to home viewing efforts akin to the most recent adaptation of The Killing Joke, or they could go full Into the Spider-Verse with proper budgets and cinematic releases. The former option would be a way to satisfy those niche fan-bases while keeping finances tight (The Killing Joke only cost $3.5 million and easily made $4.4 million during the One Night Only theatrical release it received), whereas the latter would be a way to bring to life what was not feasible at the time because of costs and technological setbacks.

Given that Warner Bros. and DC are going all in on non-canon movies like Joker, and doing so with conservative budgets that present less of a risk than, say, Justice League sized numbers, this would simply be a natural extension of that business plan. It only makes sense for Warner Bros. (and other studios like Marvel, for that matter) to up their game now that Sony have thrown down the mantle. It may also be more beneficial for Warner Bros. in the long-term to invest in another animated franchise now that the most recent Lego Movie has done so disappointingly at the box office and possibly put that series on ice.

Mega-budget shared universe blockbusters have been sorely hit or miss for Warner Bros. and the DCEU, with films like Justice League costing hundreds of millions of dollars they’ll never make back. One of the smartest aspects of their decision to move into one-off non-canonical titles like Joker is that it scales back their operation while keeping things creatively fulfilling. Animation would be another strong way to continue that trend and it’s one where they could make good on potential lost from their rich history of unmade projects. It would be good for the brand and fans alike to see a glimpse into these unfinished worlds.