The President of Warner Bros. says that future DC movies are going to be filmmaker-forward like The Batman. The latest cinematic outing for the caped crusader - this time with Robert Pattinson in the title role - came to theaters this weekend. The film, which also features Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred, and Colin Farrell as The Penguin, has already raked in so much money at the box office that it beat Batman Begins' opening weekend in one day.
The Batman was directed by Matt Reeves, who has made his career from unique blockbusters. Most recently he helmed the Rise of the Planet of the Apes follow-ups Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, a blockbuster trilogy that received near-universal acclaim. However, he also directed the 2008 runaway hit Cloverfield (which became a massive success off the back of an unprecedented viral marketing campaign) and the vampire remake Let Me In starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee, who has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in this year's Oscars for his work opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog.
Warner Bros. President and Chief Content Officer Toby Emmerich spoke with Deadline this morning about the massive success of The Batman. Although these projects are born from massive IPs, he reminded them that "quality is the most important factor for a studio." He followed that up by saying "the biggest thing you can do to influence quality is the filmmaker that you hire." Read his full quote below:
The secret of the movie business is quality. It’s the best business strategy for both theatrical motion pictures and superhero movies. The movies don’t have to all have the same tone, or interlock with other DC movies, or have an Easter egg that sets up another film. Quality is the most important factor for a studio, and the biggest thing you can do to influence quality is the filmmaker that you hire.
With this comment, Emmerich is clearly drawing a line in the sand between DC and Marvel film projects. The MCU does hire interesting directors, including Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao who directed Eternals, but it is an open secret that the studio doesn't have those directors helm the action scenes, which are designed by an in-house pre-viz team. As such, there is a limited opportunity for those filmmakers to truly put their own auteur stamp on their projects.
While studio tentpole films like The Batman certainly have influence from more people than just the director, it's true that DC has been hiring some very interesting people to helm their projects. They certainly gave free rein to James Gunn to explore the depths of his sophomoric humor instincts in his The Suicide Squad spinoff series Peacemaker, which was just renewed for season 2. Coming up, they will also be featuring projects from interesting personages like The Shallows' Jaume Collet-Serra, It's Andy Muschietti, and of course returning directors James Wan and David F. Sandberg, who put their own stamp on their previous efforts Aquaman and Shazam!.
Source: Deadline
