The DCEU is beginning to flesh out plans to greatly expand the franchise, with plans for two movies a year to go straight to HBO Max. The DCEU began in earnest in 2013 with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill as Kal-El. Three years later Batman v Superman brought Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck's Batman to the big screen. The franchise has struggled to get off the ground, especially when compared to its most obvious competitor, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While the MCU was both critically acclaimed and smashing box office records, the DCEU struggled to keep up. Movies like Suicide Squad and Justice League weren't received well by critics or struggled to make an impact at the box office. 2017's Wonder Woman and 2018's Aquaman changed all that. Both were well received by critics and the latter was the first DCEU film to cross $1 billion at the box offie. Still, plans for the future remained unclear even with a robust slate announced for the coming years.
Now, Walter Hamada, president of DC films, has revealed the studio's plans for the future. According to the NYT, the studio plans to release two DCEU films a year on HBO Max, in addition to theatrical releases (up to four a year). These films will focus on smaller, riskier characters (Batgirl and Static Shock are given as examples). Hamada also says that, in addition to films, television offshoots are possible and those will connect with the larger universe as well.
The larger DCEU universe has been in disarray for quite some time - while the studio has consistently turned out films, their grand plan has remained unclear. At times, it seemed as the studio was rushing out films simply to compete with Marvel, not to create a larger, interconnected franchise. That effort, though, clearly wasn't working - and it became clear Warner Bros. and DC needed to reevaluate their course of action for their comic book adaptations.
The development of an interconnected franchise of smaller movies, television shows, and four theatrical blockbusters a year represents the first effort to synch the franchise across multiple platforms, something Marvel began doing in earnest since some years back. With the recent announcement that Disney+ would have 25 Marvel shows over the next few years, the DCEU was clearly lagging even further behind. Upcoming films like The Flash, Aquaman 2, and The Suicide Squad are clear efforts to get the studio back on track, but they also serve as reminders of the past few years that the DCEU spent spinning its wheels. If the studio ever wants to catch up to Marvel or at least become a formidable competitor, the DCEU needs to solidify their larger plan and get the ball rolling. It seems like Hamada, who took over the studio in 2018, is finally beginning to do that.
Source: NYT
