Longtime Warner Bros./DC Films producer Charles Roven talks about the future of the DC Films Universe, promising fans that each movie in their docket will offer something new and fresh for viewers. DC Films is currently undergoing personnel overhaul as part of their effort to course-correct their superhero movie series. IT and The Conjuring producer Walter Hamada has been named as the new president of production of DC Films early this year, followed by the appointment of Chantal Nong as vice president of production just several days ago. On the ground, original Batgirl helmer, Joss Whedon is out, while Flashpoint could finally be moving forward with Spider-Man: Homecoming writers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who are in the process of inking a deal.
While we only have three films that have confirmed release dates (Aquaman, Shazam!, Wonder Woman 2), there are a few projects that are in various stages of development such as Nightwing and the Martin Scorsese-produced Joker origins film that is supposedly separate from the main canon. And from Roven's comments, it seems like the budding franchise will embrace individuality when it comes to their standalone movies, compared to aiming for a cohesive, signature brand of storytelling.
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Catching up with Comicbook.com, Roven discussed what people can expect from DC's film franchise moving forward following an underwhelming critical and massive performance of Justice League. It's no secret that the series has been struggling to take off with divisive films like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, at this point, their only real smash hit is Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman:
“Warner Brothers has been – even before Wonder Woman came out – developing standalone characters, like they did with the Joker and Scorsese: they've got a project, and they've got a number of projects with a Batman standalone, and things like that, and each one of them has different directors. So it doesn't necessarily mean that there's going to be a commonality of creative synchronicity in what each one of those directors are doing.
“The great thing about that is that that means there will be a constant freshness."
This approach could very well be the proper way to go building the DC Films Universe without being overly similar to the MCU. Despite Marvel's success in their world-building, some of their films feel too formulaic following the three-act structure. Sure there are standouts like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Black Panther, but there have been multiple movies that seemed like a retread of an old narrative, just with a different character. What they're so good about, however, is that they infuse different kinds of genres with the standard superhero flare.
DC opting for a different route could be a great way to counter the established Marvel format by changing things up in every single film. This way, they could cater to people who may be looking for something drastically different from what we have been usually seeing from the MCU for the last 10 years. Having said that, it's curious if they are still aiming for a shared cinematic universe. Building an interconnected film series is already difficult in itself, but cumulating several movies that have polarizing tones and themes for their event spectacles could be tricky to pull-off.
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Source: Comicbook.com
