This morning, Variety dropped a lengthy report that basically operates as a DCU State of The Union: they've gone through a bunch of the DC projects Warner Bros. is currently tinkering with, look ahead to what could be next, and offer yet another final word on the chances of the Snyder Cut of Justice League ever hitting theaters (or HBO Max).
For the most part, these updates are fairly minor, and a few that touch on stories we already covered here months ago, but there are a few intriguing details in there, enough that we figured it'd be worth bullet-pointing 'em out. So, here they are, presented in no particular order:
- While several scenes in Matt Reeves' The Batman are due to take place at Arkham Asylum, the rumors that the entire film would take place within that location are allegedly untrue.
- Warner Bros. has discussed the future of Superman with JJ Abrams.
- As previously reported, discussions took place between WB and Michael B. Jordan about the actor taking over the role of Superman. What we didn't know at the time is that Jordan apparently called this meeting himself. Nothing came of the situation when it became clear that WB wouldn't be ready to make a new Superman movie for several years.
- Both Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad are expected to be rated R.
- Speaking of Birds of Prey, a recent round of reshoots resulted in the film's test screening scores going way up, and WB is now convinced it has a hit on its hands.
- Geoff Johns will deliver a script for Green Lantern Corps by the end of the year. The project "may be presented to Abrams and Bad Robot to see if the company would be interested in producing the picture."
- Andy Muschietti is still onboard to direct the Flash solo movie starring Ezra Miller, but shooting is not expected to start until 2021.
- Christina Hodson will write the Batgirl script once she's done writing the Flash script.
- WB is currently looking for a director for the previously-reported Aquaman spin-off/horror movie, The Trench.
- Shooting on Aquaman 2 will begin in 2021.
- There are no plans to release a Snyder Cut of Justice League, either to theaters or HBO Max. One of Variety's sources says this is a "pipe dream" that will "never happen". Oof.
And that's it! That's where we're at on all of the above! If nothing else, it really sounds like Warner Bros. has learned from some of its previous mistakes (namely, trying to rush into the same level of success Marvel achieved with a much longer runway), and that they're taking the proper amount of time to develop these projects before they're ready to go in front of cameras.
Will all of these projects come together? Will JJ Abrams move from Star Wars over to Superman? (For the record, I think Abrams would probably nail a Superman movie, but I'd really like to see Henry Cavill get at least one more at-bat with the character; let's see what he does with Supes under a different director!) Who should direct The Trench? Sound off below, and stay tuned for further updates on all of the above as they roll in.