Only days removed from the announcement of the cancellation of Batgirl the DC movies universe will get a 10-year plan similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told investors on Thursday during the second quarter earnings call.
Warner Bros. Discovery has some of the most popular comic book characters in the world at their fingertips and want to make sure to make quality films and television shows. “You look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman — these are brands that are known everywhere in the world,” said the CEO.
The 10-year plan is expected to act as a “reset” of the DC movies universe taking a page from the MCU. “We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we are going to focus, where there is going to be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. We believe we can build a much more sustainable business.” Zaslav said during the call.
Disney has had major success with the MCU over the past 14 years and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. DC movies have seemed to struggle to find the cohesiveness many viewers want in their films. This is what the 10-year plan of a DC movies universe could change. “It’s very similar to the structure Alan Horn, Bob Iger, and Kevin Feige put together very effectively at Disney. We think we can build a much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC,” said Zaslav. “As part of that, we are going to focus on quality. We are not going to release any film before it’s ready.”
Zaslav didn’t call out the quality of the Batgirl film directly, but hinted at the idea of making films to be directly released on a streaming platform is not as profitable and successful as those films hitting theaters around the world. “We’ve seen, luckily, by having access now to all the data, how direct-to-streaming movies perform,” Zaslav said. “And our conclusion is that expensive direct-to-streaming movies … is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the motion picture, in the theaters.”
Warner Bros. has attempted to create a cinematic universe with the DC Extended Universe, but never really found the traction to compete with what the MCU has accomplished. Most fringe comic book movie fans can’t seem to easily figure out which movies exist in the same universe and which are not.
Current DC Movies and The Future
Zaslav touted the upcoming DC movies to be released in 2022 and 2023 including Black Adam (2022), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2022), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and The Flash (2023). This would give us the idea this 10-year plan will either start with said films or following the release of these films. There has been rumors of a delay on the release of the latter three films in that list. Additionally, this does not mean we won’t see news of films being scrapped or moved in the coming months, especially surrounding The Flash and the films star Ezra Miller.
Other projects already announced include Blue Beetle (2023), The Batman sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, Wonder Woman 3, as well as the second season of Peacemaker.
The big takeaway from Thursdays earnings call is that Zaslav believes they can do better with DC movies and all major films will be released theatrically. “We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC,” Zaslav said.
DC movies are in for a change and we will keep an eye on what this may look like in the future. Be sure to follow Capes and Tights on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up-to-date on the wonderful world geek culture.
