There’s been a lot of hullabaloo this morning over an LA Times profile of Jeff Robinov, the guy who will, at the end of this week, become the final word in which movies get and don’t get greenlit at Warner Bros. Studios.
So what’s the hullabaloo? Does this guy hate superheroes? Is he cancelling all movies everywhere? Does he have a third eye in the palm of his left hand like he’s half Guillermo-Del-Toro-character-design?
No, it’s something much weirder, for the article contains this sentence concerning the future plans of Warner Bros. releases:
He’s then aiming to release new “Batman” and “Superman” films in 2012 and “Justice League,” a teaming of DC’s top heroes, in 2013.
And that’s it. There’s no actual quote showing the context in which Robinov mentioned the Justice League. There’s no further mention of it in the article. So here’s how we’re going to call this one:
Until further confirmation of this by way of named sources, actual quotes, a statement from WB, etc… very dubious.
What foundation do we have to place such a mammoth undertaking of writing and casting on? A couple of unmade, untried Superman and Green Lantern movies, and a similarly untested Wonder Woman television show. Not to mention that it is unlikely that we would see Christian Bale as Batman unless Christopher Nolan were involved, because Bale has stated pretty firmly in the past that he’ll only do more Batman after The Dark Knight Rises if Nolan is in charge.
And then there’s the fact that none of the current Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, or Green Lantern projects were intended to take place in the same universe. Reconciling the tone of each one into a single movie would be very difficult if not impossible to do while giving each hero significant screen time.
If Warner Bros. has a Justice League movie in its sights, I just don’t see it happening as early as 2013. It would have to be greenlit and at the very least in casting talks before Superman will even be out in theaters, and I would assume that Warner Bros. would like to make sure their new Superman movie isn’t another Superman Returns before making another movie with him in a (or the) lead role.
Deep breaths, everybody. It would be really nice, but it’s probably not going to happen, at least in the way outlined in this article.
(via Collider.)
