DC Universe

[Dan]

So during a presentation at the Comic Con Experience 2017 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Warner Bros. unveiled their current slate of DC films. They are, in no real particular order:

Wonder Woman II
Aquaman
Flashpoint
Suicide Squad II
Shazam
Batgirl
Green Lantern Corps
The Batman
Justice League Dark

And that's it.

Source: https://www.cbr.com/dceu-updated-movie-slate/

[Randall]

The absence of Harley Quinn alone makes the list seem wonky. As the artic le states, there are others that are known to be getting developed that aren't on that list. One not mentioned is Man of Steel 2, which sounds like will happen. I hope.

[Ben]

I thought the Harley movie had been recently sucked into the new Joker film, which also isn’t represented on that list...?

As Dan said, "in no real particular order", which is both half the problem and shows that WB doesn’t have a firm plan, but they like to announce a whole slate when we all know it’s continually in flux and the realism is that half of these won’t actually ever happen!

[Randall]

Depending who you believe, there may be up to 3 Harley films in development, though one of those might be Suicide Squad 2.

Yeah, it feels like Warner is busy counting their pre-hatchling chickens again. Of course, all studios have multiple films in development, but Warner needs to slow down on the premature announcements.

[droosan]

I haven't yet bothered to see any of DC's 'cinematic universe' movies .. but I'm totally down for this one..!

[EricJ]

Yeah, it feels like Warner is busy counting their pre-hatchling chickens again. Of course, all studios have multiple films in development, but Warner needs to slow down on the premature announcements.

Think the Harley "movie" may have been downgraded to a Cartoon Network/CW series, or that's just one more attempt for DC to circle the DC Universe wagons.

As for the Shazam teaser...egad, were they TRYING to do a remake of the Ryan Reynolds "Green Lantern"??

And "crossover" ideas to use that Suicide Squad 2 memo solely as an excuse to set up Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam before the Shazam movie--apparently Adam's own movie got downgraded/merged--may depend a lot on the fate of Aquaman next December:
If rumors of bad screenings are true, that would explain a LOT about Aquaman's Christmas dump-week release date.
(Yes, Ben & Dacey, we know you don't believe such things exist, and that Paramount last year just wanted to use "Downsizing" to celebrate jolly yuletide cheer... )

[Ben]

It’s okay...I don’t really get what he’s talking about either...

[droosan]

As for the Shazam teaser...egad, were they TRYING to do a remake of the Ryan Reynolds "Green Lantern"??

Shazam! looks to be the superhero equivalent of Big .. which is 100% appropriate to the source material.

I haven't seen the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern .. but from what I understand -- aside from the awkwardly 'cheeky' tone of the main character -- it perhaps tried to cram too much of the Guardians of Oa/Green Lantern Corps mythology into a single film; might've been better to tackle those subjects in a sequel, instead .. but ah, well.

The creative team behind Shazam! appear to have taken this lesson to heart, and wisely saved Mr. Mind and Mary Marvel for later.

[gaastra]

Forbes calls aquaman trailer a black panther rip-off. (they did like the trailer for it's lighthearted cheese but complained about the plot)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplac ... 5c819249b3

And the plot seems strangely, perhaps intentionally, similar to Black Panther. Two rivals for the throne, chosen by a deathmatch in front of screaming spectators? A hidden, ancient society ready to overthrow our world at a moments notice? A side-character with a ridiculous mask?

Not just them. A lot of people are saying this online. Even reel rejects says it.(but they did love the trailer) Right down to them fighting for the crown with sticks in front of a crowd to the "family member wants to attack the world with their country" plots the same. This is right out of the aquaman comics so I feel bad for aquaman here. Black panther just beat them to the punch.

[EricJ]

As for the Shazam teaser...egad, were they TRYING to do a remake of the Ryan Reynolds "Green Lantern"??

I haven't seen the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern .. but from what I understand -- aside from the awkwardly 'cheeky' tone of the main character -- it perhaps tried to cram too much of the Guardians of Oa/Green Lantern Corps mythology into a single film; might've been better to tackle those subjects in a sequel, instead .. but ah, well.

No, it was that to comic fans, Hal Jordan was a heroic guy who deserved to be a Lantern Corps, but the Warner version--back when they didn't have a Justice League agenda, and were probably trying to live up to those rumors of a Jack Black version--tried to be "tongue-in-cheek", depicting Ryan Reynolds as his own goofy, irresponsible guy-comedy self trying to become a superhero after getting a green suit by "accident". (They did try to save Sinestro as a sequel "tease" for the very end of the movie, but hope was pretty much lost by that point.)
To say comic fans weren't amused is putting it mildly. And yes, that's why we get the "Don't give me an animated green suit!" joke in the first Deadpool.

The GL film was doomed from the very moment in the trailer when Reynolds shows off his new suit transformation to his astonished buddy: "I know, right?"
Sound familiar?--It's crazy, right?

[Randall]

I really liked the Aquaman trailer. Too bad it treads on similar Shakespearean ground as BP, but them's the breaks. The water setting, at least, is relatively fresh.

Shazam... hoo boy. I wish I could be more enthusiastic. The true, original Captain Marvel was not a "Big" story at all, and I have not cared for most of Cap's representations from the post-Legends/JLI days onward. The original 1940s story was about a boy magically becoming a man, not a story of a boy in a man's body. Even Filmation got that right. This film version may be true to modern comics, but ironically it is even sillier than the original lighthearted comics. I was cringing watching the trailer.

Green Lantern... yeah, too cheeky, not heroic enough, and too many story elements. All of the above.

[Ben]

Funny you mention the Aquaman setting, since I struggled to see that it *was* water! For the most part it just looked like they were all floating around in space, especially with some of those spaceship-y flying things. And a whole bunch of Avatar-ness thrown in. Along with some really dodgy CGI (and here I was thinking that they were keeping trailers back so they could get the FX right before showing it to anyone? Still a lot of work to be done, guys!) and some wonky shot repetition (okay, he can catch something right near his face, we get it, though it doesn’t look great first time, let alone a second). And apart from a few ripples, where are the bubbles!? It’s supposed to be underwater!? Sigh...looks like another DC film I’ll just wait to see when it hits TV.

As for Shazam...yeah, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting either, and for some reason I’m totally not fully buying Levi, who either doesn’t feel "solid" enough or looks too big and cartoony. I’m not sure which. Obviously he will get an arc, and they’re picking up on 80s nostalgia with the Big references (cue remake of that, now), but we'll have to wait and see if they get the balance of comedy and superhero origin movie right. It’s a pretty short trailer, so a bit early to judge, but I also wasn’t too sure about the writing...some of what Shazam says isn’t how a kid would talk but how the writers think a kid should talk if he was in a grown up body. A careful line to cross, and obviously he's supposed to be a bit of a dork to start out (in this version), but I wait to be convinced this can be more than a rudimentary "what if a kid got super powers" comedy (see, because when he’s Shazam he’s not *really* a kid anymore, like Spidey remains, for instance, so just comes off as a weird adult). How about an actual kid getting super powers? Now that could be interesting...

[Randall]

I like Levi, but the costume is too poofy-- like a kid's idea of anatomy, though maybe that is intentional? Maybe? The light-up insignia does not work for me, either, and the dialog and direction are too goofy. I do hope this film can win me over, but I am skeptical.

I am on vacation, so I am only viewing trailers on a 7" screen, so I will reserve judgment on special effects.

[droosan]

I still think Shazam! looks like fun, and was careful to state that its 'Big with a superhero' tone seems 'appropriate' to the source material (as opposed to 'faithful' to the source material).

Various creators have written differing 'takes' over the years, anyway .. some (like Jeff Smith) treat Captain Marvel and Billy Batson as separate personalities, while others (like Jerry Ordway) posit that while he may have access to the wisdom of Solomon -- Captain Marvel is still Billy Batson, at heart. It depends upon who's telling the story.

I will say, though, that I can totally visualize an eyeglasses-wearing caterpillar as a villain (or a talking tiger as a friend!) 'working', in this cinematic approach.

[EricJ]

As for Shazam...yeah, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting either, and for some reason I’m totally not fully buying Levi, who either doesn’t feel "solid" enough or looks too big and cartoony. I’m not sure which. Obviously he will get an arc, and they’re picking up on 80s nostalgia with the Big references (cue remake of that, now),

They're trying so hard to sell the idea of "Big: the Superhero"--Warner, again, so traumatized by 70's Saturday-morning memories that they have to sell Aquaman as "Badass" and Shazam as "Sacred DC comics lore"--maybe it's the early no-SFX convention teaser, but this one seems rather...low-budget.
All we see is the hero hanging around his small town, as if Tom Hanks in Big never went to NY, and just hung around with his buddy at the carnival.

Probably because the credits have it as a New Line movie, not a Warner: Warner brought the DC hero into their "agenda"--they're itching to bring in Dwayne Johnson as canonical villain Black Adam, but they're saving him for a more expensive movie--but this one still looks like a down-studio red-headed stepchild vs. the big studio push for Aquaman and the Justice League.
Rather like the cheap, weird New Mutants trailer vs. Fox's big X-movies.