DC Universe Animated Original Movies

[EricJ]

I'm sure Eric realizes those are Marvel propertes. But the point is, that these conglomerates like to "prime the pump" to create greater consumer awareness of these brands before bringing out the more expensive live action features.

Not just "awareness", but the fact that a LA production has so much riding on it, the old Curse-era ones used to start getting cold feet, and trying to figure out ways to make it "mainstream", retool the origin story for contemporary context, cast and placate a big-name star, etc., and end up throwing the storyline so far off its original compass, the project ended up back in limbo for another five years.
(As seem to have happened with Warner's WW and GL.)

With animation, there's no gamble: They know what the character looks like, actors only have to be cast for a voice (and not worry about "looking silly in the costume"), and they have a pre-demographic'ed test audience for a focus group--Cartoon/comic fans who might know the character, or if they don't, are at least familiar with comic-book rules.
With all those other distracting random-elements out of the picture, they can focus attention COMPLETELY on what sort of contemporary-context Hollywood storyline to give the character and still fall within a mainstream format...If it works, Warner or Marvel has a clearer idea of "Oh, yeah, that's what a movie would look like!", and the LA production goes back in with a little more canon focus and less boardroom panic to throw the thing off-kilter again.

[Sunday]

Whatever the form, they need to change the title. Something closer to "Gordon: Is Awesome"

[eddievalient]

You know what would make a good DTV? Suicide Squad. Doom Patrol would be good too. I love Batman (any Batman) so I don't mind all the Batman DTVs, but they should give something else a shot that you know they're never gonna make a LA movie out of.

[GeorgeC]

http://www.comicvine.com/news/dc-animat ... ed/141015/


Basically, in a nutshell, the supergirls are NOT getting direct-to-video films for the forseeable future and the Teen Titans: Judas Contract feature is deader than a doornail.

(Pretty much makes sense. DC/Warner are only doing a Young Justice animated series years AFTER the cancellation of that title and the upgrade of those characters to Teen Titans because that makes more sense! <=== Cue Sarcasm )


Expect a lot more Batman since DC/Warners doesn't know what to do with the rest of their characters.

And yes, sales are pretty much why we're not seeing a lot of other animated series continue from WB.

Gee, the public might be aware of more of these characters and shows if they actually saw the light of day on TV again!

All is not lost but there is a definitely a scale-back in animation at WB.

Very disappointing. Can't blame this all on the economy. Again, they need a czar who's both a fan of animation and has the business sense to understand these characters need proper promotion on TV and the web.

[Randall]

I was actually at that talk that Timm did in Calgary (despite what the article suggested, this was not an "exclusive interview"--- it was a Q&A with a big crowd of people; I recognized every quote in the article). No big surprises, really. Batman and Superman sell the best, so that's what we'll continue to see. And some Justice League, too. He did seem really pumped about their next couple of projects, though he couldn't even hint too much yet.

Timm did say, though, that they were developing Swamp Thing; and he hinted at a Green Lantern tie-in with the movie, which has actually been reported previously (this would be the "origins of the Green Lantern Corps" anthology). The bottom line, as usual, is that these films are expected to make money. Breaking even is not good enough.

He seemed genuinely concerned whether Red Hood could get a PG-13, as he said it was pretty dark, esp. the first 5 minutes, where "a teenager basically gets pummelled by the Joker," or words to that effect.

I did enjoy his veiled lack of respect for Loeb's Batman comics, and admitting that he had no interest in Winick's Red Hood pitch at first, before being won over. He really likes Brave and the Bold, BTW, even if some fans in attendance said they didn't like it (personally, I love it).

BTW, I did finally get my Batgirl sketch from Timm. After missing out last year, I was third in line when Timm came to his table Saturday morning. I just got a Carmine Infantino Batgirl sketch, too, so they’ll look great together on my wall. I also met Nimoy at the show.

Calgary-Comic-Expo-2010-001.jpg (10.88 KiB) Viewed 9432 times

Calgary-Comic-Expo-2010-003.jpg (11.79 KiB) Viewed 9432 times

[GeorgeC]

I'm also tempted to say Nimoy's neater than Timm but frankly I think he's a bit of a nerd, too.

You have seen "The Legend of Bilbo Baggins," haven't you Rand?

It's as bad as anything Shatner spoke on his records! LOL

It may be doubly worse because there's an actual music video.

(NEVER, EVER shoot and record something bad. It comes back to haunt you on YouTube.)

Unintentional comedy classic indeed!

(((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))

I have a bit more respect for Timm implying his dislike of Loeb's writing but still enjoy the McGuinness artwork on the Superman/Batman issues. The artwork is frankly the only reason to buy those issues. I got the hardcover collections.

I enjoyed the Public Enemies film even though it was fluff. I'd still watch that again over Green Lantern or Wonder Woman for sure. The latter two films were boring to me. The cameos of the other heroes in Public Enemies helped even if the main story was silly.

It's neat to see Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, half the Outsiders, Hawkman, and especially Power Girl ('s assets) in an animated film!

As for the Red Hood --

It's a bad story and I'm sorry that the wool got pulled over Timm's eyes or he convinced himself to do it.

As mediocre as Loeb can be, Winnick's a pure hack and the Red Hood storyline is among the worst ideas that got published as comic in the past 20 years.

The only bigger disasters are probably the mid-1990s Spider-Clone saga and the unending DC Crisis crossovers that began with Zero Hour in 1994. These were all bad ideas and are being acknowledged as some of the worst comics ever written...!

The second-to-last Crisis (Infinite Crisis) was the one with the "punch heard around the multiverse" that literally set the whole dumb Red Hood storyline into motion.

DC Comics and Marvel Comics are full of pseudoscience and other gibberish explanations of how characters got their powers or were brought back to life but the Red Hood storyline takes the cake for the worst resurrection storyline, period!

The only story that comes close in recent memory is the one where a patriotic hero's sidekick survived a plane explosion with only an arm ripped off. He then got turned into a partial cyborg working for a secret Soviet espionage council. If the shock and fall from that explosion didn't kill him, the blood loss and freezing water should have! The fact that someone decided to overturn 40+ years of continuity for that is about as bad as the Red Hood.


Enough ranting from me.

See why I don't work in a comic shop or buy monthlies anymore?


<<<SIGH>>>

I know I'm still going to get the Red Hood even if only for the Jonah Hex short and to hear Bruce Greenwood voice Batman.

He earned a fan from the last Star Trek picture.

I'm kind of hoping he gets brought back in the next Trek feature...

[Randall]

Batman: Year One not quite confirmed...

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... /index.htm

I suspect it will be announced once the Red Hood movie debuts in July, with some Comic-Con hubbub.

[GeorgeC]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... /index.htm

"Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam will anchor the compilation DVD of DC Showcase animated shorts from Warner Bros.

"Unlike the previous shorts, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam will run 22 minutes.

"Warner Bros. will stage a panel at Comic-Con International for the shorts, including producers Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett, Jonah Hex writer Joe Lansdale, Jonah Hex actor Thomas Jane and Green Arrow writer Greg Weisman."

***************


I hope this does okay...

The last few DC DVDs haven't sold that well and a couple of projects have been delayed or put on the backburner (good as dead)...

The last Justice League movie was pretty good but sales have been anemic from what I'v'e read, too.

I just wish they would stop adapting some of the dumber storylines and tackle some more classic storylines including multi-Earth crossovers and some of the better 60's, 70's, and 80's stories. Elseworlds stories like Gotham By Gaslight or JSA: The Liberty Files would be better than the Red Hood and Supergirl stories that have been adapted.

[Randall]

Hear, hear!! Stuff like Red Hood or the Loeb Superman/Batman books may have sold well at the time of publication, but are not fondly remembered now. There are much better stories to be mined. I really hope to see a Superboy/Legion one someday, or a JSA story (likely with the JLA).

I hope this new compilation is all-new, and not just a gathering of previously-released material with one new headliner. Regardless, Superman/Shazam has great potential; too bad it's not a feature.

And sales can't be too horrible, really, if they're still putting these out. I was present in the room in Calgary when Timm talked about sales, so I'm well aware of what he said; but the bottom line is that sales are good enought to keep the line going--- the line will just be anchored by more Superman, Batman, and movie tie-ins.

And you're right--- those Elseworlds stories would make intersting animated stories. I could see a Batman Elseworlds compilation disc being considered.

[GeorgeC]

Sales on most of the DVD/BD releases are nowhere near a million copies.

The number one best-seller is still Superman: Doomsday which was lightly adapted from what was a bad story in the first place. It's sold close to 900,000 units.

(AND it's by far my least favorite of the DC Animated releases... even worse than the snore-fest that Wonder Woman was and the uninvolving Green Lantern movie. Oh, GL I wanted to care but just didn't!

(ON THE OTHER HAND, I think Batman: Gotham Knight hasn't gotten a fair shake from many fans because of the experimental nature of the animation and disparate story arcs. There are one or two styles on this disc that I really liked and could work well for a Batman feature in the near-future. And yes, do bring back Kevin Conroy and let the guy act as something other than a "Frank Miller Batman!" There was a time Bruce Wayne had two distinct vocal timbers {'92-'95 Batman animated series} and not just the monotone Miller Bat!@#$!@ that's gotten so tired in both comics and animation.)

I believe both of the Justice League films sold under well 300,000 units on DVD/BD which is a darn shame because I think they're two of the better releases. I guess people want Batman/Superman-centric stories? A darn shame if they're that narrow-minded but part of it has to be the way the whole DC Universe has been portrayed in comics and films for the better part of twenty years now. Again, it's like animation on TV. IF you only show certain shows and films and disregard a great deal of the past should there be any wonder that rarely-seen films and TV series do poorly on DVD/DB????

There was an IGN article a while back about the DCU DVD/BD sales. Very eye-opening and unexpected information. IGN tracks sales and trends in home video, comics, and video games. I don't think there's much disputing their figures. They're fairly well connected to the entertainment industries.


One good thing about DC Animation sales. They can't be that bad... They haven't been put on the sales/remainder DVD racks like the Marvel stuff has!

Then again, I don't think any of the DC stuff has the feeling of cheapness that I've experienced with most Marvel shows the past 20-some years...

[Randall]

I'm sure that ign's reporting is just fine. But to keep things in perspective, a lot of TV-on-DVD doesn't sell all that well. It's really only the newest films that sell in the millions of copies. I just figure that Warner may have had unrealistic expectations for their DCU movies. One can't expect that a Green Lantern animated movie will sell too many hundreds of thousands of copies when the comic book is only selling tens of thousands per month, despite being at its greatest popularity in years.

A good comparison would be to see how a DCU film sells next to, say, the Get Smart DTV.

Incidentally, JL:New Frontier is still may fave, and I quite like Gotham Knight. I hated Doomsday. Most of the others fall into the "like" category, though Public Enemies was weak. I found WW lacklustre until the final 20 minutes, where I felt it redeemed itself nicely.

[Ben]

As a casual fan, I must say that it's the production values that put me off jumping on these. I'm very interested to see them, but am just as happy to wait until they show on TV, the way I saw Doomsday (and was pleased I hadn't rushed out to pick it up).

Some here will know that, as with anime, I can't quite get past the "black marker" outlines on the animation that has plagued DC's television output. True, the DCU movies have attempted to step up the quality a little more, but we're still not talking about the level of Disney's DTVs or even some of the stuff I've seen from Marvel (Doctor Strange had some almost theatrical stuff going on in it at times) and, ultimately, we're talking about titles that are a niche of a niche (a segment of the superhero geek audience).

As such, I can see the reasons these are selling as they are (not great, but not bad). For one they're being led by "popular" comics that didn't stand as classics, and have to tie in with Batman movies or whatever Warner Bros. is working on. But get around that, and it's the casual people like me that are not being drawn in, mainly either through the choices of stories, the writing or the TV production values (you'd simply think that a DTV would be able to add in some better quality animation).

I've yet to see the two JL movies, but they're the ones I'm most hyped up to see, both because of the stories and because the animation/styling looks a step up, but a lot of the other ones are just general origin stories that go over old material again.

That all said, I was exceptionally impressed with the Superman: Animated Series when I finally got to see it (for the box set review), though that was mostly down to the writing and performances, which when done well can help me overcome budgetary animation considerations. But, the more I hear talk about these DCU releases, the one thing I keep hearing is that the writing isn't strong enough and the voices are often "wrong"...which doesn't encourage me to be tempted to actually buy one.

Also, the choice is over the top: I can see a major movie getting the single DVD, double-disc DVD and Blu-ray treatment...but, really, does a DTV title need the same? Either a single or double disc DVD would do, with or without the "hand-picked episodes" of older programs that hard-core fans will already have, and the BD could just basically be the "default" release with everything on it. I know there's not much difference in the pricing, but not having to manufacture dud copies (of the single or double DVDs) would cut down on the overall expenditure and help WB recoup more on these releases.

[Dacey]

The only DC animated movie that I've seen so far is "Doomsday," which I enjoyed enough, but also but bought at a fairly cheap price, if memory serves.

I still want to get "Wonder Woman" and "Green Lantern" because I've heard good things about them, but just keep on buying other titles instead whenever I have DVD money to spare. So, while they're definately on my "list," they never seem to be on top of it.

[GeorgeC]

Ben, Ben, Ben...

You're talking too rationally!

Remember, the MBA's that run the entertainment companies always know better than the talent or person on the street!

At any rate, yeah, I'd agree with you on the disc formats and how these things should be approached.

I still prefer the Blu ray with everything on it, though. Even though most of the "previously released" extras (Timm's Choice Episodes" are NOT in Hi-Def. It's still a good way to get people on board with character histories and introduce them to concepts and characters they don't know anything about. It's also a good way to remember and view the better episodes of the past, too. I don't always like to dig through Season Sets to watch one particular episode...

(The Red Hood BD I bought last week had a GREAT selection of Batman: TAS episodes. It had two part origin of Robin episode as well as "Mad Love" from Batman: TAS. Couldn't ask for a better selection!)

Oh, and the main point of me popping back into this thread was an announcement about the Compilation Shorts disc.

Go to http://blog.newsarama.com/2010/08/05/su ... ollection/

It has an image of what Captain Marvel looks like in the 22-minute short. He's voiced again by Jerry O'Connell who did the honors in the JLU Episode, "The Clash." Tara 'the Gender Bender' Strong does the vocal honors as Billy Batson from what I've read.

(Little joke at Strong's expense. She's one of the go-to people in the US animation industry who does the voices of little boys. She was the voice of 10-year-old Ben Tennyson in the Ben 10 animated series. In real life, she does not look anything like a little boy!)

I'm hoping there's a Blu ray release, too, but so far no word...

The announced DVD version is scheduled for November 9th.

There's supposedly some new extras for the disc (besides the Captain Marvel short) and talk of "extended versions" of the preceding shorts that have already been released on previous DC animated product.

Honestly, the shorts have been the best part of every main feature they've been partnered with. The Jonah Hex and Spectre shorts in my opinion qualified my purchases of their respective BD main features...

I seriously doubt there won't be a BD release of the Showcase shorts. The Hi-Def transfers already exist for all the completed shorts and there's been no indication the Captain Marvel/Shazam short will get released with a future main feature.


EDIT:
Confirmed the BD release at http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/ ... /index.htm

There's also an image of Black Adam from the new short, too.

I'll try and see if there's any word about "extended" versions of the previous shorts but I have my doubts about it. I've only read about it in a thread from the Newsarama post.

WB Home Video Release with Technical Specs => http://theflickcast.com/2010/08/05/warn ... d-blu-ray/

No word on "extended versions" of the previous shorts. I think someone in the Newarama thread I alluded to misread something...

The previous shorts average to about 11-13 minutes apiece with credits. That's still under an hour even with the Captain Marvel short. 62 minutes seems approximate.

Both BD and DVD releases have the same features. No 2-disc DVD planned...

I'm hoping for a decent deal on the BD version. $20, no more than that! No mass chain seller is going to sell the BD for $30 release day!

[Randall]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Supes with The Big Red Cheese again, but the double-dip on the rest of the package is soooo annoying.