It’s easy to forget that before Geoff Johns asserted himself as captain of the ship, Warner Bros. and DC Films were building their cinematic superhero universe without a Kevin Feige-like figure leading the way. Back in 2015, the studio was reportedly going with a “filmmaker-driven” approach, which including (among other things), giving David Ayer “broad creative control” on “Suicide Squad.” Well, we all saw how that turned out. Following the double whammy of disastrous receptions for “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” and “Suicide Squad,” WB and DC quickly pivoted, with Geoff Johns becoming the public face of movie brand, and Joss Whedon being recruited to play a big part of the creative retooling. However, don’t think they’ve left directors behind.
In case you forgot, “Nightwing” is one of the many superhero movies WB and DC have kicking around in development, and director Chris McKay (“The Lego Batman Movie“), who will be making his live-action debut with the picture, is pretty emphatic about what makes the DCEU special.
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“Warner Bros is a more director-driven studio. Period. The end,” he told Metro. “More than any other studio you’re ever going to work at. Just look at the roster of world class filmmakers that have worked at Warner Bros and made it their home. Warner Bros is a director-driven studio, and that’s exactly how they are operating these movies.”
Well, the hit-and-miss ratio of the WB/DC flicks speak for themselves. Only “Wonder Woman” has been an outright homerun on all fronts so far, and the jury is still very much out on the upcoming “Justice League,” which has undergone extensive reshoots. For these kinds of movies that have all kinds of moving parts, it’s more than just a director that makes it all sing (though it does help to have a strong vision leading the way). WB/DC still have a long way to go match the well-oiled machine over at Marvel, but it seems most of the people who step into their system, no matter how chaotic it seems from the outside, are coming out pretty enthusiastic thus far.