The world of DC Films seems like a ridiculous mess, so it’s not surprising that news reports are equally all over the place. Last night, the trades revealed that Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, and Sam Raimi were in the running to direct “The Flash,” with some saying Zemeckis was the frontrunner for the gig. We’ll see how it all shakes out, but he’s certainly still in a good position for the job, as some other names have dropped out.
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According to EW, Raimi and Marc Webb, who wasn’t reported to be in contention at all, have both passed on the movie. No reasons have been given as to why they turned down the blockbuster, but one could surmise a couple of them. I’d assume the always creative Raimi likely doesn’t want to step into an already established universe of films and characters, especially after helming three “Spider-Man” movies where he mostly got to call the shots. Meanwhile, Webb is likely staying far away from anything resembling superheroes after directing the two “The Amazing Spider-Man” movies in Sony‘s last failed franchise re-launch. It’s kind of interesting that Warner Bros. courted a couple of ‘Spider-Man’ directors, though.
WB is apparently hoping to try get production on “The Flash” started before the year is out, so they can add another superhero movie to their 2018 slate, which currently only has “Aquaman” set for release. You’d think that the studio would’ve learned their lesson already about attempting to rush movies through the door to hit a release date, but I guess not.