The DC Films Slate As Of December 2017
by Erik Amaya
The DC Film slate has been revised again.
Collider’s Steve Weintraub reports a new version of their upcoming film schedule was released during a panel at Comic Con Experience 2017 over the weekend. The revised slate — which lists Wonder Woman 2, Suicide Squad 2, Batgirl, The Batman, Shazam!, Justice League Dark, Flashpoint, and Green Lantern Corps — is notable for missing projects like the Justice League and Man of Steel sequels, Nightwing, a potential Joker and Harley film, and Cyborg. Gotham City Sirens is also missing, as is the out-of-continuity, Martin Scorsese-produced Joker Origins project. Of course, the latter almost makes sense as it will presumably be made under the direct auspices of Warner Bros. Pictures with little-to-no involvement from DC Films or DC Entertainment.
Also absent from the list is Deathstroke, a project rumored in the last month to star Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson.
It is possible the revision reflects the reported shakeup within the division following the lackluster performance of Justice League. As reported last week, producer Jon Berg is expected to leave DC Films in the new year for other parts of the studio while fellow producer Geoff Johns is said to be taking on a reduced “advisory” role in the upcoming films.
Which the revised slate seems like bad news for any project not mentioned — particularly Cyborg, which once had a 2020 release date — it is possible they are just very far from any sort of announcement, as our friends at CBR point out. Then again, a number of these, like the proposed Black Adam film staring Dwayne Johnson, were pet projects of talent and executives no longer involved in Warner Bros’ attempts to create a DC Film universe. Berg’s departure may be an opportunity to push aside some of the older, forgotten projects in favor of newer ideas reflecting the studios interest in being a “director first” operation from stem to stern.
Of course, the studio’s internal conflict between styling themselves as the home of the auteur and a Marvel-like superhero factory has always been a major factor in the inconsistency of films like Suicide Squad and even Wonder Woman; which becomes a strikingly different picture in its final third.
Nevertheless, the situation at the studio churns as constantly as any Crisis-level event comic story line. Tomorrow, Cyborg could find itself slotted after Wonder Woman 2 or definitively cancelled. It makes for a drama often more exciting than anything Warner Bros. commits to the screen.
