After the release of Justice League, we are looking forward to the next set of DCEU films in development to be released. The reception to the Justice League film hasn’t been all that great with the movie losing 100$M to Warner Bros and having the lowest opening in any DC film. This puts a lot of the future plans in doubt.
Before Justice League, DC had a lot of plans including six films set for the franchise between Justice League and 2020, which have now been dropped outright and more have been added. With all the uncertainty, it’s been hard to keep up with what DC Films are doing and where exactly the franchise is going.
So here ’s taking a look at all the announced films and see which ones are actually going to come out, which are dropped and which may stay forever in development hell.
THE THREE MOVIES THAT HAVE ACTUAL RELEASE DATES
As of now, DC has three confirmed movies that are in official stages of development with release dates. Aquaman in December 2018, followed by Shazam! in April 2019 and Wonder Woman 2 in November 2019.
Aquaman has almost finished filming and is directed by James Wan. Shazam! is in pre-production and stars Zachary Levi and Asher Angel is locked in. Wonder Woman 2, is currently in early development.
Following this, there have been four dates in 2020 – February 14, April 3, June 5 and July 24 which have been claimed by WB although they appear to be more placeholders than anything else.
THE OTHER FILMS THAT ARE ANNOUNCED, BUT NOT DEFINITE
Given how poorly Justice League‘s fared at the box office, any plans beyond Wonder Woman 2 are open to change.
That being said, DC did announce eight films in addition to Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam, Wonder Woman and these include Suicide Squad 2, The Batman, Justice League Dark, Flashpoint, Green Lantern Corps., and Batgirl. Suicide Squad 2 is rumored to shoot early next year, and Batgirl has been delayed in development because of Whedon’s involvement in Justice League.
Other DCEU films haven’t been officially confirmed, although several are in active development: Adam McKay’s Nightwing is currently running casting calls; the Joker/Harley movie would be directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and Gotham City Sirens is possible if a Harley spin-off is in the works.
Apart from these, a Black Adam solo film is rumored to have a script and Scorsese’s Joker is purely hypothetical at this point. In short, most of these are potential films rather than definite.
THE FUTURE OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE STANDALONES ARE UNCLEAR
About a month before Justice League hit, the reason we hadn’t heard much about any of the solo movies was because Warner Bros wanted to see how well the movie would do at the box office, and given the mixed reaction and poor box office sales, that makes things a bit rocky resulting in anything could be dropped at a moment’s notice.
Flashpoint was discussed as a possible project as Ezra Miller’s Flash was one of the movie’s highlights, but there were issues with securing a director and the script being changed multiple times. Matthew Vaughn was in talks to direct Man of Steel 2, and Henry Cavill was asked to reprise his role, but it’s unclear how firm those rumors are. And there has been no word on Cyborg as Ray Fisher is working on other projects. The same can be said about Green Lantern Corps.
The only film that’s being actively discussed from the Justice League franchise is The Batman. Matt Reeves came onboard to direct, but as he’s got total creative control, he has little interest in succumbing to the usual universe constraints. Also, it is doubtful whether he will recast Ben Affleck as Batman.
One movie that’s definitely dropped from the slate for the moment is Justice League 2. The new movie was originally supposed to be the second half of a two-parter, but that changed after the lackluster performance of Justice League. Although, Justice League‘s post-credits scene teased the formation of the Injustice League, the poor box office, and general reception, though, has meant no further discussion
There’s a lot of uncertainty about the DCEU’s future after Justice League. It is not confirmed whether they go for another reboot or start afresh with Flashpoint, or continue with solo hero movies. We will just have to wait and watch with bated breath.