Justice League Movie on Hold, Officially! Update!
Yesterday Cathie gave us the rundown on the Justice League movie finally being put on hold. Today, I’m going to take it a step further.
We knew it was coming, and it hasn’t come as a surprise, but many of us breathed a sigh of relief when the Justice League movie received its official “on hold” notice from WB. The movie hasn’t been cancelled, with reports saying that Warner Bros. is still hot on making the film; just not at the moment.
Following up on that however, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety are both reporting that Warner Bros. have let the options lapse on the young cast picked by George Miller. Apparently the roles were cast back in November, with Superman played by Scott Porter, Batman by Armie Hammer Jr., Wonder Woman by Megan Gale, the Flash by Adam Brody and the Green Lantern (Jon Stewart) by rapper Common.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the actors’ holding deals had already been extended once, and that extension is what has just run out. This now opens the actors (I use that word lightly, by the way) to roam the pickings once again. However Warner Bros. has said that they still want to make the movie with this cast.
So what was it that broke the camel’s back? Or, in this case, broke the camel’s back, trampled it, ran over it with a tank and then threw it off a bridge?
There seem to have been two things that have just made this an untenable solution – more than just a horrible cast (can I remind you that Adam Brody is the only name there with any pulling power!).
First of all is, obviously, the writers’ strike. This has been the biggest problem for many movies, as we’ve mentioned, and though Warner Bros. was happy with the script written by Kieran and Michele Mulroney, there was apparent need for touchups. Thanks to the rules of the game, no one but the original authors of the script (as far as I’m led to believe) are allowed to make such touchups.
Second, and less publicized, was questions of tax-breaks from shooting in Australia. I’m not sure of the minutia of it all, but I do know that shooting in Australia is a cheaper option for many American studios, just as shooting in Canada is. Apparently the studio was left hanging, with question marks over whether the incentives would be provided. This, naturally, led back to the script writers, because if the discounts weren’t applicable, the script would have to be rewritten to minimize the cost.
I’m not sure if I’ve made my opinion quite clear; many of you would say “Yes, you have!” However I think that the comment needs to be made once again, just to ensure that 
someone hears it.
Look at what Marvel Studios is doing!
Marvel studios are making the effort to build their heroes up, just as the comics originally built themselves up. DC didn’t just throw the Justice League at us with no warning, they allowed the characters to mature in their own issues. As such, when the Justice League came about, we had a deeper understanding of the characters, and why they did what they did; thus, the story focused on interpersonal and action.
And it isn’t as if DC/WB aren’t without such movies. Just look at Christopher Nolan and his Batman revival. Not only that, but Nolan himself - along with Christian Bale - believe that the trilogy of Batman films should be allowed time to finish before a Justice League movie is made.
This is what Marvel is doing; one needs only look at their upcoming schedule to see the moves they are making. From big studio flicks like Iron Man and The Hulk, to the independently produced Ant Man and Captain America; they are building their Avengers from the ground up.
So this is what is bothering me. Marvel are allowing themselves time and effort, to eventually build a genre of films that will blow their finances through the roof. If all this is simply about money - which, let’s be honest, it almost always is - why is DC/WB rushing to make Justice League, and losing the opportunity to gain the most amount of cash-money from what is arguably the better pantheon of heroes.
I write in the vain hope that DC and WB will see enough public pressure to change their minds. I also hope that, in this intervening time in which the writers strike - and probably subsequent directors and actors strikes - will allow WB to see the error of their ways.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
Hey true believers :)
I can’t seem to find any logic in not getting “the right and actual” cast for the movie. Christian bale should be Batman and Brandon Rooth should be Superman. Just like the Batman v.s. Superman should be. Don’t tell me that it’s a money issue either… like DC and WB don’t have enough money to make it happen. If they don’t, they can save up for it like i’m doing for my PS3 lol. Of course just for the record, the Batman/Superman movie should happen way before the Justice League movie. Cause then you could have a leadership issue in the JLA movie with connotations of the Batman/Superman feud in the movie. You know…does logic ring a bell?
For the rest of the cast, i don’t really have a problem with since, like you said before, there is no build up yet linking an actually appointed actor. And you can’t make a huge blockbuster with enormous amounts of key characters or the movie would never end.
And if the reason for casting so many young people is that they’re making a “young justice” movie, well i’m telling you all right now that i’ll be boycotting the movie. I’m not interested in finding out that the heroes that i know from the movies and comics got together when they were youngsters before they had any experience as superheroes like they do with already existing shows like smallville. And we already know that Bruce Wayne was an adult when he became Batman. So i don’t want to get any inconsistencies in story lines. It’s already bad enough thet they restarted the Batman universe as if Micheal Keaton never existed. For my money he is the best and forever will be Batman. But i understand that his age is a factor so i’ll stop being a big baby about the issue. It’s not so bad since i think that Christian Bale did a great job with the role.
And i don’t want WB and DC to be cutting any corners about the buget. If it costs more than Spiderman 3 then damn it, tighten your belts and make it happen. You see, Marvel is playing the game the way it should be played. Of course they always had the upper hand since they’re superheroes always were the more vulnerable, more rejected by society, less all mighty, more human underdogs, which is why we connect closer to them. Except for Batman, the DC superheroes are pretty much considered like the greek gods of Olympus sittin on top of they’re mountain. The reason why Batman is part of the “gods” is because “HE IS LEGEND” which Spiderman could never become since he is and forever will be more human than Batman. So for us insects to connect closer to the gods, they need a greater challenge than a human yet genius criminal mind and for that to happen, you need buget.
So for me it’s do it right or don’t bother! Let go of the NIKE slogan “just do it” and find reson and logic once and for all!
ShamanHealer
P.S. : Since i am a “logical” kinda guy, from seeing the movies coming out of Marvel, they are a hell of a lot closer of a “ULTIMATE ALLIANCE” movie build up than an Avengers moviebuild up. But i guess that’s just me :)
You are never going to see enough people against this movie to convince Warner or DC Comics to call a halt to the movie. Nothing you can write will change that. I mean really, like you are an expert. Hell, I’ll bet you couldn’t give me the slightest hint of who has been cast to play Aquaman or the Martian Manhunter. You don’t know. You write based for the most part on rumors other writers like you dream up, hell, you have even made up some of your own, I’ve read them. You don’t know that the cast won’t work, its all personal, you have your own idea about who should be cast and you hate it that it isn’t your call. Get over it expert.
Um… Who are you writing to DKBats? Isn’t this an open forum for discution and opinions about the Justice League movie? I mean… who exactly is trying to be an expert here, we’re just stating our opinions. It’s obvious that you can’t please everyone but i mean to get as many loyal justice league fans as possible to see the movie, i figure there are certain standards that they would want to go with. We (the jla fans) will be paying to see this movie probably more than once and i think we would all prefer to see an acurate and consistent rendition of what we are used to enjoy.
And for the record, who cares of who plays aquaman or MMH, they’re not key caracters… yet (i hope). Look at it this way, this is “the first” jla movie ever. It would be enjoyable if the key characters would be Superman/Batman and mabe Wonder woman. I mean if they want to make a sequel with MMH and Aquaman as key characters then by all means do but to kick start this joy ride it is my opinion that they should use the right tools for the job.
And if you have an opinion regarding the jla movie feel free to share it with us rather than complain that people with opinions aren’t experts. We’re already aware of that but what we are, are paying customers. Oh and if you feel the urge to lash out again, there are pills available for PMS.
I bet that movie would have been cheesy as hell. Just what we need another Joel Shumacher type director trying to bring Icons to the big screen, as you can see with his casting choices Miller’s clearly not the man for the job. But honesly they really should go the marvel route and finish off Christopher Nolans Batman trillogy and Bryan Singers Superman trillogy and The Flash etc. They also should bring in a director who has more experience with huge, epic, story oriented, action blockbuster type movies, because at the end of the day it’s not the cast that makes a great movie it’s the director and Millers clearly not it.
I agree. DC/WB should do what marvel is doing and do individual hero films.
almost everyone knows a little about Batman and Superman but the majority of the public know very little of The Flash, Green Lantern and so on. I personally have been hoping for a Flash movie but I guess that will probably never happen.
I would love to see a Justice League movie if it was done right and had some actors that I was even remotely familiar with. The only name I recognize is Adam Brody and thats just not right. I hope DC/WB listens to the fans and try to do this movie the right way, even though I doubt they will. My only hope is a kickass Avengers movie.