One of the biggest announcements from the San Diego Comic Con was about the Batman/Superman film. Slated for a 2015 release, the film is meant to be a sequel to “Man of Steel” and a prelude to a Justice League film. It’s not surprising that a new DC movie would be announced so soon considering how successful “Man of Steel” has been. Over $635 million box office, in case you’re curious. The surprise is that Time Warner would choose to break from convention and go with a team-up film early in their superhero line of movies. After the initial shock though, it’s easy to see how this is one of the better moves Time Warner has made since beginning their own film franchise.
There are a lot of people who feel that the best way for Time Warner to create their own line of DC movies is for them to copy Marvel’s example. Several solo films that serve to introduce the various heroes who will eventually join each other in a dramatic team-up blockbuster. The big argument for this is money. The individual films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe made a fairly good profit overall with the real money being made with “The Avengers” with $1.5 billion at last count. What people seem to forget is that it took 4 years for that all to play out. If DC wants to catch up with Marvel in terms of box office performance, they need to pickup the pace or play a new game. Batman/Superman is perfect for this.
It seems that Marvel will be sticking with their current formula for the future. DC needs to forge a new path. Batman/Superman will be a first for the superhero genre. This time the story can play with an unseen dynamic. Two powerful personalities duking it out without the need to spread out the action among several A-listers. I think Time Warner will break new ground with this film and we could see a new style work its way into the genre.
The reviews were mixed about how Zach Snyder and David Goyer approached “Man of Steel” but I’m hopeful for the future. I thought they brought a fresh take to the character and set the stage for a new beginning for DC. The biggest question will be how to approach Batman. Will there be a bit of a throwback to Christopher Nolan’s films, a reboot, or maybe a mixture of the two? It’s a bit early to tell but with the film less then two years away, it shouldn’t be long until we get some answers.
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