The Wall Street Journal is running a story on Warner Brothers theatrical films today that paints a picture of what to expect from the studio after the success of The Dark Knight.
Rather than flood the marketplace with more and more films, Warner aims to concentrate its dollars on fewer “big budget” films, ala The Dark Knight. This year Warner expects to release 25 to 26 films, a number that will drop to 20 to 22 by 2010.
Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov would like to see upwards of 8 of these films released between now and 2011. Many of them are likely to tap into DC Comics which is now going against rival Marvel Studios for box office dollars.
Robinov goes on to comment about Brian Singer’s Superman franchise, or what was designed to become a franchise. “Superman didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to. It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned. Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009. But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”
The Batman and Superman movie was once rumored to be on a fast track for development at Warner but was halted in its tracks after the lackluster performance of Superman Returns.
With Green Lantern, Flash Green Arrow and Wonder Woman in development, Warner will announce even more DC Comics properties turned into films in the next month or so. We’ll take a time frame on the next Batman and Superman’s reboot, please.
