WB still running with THE FLASH stand-alone movie?

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

There are three reasons why a Justice League of America movie is currently in development...

Because the 2009 superhero tentpole slot for Superman: The Man of Steel was ditched after Singer began stalling on a new Supes movie and because Superman Returns wasn't the success WB hoped, the search soon turned to what superhero franchise they could make profit from. Because of an unexpected but fantastic script that fell into their hands. Because of the two reasons above and the fact that for years they had been trying to get a Wonder Woman and The Flash movie off the ground but all the pieces didn't fall into the right place... and this was seen as a way to kickstart those characters for possible future movies. The news today confirms that reason number 3, is probably the deal-breaker..

MTV report that Warner Brothers are still planning a stand-alone movie for The Flash and have actually attached their third different director in a year to take the helm. Previously David Goyer had spent a couple of years working on the picture, only to be dropped in February and to be replaced by Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy... who it was claimed had a closer mindset that matched WB's idea for the character. When a JLA movie was annouced in the Summer, we all thought that a stand-alone Flash movie would be scrapped for a while, at least until JLA was complete. However that wouldn't seem to be the case. David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashes, Fred Claus) has been hired to direct The Flash, which will be a spin-off from JLA and feature the exact same actor and character from the 2009 tentpole movie. That character being Wally West, which pretty much confirms previous reports that the opening of JLA begins with the funeral of Barry Allen. And Dobkin gave us a hint at what the movie's tagline could be and I love it...

"You can€™t outrun yourself.€

A more psychological superhero movie? I love it. Dobkin has done action before with Shanghai Knights, which although not a good movie... it had some terrific stunt set pieces, one involving the great Jackie Chan which is no doubt the highlight of the two 'Shanghai' movies.

I don't know that much about Dobkin but taking on The Flash at least shows that he has some more ambition than staying in this Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy genre he has been floating in. Has he got enough directing chops to do this? Is he a comic book fan? Will The Flash be a strong enough character in JLA to warrant a spin-off? Will JLA even be a success to make it so? And who is playing The Flash? Why do WB keep going for comedy directors for their movie? Lots of questions still. With the casting of Wonder Woman all but confirmed, let's hope the others roll quite quickly this week.