5. It's What The Current Team Wants
Poor Zack Snyder. He put all this time and effort into directing a Superman movie and all anyone wants to ask him about is the hypothetical Justice League movie. At every press junket, Snyder is asked the same question. "Is
Justice League next?" "Will you be directing
Justice League?" Can't we all just enjoy
Man of Steel before we worry about anything else? In recent interviews,
Snyder (and star
Henry Cavill) have said that before a Justice League film happens, they need to continue the Superman story they established in
Man of Steel. In the midst of everyone spouting wild speculation and rumors, Snyder and Cavill seem to be thinking logically and I'll dive deeper into their points later in this article. Out of all the potential DC films, a direct sequel to
Man of Steel seems to be the one that's a) most likely to happen and b) the one the current team wants to do. That second point is the most pertinent. When Snyder says things like "you need to get Superman further down the road," it sounds like his immediate concern is making another film about the Last Son of Krypton. It appears that the last thing on his mind is doing crossovers and things of that nature. The fact that the director and the star are being so candid about what they think the future should bring makes me believe that there is no overarching plan at the studio to bring several DC films to the screen a la Marvel Studios. If there's no plan, then they should just go forward with what they already have instead of rushing something and ruining it. The Superman franchise is set up and ready to go. When I wrote about the
issues Marvel Studios will face as they head into Phase 2, one of the points I addressed was maintaining great working relationships with your filmmakers. Now that
Man of Steel is a big hit for the studio, Snyder probably has some leeway at WB and the studio would be wise to keep him happy. If you have a winning formula, the last thing you want to do is change it. If the director wants to work on a sequel to his blockbuster first, the should let him do that. WB has a history of being a very hands-off studio and giving their filmmakers creative control over their projects. Remember, there was a seemingly endless four-year gap between
The Dark Knight and
The Dark Knight Rises (the entirety of Marvel's Phase I happened between Batman films, by the way). They very easily could have hired a new director to rush the film out for 2010, but they worked with Christopher Nolan and allowed him to do what he wanted to. The studio doesn't appear to be in a major rush when it comes to churning out DC films. If Snyder came to them and said he needed until 2016 to get the story right, they'd probably be OK with that. The most important thing is to keep your employees happy, especially when they're doing great things for you.