How Warner Bros. Can Move Forward With The DC Extended Universe

It feels unreal to even think that Justice League is the lowest-grossing DCEU movie. It was meant to be the culmination of years of hard work and the granddaddy that reached the billion-dollar club. Instead, Warner Bros. is sweating and worried if it'll break even and not suffer any further humiliation. Regardless of your feelings towards the film, it's evident that the studio will need some time to introspect and rethink its future plans. It could be the end of the DCEU franchise as we know it, but it won't be the end of DC movies - that's for sure. So, what now? Undoubtedly, there will be a cooling-off period and we're likely to only hear of the future of DC films in 2018. That's okay, though, as it'll give the studio the necessary time to make decisions and stop rushing or reacting in haste. After all, we deserve only the best and Warner Bros. needs to stop throwing stuff against the wall and hoping it sticks. Being fans ourselves, we've pondered the different ways that DC's live-action films can move forward and came up with a few feasible solutions. Naturally, these are a matter of opinion, so if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comments section down below. With that said, let's have a look at how Warner Bros. can move forward with its next superhero movie slate. Soft Reboot This seems like the most obvious answer here. While many sites and commentators will have you believe that the DCEU is a complete disaster, that's an extreme (and largely untrue) thing to say. The franchise has done many things right (for example, Wonder Woman and Batman) and it has also had several missteps (such as the Joker and Steppenwolf). Does it need a complete overhaul to work? Unlikely. It certainly needs a tweak and alignment to not veer off track again though, but a full-fledged reboot might do more harm than good. You don't want to lose the bulk of the exceptional cast, nor do you want to start off with origin stories. A quiet behind-the-scenes shuffle and change of things might do the trick and get the franchise running smoothly again. Step forth Flashpoint to fix all the things that need fixing. It would be a shame to lose all the stuff that the DCEU has done right and there's still a lot that can be salvaged. Moreover, if we've learned anything from the past, it's that reboots are usually doomed to repeat the same mistakes as before. Much like with anything in life, we should learn from our gaffes and not do them again. Hopefully, WB takes that to heart. Rebranding The one thing that's taken a major hit is the DCEU's reputation. The box-office woes of Justice League are testament to this, since the film actually received better reviews than Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. A lot of the ordinary folk shied away from this team-up event because of the bad word of mouth of those two films and the supposed mess of the franchise. Is it fair to do this? Probably not, but life isn't fair and people will always make judgments based on reputation and perception. In order to rectify this reputational damage, a rebrand has to take place. DC Comics' latest branding is utilizing the DC Universe (DCU) moniker - moving away from Rebirth - and the movies could fall under this umbrella, too. With Zack Snyder gone as well (unfairly, he's the sacrificial lamb in all of this), it'll signify a major change in direction from the studio. Unfortunately, the DCEU's name is currently sullied and it'll take a lot to get it back up to where it should be. While many thought the goodwill had arrived with Wonder Woman, it crashed back down to zero after Justice League. Is it worthwhile to continue trying under this name, or under a different one now? Self-Contained Trilogies Building a shared cinematic universe isn't an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of time, preparation, adaptation, and perseverance to achieve. While Marvel is undoubtedly the king of this with its unparalleled MCU success, it's also decided to deemphasize the importance of the shared universe going forward. It's a good call, and DC seems to be following suit if you believe the announcements made earlier this year. It's time for the studios to realize that we just want high-quality movies featuring our favorite heroes at the end of the day. Give us good, self-contained trilogies like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series and we'll be more than happy. There's no need to overcomplicate things with all these tedious and rushed world-building exercises since they often favor setups over substance. Imagine if DC chose to do a trilogy about the Bat Family for example - how cool would that be? Thinking smaller here doesn't mean that the big team-ups are totally out of the question or forgotten. Instead, it makes these events more special when they do happen and not every other year for the sake of a 10-movie payoff. Justice League proved to everyone that putting Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman in one film doesn't equal success. Make DC Films Its Own Studio We hate to say it, but DC needs to copy the Marvel formula here. With Marvel Studios in place, Marvel has a say in how its movies are made. Kevin Feige is in charge and it's up to him and his team to make the best possible films, without having to beg and plead with a studio for anything. DC Films, on the other hand, is merely a production division under Warner Bros. All of the people need to report to WB and bash heads with execs for anything to happen (and sometimes that doesn't even work). While Marvel is making movies with one man calling the shots and having the vision, DC's output have been made by a committee, which is fairly evident in the patchy tone and editing of the films. It's time for DC to create its own studio and be responsible for its outputs. When too many cooks are in the kitchen, it's bound to get messy and loud. At the end of the day, the movie business is a business, but that doesn't mean that it has be devoid of passion. If WB lets go of the wheel and hands the keys to DC, there's more chance of a hit in the hands of the people who know and love the product than the bean counters who only care about their next quarterly bonus. Subscribe To One Vision Watching Justice League is seeing the vision of four people (Zack Snyder, Joss Whedon, Geoff Johns, and Kevin Tsujihara) smashed into one movie. It's obvious that these people thought this film was meant to be something different and their visions clashed in a catastrophic way. When there should've been an agreement from the get-go, Warner Bros. kept reacting to the backlash of the other DCEU movies and changing things at a whim. This will never work. In order to achieve a goal, there needs to be one common and united vision. Otherwise, people will be on different pages all the time and working towards their own aspirations. Heck, WB knew what Snyder wanted to do and approved it in the first place, so how can they be mad at him for doing what he did? Going forward, the studio needs to decide on what these films will be. Will they be dark, light, funny, or what? Sure, you can always change things up with a movie here and there, but there needs be some semblance of uniformity. If WB believes in giving its filmmakers complete carte blanche, then it must do so and not meddle when it feels like it. The truth is simple: If you're giving filmmakers complete autonomy, expect to have movies that aren't always popular (and that's okay because art is subjective). If you want the same level of success as the MCU's shared universe, look at Marvel's blueprint and copy it. Own Up To The Mistakes Now this is something that we don't think will happen, but still hold on to hope that it will. If Warner Bros. wants to get fans and critics back on its side, it'll do the hard thing and say sorry for the mistakes. It doesn't need to be a 10-page letter of all its shortcomings or misteps, but a simple apology of how it hasn't made the best possible decisions would go a long way to restoring confidence in the studio. Along with this apology would be a plan of how things will be rectified with the next batch of movies. No blaming of producers, directors, writers, or actors, but an acknowledgement of how the studio should do better and will do so in the future. It's not enough to restructure the people involved and remain silent about the studio's own failings since it's necessary for WB to own up to the mistakes on a corporate level, too. Let's be honest: many companies mess up and it's okay to do so. After all, to err is human. But to keep quiet and ignore things, such as Henry Cavill's horrid CGI lip, is just blatant disrespect to the fanbase. Justice League was evidently rushed, for whatever reasons, and every fan knows it could've - and should've - been better. We deserve so much more from Superman and co, and it's time that WB delivers what it promised us when the DCEU was first announced.