I remember, back in the good old days, that a film actually had to come out to have a possible sequel go into production. Not anymore.

Deadline is reporting that a sequel to Man of Steel, which opens this week, is being planned, that both Zach Snyder and David S. Goyer will be back, and that Goyer will also write a Justice League movie, regardless of whether or not we will ever see it.

The last time I can recall that Warners greenlit a superhero movie sequel before the proceeds were tallied was for Green Lantern. That film underperformed at the box office and we are still waiting for a sequel. And that film’s budget was $25 million less than Man of Steel‘s. Let’s hope Superman lives up to his projections better than GL did.

You can take a lot of things from Warner Brothers’ President Jeff Robinov’s talk with Entertainment Weekly for their Summer Preview issue, which should hit subscriber’s mailboxes today and newsstands on Monday, but the main thing we’re taking from the interview is that we should never trust scoop from Latino Review’s El Mayimbe ever again.

Back in the beginning of March, El Mayimbe once again broke out the camcorder and gave us a video blog detailing some hot scoop regarding the tumultuous Justice League film. Unfortunately, that video has been taken down (surprise, surprise), but we reported on the contents of it here. Mayimbe stated emphatically that Christopher Nolan would be taking over a Joss Whedon-like supervisory role with Warner’s DC Comics films, that Zack Snyder would be on board as producer if not director for Justice League and that Christian Bale would be returning to the film as Batman.

Entertainment Weekly, which is part of the same Time Warner media conglomerate that Warner Brothers is, asked Robinov point blank about the rumor:

However, Robinov was unequivocal when asked if the rumor is true that Nolan will produce aJustice League movie, and bring Christian Bale back with him: “No, no it’s not.” (Nolan’s reps, who have previously declined to comment on that rumor, also confirmed Robinov’s statement and told EW that he definitely wasn’t involved with Justice League. Nolan is currently busy prepping his sci-fi film Interstellar.)

I’m sure Mayimbe will say these denials is just a smokescreen by the studio to throw people off the scent of his rumor. But Nolan is prepping Interstellar, and casting has already begun. It’s not logical that the director can have as hands on a role on the DC Comics film franchises that El Mayimbe claims while directing a new film at the same time, especially with a 2015 target date for the Justice League film.

This has come at the end of fairly bad stretch for El Mayimbe. How bad? Let’s roll out the “El Mayimbe Roll Call of Shame!”

•  June 5, 2012: El Mayimbe claims that four sources have told him that Black Panther will be the second film released by Marvel in 2014. We all know now that it is Guardians of the Galaxy.
• December 3, 2012: States Darkseid will be the villain in Justice League. And…
• December 13, 2012: States the movie will be based on three particular issues of the Justice League of America comic book. And…
• January 24, 2013: That the JL line-up will consist of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash. This version of the film was eventually scrapped, making these three rumors moot.
• January 29, 2013: Theorizes that Tony Stark will be headed into space at the end of Iron Man 3 based on a armor that showed up in a toy design. This has yet to be rejected, but as recent ads for the film show us, the armor could simply be part of the armor armada that Stark calls in during that big battle scene. UPDATE: We now know this one isn’t true either.
• February 4, 2013: A big one, where El Mayimbe states that Planet Hulk and World War Hulk will be the framework for Marvel’s Phase II and Phase III. This was shot down by Ain’t It Cool News and Joss Whedon. Mayimbe holds on to the idea that his version is still true, and gives reasons here.
• February 15, 2013: States Jason Momoa was offered the part of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. The part went to Dave Bautista. El Mayimbe states Momoa priced himself out of the role.
• March 3, 2013: The Nolan/Justice League thing we are talking about today.
• April 3, 2013: States the Controller will be a henchman for Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy. Rumor yet to be refuted.
• April 8, 2013: Stated Evil Dead director Fede Alvarez is developing a film for Marvel, most likely Doctor Strange. Rumor yet to be refuted.

El Mayimbe has become the film rumor version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. And like that fable, there will quickly come a time when film sites like us will simply refuse to listen to him anymore.

Why is he so wrong so often? Is it like he wants us to believe, that he is right and the studios are lying just to make him look bad? Dubious. Are the studios changing their plans after lets the cat out of the bag? Even more dubious. Or are his sources at Marvel and Warner Brothers deliberately feeding him incorrect information just to discredit him? That seems more likely.

The truth will come out in the coming months and years. Maybe, flying in the face of all logic and all denials, El Mayimbe’s rumors will come true. We’ll see. But if that happens, I’ll be the first to apologize for being wrong, something El Mayimbe is reticent to do.

Well, now that that’s over, let’s go back to the Robinov interview. The other big news from the interview is that Robinov states that there will be an announcement coming in the next few weeks about Warner’s plans for films based on the DC characters, including what films they will be making. My guess this would come after The Man of Steel debuts on June 14th. No better time than than after a big weekend for your tentpole film to tell us where you’ll be going from there.

Robinov also states that starting with The Man of Steel and going forward all the DC films will not be standalone films but be open to be part of a shared universe. That goes for the new Batman films as well.

Be sure to check out this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly for more.

El Mayimbe is like an bad girlfriend. She treats you wrong again and again, yet you feel compelled to believe her over and over again because what she tells you is so sweet.

The often wrong Latino Review reporter is back again, this time with big scoop from the DC Comics film franchise. Scoop so big that El Mayimbe broke out the video camera, found a location somewhat near DC’s Manhattan headquarters, and filmed another video blog about it (Which you can see embedded below).

For those of you who do not have the time nor inclination to watch a video right now, let me give you the Reader’s Digest version of what El Mayimbe said  He states that since Warner Brothers is so impressed with his Batman trilogy and the advance buzz from The Man of Steel, the studio has tapped Christopher Nolan to be the Joss Whedon/J.J. Abrams-esque creative overlord for all of Warner’s DC properties. El Mayimbe also says that Zack Snyder will be joining Nolan’s team as least as a producer, quite possibly as the director of Justice League film. And, personally, what I consider the biggest scoop of all, Christian Bale will be returning as Batman for wherever the DC heroes go in the future.

Here is the video. I do recommend that you find time to watch it, as El Mayimbe comes off as the high school jock trying to convince the class nerd that the head cheerleader has a crush on the geek. He used a similar hard sell while giving us the “Planet Hulk”scoop. We’ve seen how that worked out.

Now is the point in the post, as I always do with scoop from this source, where I say that El Mayimbe does not have all that good a run in spreading accurate rumors. He was wrong when he said that Black Panther was going to be coming from Marvel in 2014, he was wrong when he said Jason Momoa was a lock for Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, and he was wrong when he said Marvel’s Phase III would be based on Planet Hulk and World War Hulk.

He lists all the DC rumors he got right in the post presenting the video blog. However, it is only fair to note that the freshest of those rumors is Three years old. He can only get an incomplete on his most recent DC related rumors–that Darkseid would be the villain, that the story would be taken from Justice League of America  #183-185, and that there would only be five main characters in the film–because that version of the script was apparently scrapped and will never come to pass.

El Mayimbe’s rumors get so much play because they are the perfect mix of wish fulfillment and plausibility. Having Nolan head up Warners’ superhero output makes sense. Having Christian Bale come back would be a film fan’s dream come true. But if Nolan was being tapped for this, wouldn’t we have heard it way before now? Wouldn’t it be in Warners’ best interest to have it become official as quickly as possible to cut into the Abrams news? Would they really let the negotiations lag enough so El Mayimbe could catch wind of it?

I don’t know. It is a developing situation, and we’ll see if El Mayimbe finally got one right soon enough.

Do you ever have a friend who get in a relationship with a certain someone else, a relationship that is hot and heavy and quickly becomes serious? It even gets to the point where a date is set, a venue is picked out and flower girl is chosen, only to have it all get cancelled at the last minute? You think its all over between the couple but a few years later they start up again with a whirlwind of passion and you think that this time the relationship will finally be consummated only to have the friend get cold feet once again.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Warner Brothers and the Justice League film.

Devin Faraci over at Badass Digest  is quoting sources that Will Beall’s script for the Justice League film has been scrapped because it was too horrible for words. This follows on the heels the rumor that Warners was waiting to see how The Man of Steel did at the box office before going ahead with the film.

The poor script was listed as a reason why the project was having a hard time finding a director. It makes me wonder how the project could have gotten this far if the script was that bad.

This isn’t the first time script problems derailed a Justice League film. Back in 2007, George Miller got so far along in the development process that locations were scouted, costume designers hired, and the casting process had begun. However, the script needed tweaking and fixes to it were complicated by the Writer’s Guild Strike. While waiting for that to be resolved, Warners changed their mind to the approach to the film, and Miller’s version of it was dead in the water.

The trashing of Beall’s script throws this latest go round into a state of flux. They will have to go back to square one with the script, which makes the 2015 release date highly unlikely.

More on this as it develops.

Warner Brothers is hedging its bets when it comes to jumping into the deep end of the comic book adaptation pool with their planned Justice League film. The studio has placed the project on hold until it sees how their upcoming Superman film Man Of Steel does at the box office.

Word of this is actually buried deep in a Variety piece about the state of the studio following the appointment of a new CEO for Warner Brothers Entertainment over studio president Jeff Robinov.

Further out, the studio’s planning a “Justice League” tentpole — encompassing DC Comics mainstays Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and the Green Lantern — on the order of Marvel’s “The Avengers.” Will Beall is scripting but no director has been attached yet.

Stakes are high for “Man of Steel.” Other than Nolan’s Batpics, Warners has not been able to effectively exploit the DC library. Its 2011 “Green Lantern” underperformed, and a “Justice League” film wouldn’t likely be in theaters before 2015, as Warner’s top brass has indicated that they are awaiting the results of “Man of Steel,” which opens June 14, before moving further ahead.

Presumably, this means that the hunt for a director for the project has been suspended, and until that is resumed and completed, no further casting or pre-production work can be done.

Frustrating to be sure, but perhaps a bit understandable if one just looks strictly at the balance sheet. Currently, the studio has a number of high profile, and high budgeted, films in the pipeline. In addition to Man Of Steel, this year sees Bryan Singer’s fairy tale redux Jack The Giant Killer, Guillermo del Toro’s giant robots and monsters action fest Pacific Rim and the second of the three installments of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films. Next year brings the third Hobbit film, Doug Liman’s science-fiction war film All You Need Is Kill and the Lego movie.

But personally, I think that the studio is just wasting valuable time. While everything released so far about Man Of Steel has not been met with universal acclaim, there is still an overall vibe of positive anticipation for the film. And whether or not that it will actually have a direct connection to Justice League, I think that people are anxious to see Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more team up the same way that they got to see Marvel’s superheroes do in The Avengers. I know that I am. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too much longer.

Big seven? You’ll be lucky to get the big five.

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review says he has exclusive scoop on what heroes will make up the film version of the Justice League in 2015:

• Superman
• Batman
• Wonder Woman
• Green Lantern
• The Flash

Now would be the time when we point out, as we always do, that El Mayimbe is not always accurate. But this line-up certainly does make sense. You have DC’s “trinity” with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, you have a DC hero who already received his own film in Green Lantern, and you have a hero who has had his own TV show and has had a film in development for years in The Flash. There’s a lot of recognition by the casual fan to be had there.

For those of you hoping that Martian Manhunter and/or Aquaman would be in the cast, well, you might get one or both of the characters in a cameo. And Hawkman fans? El Mayimbe’s source says there is a slight chance, a slight chance, that the Winged Warrior will also get a cameo.

Again, this is all rumor. The project doesn’t even have a director yet. So, take this all with a big grain of salt.

His work in The Dark Knight Rises appears to have made Joseph Gordon-Levitt stand out on the comic book film rumor mill. First, there was the rumor that he was going to play Batman in Justice League, now rumor has it that he is in the mix for a starring role for a Marvel Studios film.

Deadline is reporting that Gordon-Levitt has been “added to the list” of actors considered for the role of Peter Quill, the Star-Lord in Marvel’s new franchise, Guardians of the Galaxy. 

The website doesn’t go much further into it than that. It is unknown if Gordon-Levitt signed a screen test deal like Lee Pace, Joel Edgerton and other actors did, is just on a wish list, or has actually signed on for the role. But Deadline insists he’s in the mix in some way.

Gordon-Levitt is coming off a busy 2012 that has raised his profile in a big way. He had prominent supporting roles in blockbusters such as Lincoln and the aforementioned The Dark Knight Rises and leads in Looper and Premium Rush. 2013 has his writing and directorial feature debut with Don Juan’s Addiction, set to debut at Sundance later this month.

Guardians of the Galaxy is set to hit theaters on August 1, 2014.

It is rather early in the game to know exactly what Warner Brothers has planned for their announced Justice League film featuring a team up of some of corporate sibling DC Comics’ biggest superheroes. Currently Will Beall is working on a screenplay. There are some rumors as to who may be the villain and where the plot may be originating. There has been some talk as to what other films may or may not connect to Justice League in order to form a bigger franchise, a la Marvel Studios’ comic book films. But beyond that, there has been no concrete news surrounding the project.

So what’s the latest rumor then? Well, Cosmic Book News reportedly heard from an anonymous source within DC Entertainment who supplied them with a rundown of which heroes will make up the team.

• Superman is essentially the same character from Man of Steel, and Zack Snyder is consulting regarding the writing of the character.
• Batman: The strategist of the group. Batman doesn’t really want to be involved with these super powered beings he considers too powerful. Easily the most complex written.
• Wonder Woman: She has only been in man’s world a few short months. The Wonder Woman script Michael Goldenberg is developing will be set before the Justice League movie.
• Green Lantern: Will be Ryan Reynold’s character from the Green Lantern movie, but will be freshly written with a more serious tone.
• Flash: The most popular hero in civilian eyes who loves media attention, but when called upon is very serious.
• Martian Manhunter: Alien who has lived on Earth in secret for over a hundred years who has knowledge of Darkseid and his reign.
• Aquaman: Will be the King of Atlantis who has a key role in the film.
• There will also be a heavy military presence in the film which in future rewrites could include characters featured in Man of Steel or even Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) of which neither are included in the first draft.
• Alfred Pennyworth is in the film in a minor appearance.
• Lois Lane is also in the film in a cameo.
• Darkseid’s Elite will be featured who go up against the Justice League early on in the film.

Not surprisingly, it looks like the traditional “Big Seven” lineup of the League. What is surprising is that it looks like the studio is the approaches the studio is reportedly taking for some of the characters. While it has been assumed that the film’s iteration of Superman might be carried over from this summer’s Man Of Steel, I am surprised to see that, even with a rewrite, they are going with Green Lantern as already established in the Ryan Reynold’s film of 2011.

Of course, the whole report could be hokum but even if it is true things could still change as it continues to move through development. Taking a wait and see attitude towards this news is probably the best course. We probably won’t get a much better idea as to the cast of heroes until casting starts sometime after Warners secures a director for the film.

Justice League is scheduled for a 2015 release.

Latino Review’s El Mayimbe’s rumors don’t always come true, but they are always too juicy to completely ignore.

Today the blogger came up with the scoop that Will Beale’s script for Justice League is taken from a very specific source material–issues 183, 184 and 185 of the Justice League of America , originally published in 1980.

Those issues were another installment of the yearly team-up the group had with their World War II-era counterparts, the Justice Society of America. Since often times these team-ups involved a third party, both teams joined together with the Jack Kirby created New Gods to fight against plot by New Gods baddie Darkseid to destroy the Earth and put his homeworld, Apokolips, in its place.

Fans of DC’s Golden Age heroes or the then-JLA member Firestorm might be letting of a little “hooray” that their favorite characters might be introduced on the screen, I’d like to remind you that while the Batman films done by Christopher Nolan often introduced elements and plot points taken directly from the comic books, none of them adapted the source material point for point. While us getting a look at the New Gods on the big screen seems logical due to their close connection with Darkseid, I’d imagine the Justice League lineup will feature DC’s most iconic characters and, since there will be quite a number of characters being introduced, the JSA will not be making the trip to the big screen.

If you wish to read these issues, they were recently collected with other JLA/JSA team-ups in the Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 5  trade paperback, on sale at better comic book shops and bookstores everywhere or you can buy it here..

Back in May, I couldn’t wait to write this column. I started this yearly recap of comic book films mainly as a counterpoint to the number of articles in the mainstream media bemoaning the fact that comic book films exist at all and the journalists who are trying to speed up them going out of favor.

So, when The Avengers broke big, setting all sorts of box office records and becoming not only the highest grossing film of the year, but also the third highest grossing film of all time, I thought 2012 was going to turn out to be one of the best years for comic book films in their entire history.

And it was. But it was also one of the worst years as well.

In the early morning hours of Friday, July 20, James Eagan Holmes entered the crowded Theater 9 of the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora, Colorado. The theater was full of fans eager to be the first to see The Dark Knight Rises, the last film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. They would become victims of one of the most violent crimes in recorded history. Holmes, dressed in armored clothing and carry numerous firearms with him, opened fire in that crowded theater. By the time shooting had stopped, 58 people would be injured, and 12 people would be killed.

It is impossible to talk about the year in film in any context without talking about the Aurora shootings. The joy of seeing a film in a crowded theaters full of your fellow fans is forever tainted. This type of exuberant film fan became prey that night.

Now, four months on, it is still easy to look back on that night and see only the darkest part of human nature. An evil man methodically came up with a way to kill as many people as he could. It doesn’t get more sinister than that.

But I found that when great darkness shows its face to the world, there is always a bright and shining light that rises up to greet it. It’s natural to focus on Holmes and his despicable acts. But I also look towards the example of Matt McQuinn, who shielded the bodies of his girlfriend and brother with his own, sacrificing his life to save theirs. I look to Jarell Brooks, a young man who was wounded getting a woman and her two small children, people he didn’t know, to safety. I look to Emma Goos, who stayed in the theater to tend to the wounds of an injured victim while the shooting was going on. I look to All C’s Comics Collectibles, the Aurora comic shop that started the Aurora Rises charity to help benefit the victim’s and their families and I look to the numerous comic artists and writers that helped make that charity an ongoing endeavor  I also look to Christian Bale, who, on his own with no fanfare and publicists in tow, visited the Aurora area after to shootings to give his fans whatever comfort he could.

Yes, the Aurora shooting gave us a glimpse of the worst that humanity had to offer, but it also gave us a glimpse of the best that humanity has to offer as well. And while we filmgoers will never be free of the paranoia that night in July caused (especially when just two weeks ago a plot to do a similar shooting in Missouri during a showing of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 was, thankfully, stopped before it could be put into fruition), we should never let that fear stop us from doing the things we enjoy. We might never be able to stop bad things from happening, but we can always be there to help each other out when they do.

Now that I’ve said what I needed to say on that, let’s go back to the frivolous world of comic book films.

List taken from BoxOfficeMojo.com (http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2012&p=.htm)

As of last night, comic book adaptations hold three of the top five spots on the yearly highest grossing films list. I’m sure Skyfall and the aforementioned Breaking Dawn, Part 2 might have some say if The Amazing Spider-Man stays in the Top 5, but even if it does fall out, we will have three comic book adaptations in the Top 10. And that has never happened. The closest we came to that was in 2008 when The Dark Knight and Iron Man were one and two and the original superhero comedy Hancock was number four. Add to that the fact that a sequel to another comic book adaptation, Men in Black 3, was #11 this year and you have a very good year for the comic book film.

Even Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a film with a well-deserved 18% fresh over at Rotten Tomatoes and which debuted an underwhelming third in its opening weekend was able to make over $132 million worldwide against a $57 million dollar budget. Yes, I am a fan of comic book movies and even I am stunned by that fact. That’s why Nicolas Cage keeps on getting to make movies.

The only true flop of this year’s six comic book adaptations was Dredd, whose $30,931,946 worldwide take was considerably less than its $50 million budget. I can only assume that the Sylvester Stallone version killed just about any interest anybody might have had in the character, which was a shame. I found the film a faithful adaptation of the original source material which held up well as a film on its own.

As lucrative as this year was for the comic book film, it is a year in flux. The Avengers marked the end of the first phase of Marvel’s film slate, and Phase 2 begins next year with Iron Man 3 in May and Thor: The Dark World in November. It will be interesting if they can carry any Avengers momentum over into those releases, or will fans force the studio to prove itself all over again.

And The Dark Knight Rises closes the Nolan era on DC/Warners’ Batman property. They start anew with their Superman franchise with The Man of Steel in June. There’s a lot riding on this new take on the character, as Warners is looking to not only get a franchise to replace Nolan’s Batman films on their docket, but also potentially use the film as a springboard into their planned Justice League film and to bring other DC comic heroes to the big screen.

In addition to those three films, there are at least nine other comic book adaptations scheduled for next year, including Hugh Jackman returning as Logan in The Wolverine, sequels to Red, Kick-Ass,300 and Sin City, and properties from publishers such as Dark Horse, Boom! and other smaller companies. 2012 proved that people still are willing to go to see comic book films. However, odds are that not all of the films released next year will be great successes, so we can expect the mainstream doubters to start the chorus of the comic book films doom next year. But for now, let’s bask in the highs the comic book film rose to, and take a moment to contemplate the lowest lows they experienced this year.