{"id":50679,"date":"2022-08-05T18:57:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T22:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=50679"},"modified":"2022-08-05T15:38:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T19:38:35","slug":"warner-brothers-discovery-new-boss-same-as-old-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2022\/08\/05\/warner-brothers-discovery-new-boss-same-as-old-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner Brothers Discovery: Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Warner<\/a>
Image via Warner Brothers Discovery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February of 1984, Bill Sarnoff, one of the heads of Warner Communications publishing arm, contacted Marvel Comics with an offer. DC Comics was losing loads of money for Warners, and Sarnoff called Marvel, who was very financially successful at the time, to see if they wanted take over publishing of DC characters<\/a> such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It would be a licensing agreement, Marvel wouldn’t own Superman, but it would allow Warners to get money from the comics without the expense of making them. An anti-trust suit against Marvel kept this arrangement from happening.<\/p>\n

I have a modest proposal. I suggest that instead of that 10 year plan Warner Brothers Discovery announce at that earnings call on Thursday, they instead get Marvel Studios on the phone. I recommend that they try to throw together a similar agreement for the films based on the DC Comics characters. Let a studio that knows what it is doing give the DC characters the treatment they deserve because it is obvious that Warners have no idea what to do with their characters.<\/p>\n

\"Batgirl\"
Image via Warner Bros.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Obviously, I say this after the recent news of Warner Brothers Discovery shelving the nearly-completed<\/a> Batgirl <\/strong>set the world on fire. But this is just the latest of brain-dead, short-sighted maneuvers Warner Brothers have made in regards to their DC Comics slate of films. New owners Discovery are simply carrying on in the traditions of previous owners of the studio.<\/p>\n

Warner Brothers have always had a blind spot when it came to their DC Comics films. The studio that delivered such classics as Casablanca<\/strong>, The Exorcist <\/strong>and The Shining<\/strong> seems clinically unable to consistently deliver quality DC Comics films. The good films seem to happen almost by accident, and the bad films seem to outnumber them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image via Warner Brothers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are many reasons why DC Comics films fail. I’ve listed<\/a> many of them<\/a>. But there is a historical trend when it comes to DC Comics Films. Time and time again, Warners has proven that it doesn’t fully understand what makes its comic book films successful. It credits their success to usually one reason and usually tries to apply that less than nuanced reason to future comic book films.<\/p>\n

Case in point: The Richard Donner Superman <\/strong>films and Tim Burton Batman <\/strong>films were great successes. Both were film makers with strong vision who created a film that stayed true to the character while being good movies as well. Then both creators left and both franchises devolved into camp showcases.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image via Warner Brothers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why? Because the last major foray by a DC Comics character into another media was the 1966 Batman <\/strong>TV show, an unmitigated camp fest. But instead of examining that show and seeing that the popularity of its camp presentation tied closely the Pop Art movement of the day, Warners read it as “comic fans love camp” and we then got Superman dealing with Richard Pryor and Batman paying off damages with his Bat Credit Card.<\/p>\n

And lest we forget that Warners was looking in a campy direction before either Donner or Burton signed on. The original script for Superman\u00a0<\/strong>had a tone more similar to the\u00a0Batman\u00a0<\/strong>TV series than what we saw on the screen, and the original script for\u00a0Batman\u00a0<\/strong>was so campy that Bill Murray was being considered for Batman and Eddie Murphy for Robin.<\/p>\n

It took a long time for Warners to ween itself away from believing that camp was the way to go. Do you remember that one of the first treatments for the Green Lantern\u00a0<\/strong> film was an all-out comedy with Jack Black eyed as the lead? It wasn’t until Christopher Nolan took a shot at Batman that Warners’ philosophy changed.<\/p>\n

Nolan’s Batman trilogy–Batman Begins<\/strong>, The Dark Knight<\/strong> and The Dark Knight Rises<\/strong>–were a grounded, psychological exploration of the Dark Knight Detective, one which introduced elements of the comic into film mythos. It was also dark and gritty. It was this latter quality was all that Warner Brothers focused on.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Image via Warner Brothers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the Green Lantern <\/strong>film bombed, group president Jeff Robinov knew how to fix it for the sequel–make it grittier<\/a>. We never did get that Green Lantern <\/strong>sequel, but Robinov and Warners applied that “darker is better” philosophy to its Superman reboot, Man of Steel<\/strong>, and the DC Extended Universe it spawned. We now got a mopey Superman, constantly questioning his place in the world. We have Pa Kent telling Clark that he should have let a bus full of kids die to protect his identity. We have Superman break the neck of his enemy. And we had a Batman who killed indiscriminately as he worked towards his ultimate goal of stabbing Superman through the heart with a kryptonite lance.<\/p>\n

None of these changes added more depth or meaning to the characters. On the contrary, it presented a version of the character opposite to those that fans grew to know and love. This alienated many in the films’ core audience. Not enough to keep the films from making money, but enough that the grosses were seen as disappointing to Warners.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Leslie Grace (@lesliegrace)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n