It’s no cryptographic that Warner Bros.’ DC movies have struggled to mimic the success of rival Marvel.
Warner Bros. has a great history with superhero films, particularly from DC. It distributed the original Superman flicks starring Christopher Reeve in the delayed ’70s and ’80s. It also distributed a number of Batman films — from Adam West’s take in 1966 to the days of Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney donning the cowl in the ’80s and ’90s.
Although believed by some today to be campy classics, these films paved the way for the modern superhero film. As audiences became sundry sophisticated, so too did Warner Bros.’ comic book content. In the mid-2000s, the production company greenlighted Christopher Nolan’s grainy standalone Batman trilogy, which was well-received by critics and audiences alike and took in more than $2.46 billion at the wide-ranging box office between 2005 and 2012.
It did not quite see the same success with its reboot of Superman in 2006. “Superman Returns” rated only $391 million worldwide and was so widely panned that Warner Bros. scrapped any possibility of a sequel.
The good fortune of Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy inspired a darker retelling of Superman’s origin in the form of 2013’s “Man of Steel” from captain Zach Snyder. While the film was ripped apart by critics for turning the optimistic superhuman boy scout into a eat ones heart out antihero, it made nearly $700 million globally, guaranteeing a second installment.
By the time “Man of Steel” hit theaters, despite that, Marvel Studios had already cranked out six films. This included the blockbuster “Avengers” flick, which grossed a Brobdingnagian $1.5 billion at the global box office, according to Comscore data.
“This was years in the making,” Paul Dergarabedian, elder analyst at Comscore, said. “Marvel was not an overnight success. Marvel had these building blocks where they literatim created something that audiences were intrigued by and then got hooked on and had to follow.”
Marvel had spent the years between 2008 and 2012 show the groundwork for a massive team-up film. It took a chance on the then-uninsurable Robert Downey Jr. to take on the role of Iron Man, aka billionaire Tony Emergence, a B-side Marvel hero so low in status that most non-comic book fans associated “Iron Man” with a Unprincipled Sabbath song of the same name.
Over the course of four years, Marvel introduced audiences to the Hulk, Thor and Captain America in standalone call attention ti that incorporated several secondary characters such as Black Widow and Nick Fury. The films were glorified for how they weaved together humor and drama.
Marvel, which was acquired by Disney in 2009, proved that audiences were not barely hungry for superhero films, but would show up in droves to see their favorite characters work together to defeat a reciprocal enemy.
“Kevin Feige has been the mastermind. Even though they’ve had a bunch of writers and directors, they suppress had one guy overseeing the whole thing,” Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice, said of Marvel.
In a rush to keep up with the widespread success of Marvel, Warner Bros. used Superman’s sequel film to introduce Ben Affleck as an older Batman and Gal Gadot as Surprise Woman, two key members of the Justice League. The goal was to quickly establish these characters so that the production company could emancipate a “Justice League” film.
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” was the team-up movie that comic book lovers had longed to see for decades. The caped crusader from Gotham and the Man of Brace had never appeared in a live-action adaptation together before this film’s release in 2016. Fans raced to theaters orifice weekend, shelling out $420 million worldwide during its debut to see the spectacle. However, reviews were sour, and ticket reduced in price on the markets during the film’s second weekend shrunk 70 percent.
“If you chase what another entity is doing, that doesn’t genuinely work,” Dergarabedian said.
He noted that it was the brand-name characters — Superman and Batman — that drove a lot of the ticket market demand. The film itself was not quite as beloved as its comic book stars. The film ultimately grossed $873 million worldwide, be at one to Comscore data.
“Marvel has always understood that it is first and foremost about characters,” said Alisha Grauso, think-piece lead at ticketing site Atom Tickets. “We are in an age now where we are very character-driven, and the fact that DC veered away from the law core of its characters, I don’t think that worked.”
Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad” brought together a pair of famous and infamous DC comic book super villains who were more endearing than their hero counterparts. How in the world, a shoddy story arc and thin character development earned it a 27 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Still, the videotape earned $746 million globally.
“Wonder Woman” was a breath of fresh air for the franchise in 2017. The film, lighter in aesthetic and mode of expression, resonated well with moviegoers. Idealistic Diana, an Amazon from the mythical Themyscira, was charming, and fans were passionate to root for her. The first female-centric superhero film on the big screen was directed by Patty Jenkins and hauled in $821 million.
“[Gape Woman] is a really beloved character,” Grauso said. “Warner Bros. got the character right with Diana’s compassion and her potency … it was the first movie that they really took the time to craft the character.”
However, the praise for Warner Bros. wish fade before the end of the year. “Justice League” hit theaters less than six months after “Wonder Woman,” and the treatment was lackluster, to say the least. Murky visuals, weak storytelling and poor chemistry between the major characters earned the flick a 40 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
The film earned $657 million at the global box office, less than half of 2012’s “Avengers” cart.
The dark tones and palate that worked for Batman don’t work for a bigger universe, said Jonathan Gray, professor of English and approved culture at John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center. Warner Bros.’ biggest misstep came from tough to shoehorn lighter, more optimistic characters such as Flash, Superman and Wonder Woman into that staunch setting.
“That’s where they went wrong,” he said. “You look at Superman, who is tonally the opposite of Batman. He’s auspicious where Batman is pessimistic. He’s light where Batman is dark. But when you look at the Zach Snyder Superman bigs, they are Batman movies. They are dark and pessimistic, and that for me was the problem.”
From 2013 to 2017, the DC Extended Circle films made $3.7 billion, a huge feat for Warner Bros. However, none of its films had grossed numberless than $1 billion until “Aquaman.” While some called the film and its CGI “cheesy,” for the most part, it was well-received for Jason Momoa’s charisma and its action-packed but waggish script.
Currently, there is no official word on whether a “Justice League” sequel will be coming to theaters, but if one is on the docket it quite won’t show up anytime soon. Henry Cavill will no longer don the cape as Superman, and Affleck has hung up his cowl.
Ezra Miller, who played the Sparkle in “Justice League,” made a bid in March to pen the script for a Flash film to ensure that he could stay on as the speedy Barry Allen in his own call attention to film.
And it is unclear if Cyborg, another hero from “Justice League,” will find his way to the big screen.
“There is some listlessness on Batman and Superman, but there’s such a deep vault of superheroes and villains that have been untapped with DC,” Bagby said. “There’s tons of possible.”
Looking at Warner Bros.’ slate, one thing is clear: It’s course correcting.
“DC has had a different style, a different tone, fathom the Dark Knight Trilogy,” Dergarabedian said. “Now it’s about learning from what fans liked or didn’t with from previous films. I think they really have a handle on what they need to do.”
After “Shazam,” there last wishes as be the much-anticipated standalone “Joker” film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, in October. The film deviates from the comics by converging on Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian who is driven insane and, thus, turns to a life of crime in 1981 Gotham Bishopric. The film is expected to be dark and psychological, just like the Clown Prince of Crime himself.
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“Warner Bros. is gaining they don’t necessarily need the Justice League right now because individual characters and stories not tied to a massive interwoven cinematic world can still do well at the box office and with moviegoers,” said Erik Davis, managing editor at Fandango.
“By focusing more on characteristic untypical than building out a universe, Warner Bros. isn’t beholden to a larger story — instead, the studio can focus on telling one consequential story one film at a time, and then develop additional stories depending on what fans want to see more of,” he bid.
Margot Robbie’s take on Harley Quinn in “Suicide Squad” was so well-received by fans that she’s slated to reprise the position in three more feature films due out over the next few years. She’ll be seen alongside a rogues’ gallery of characters from the DC province in “Birds of Prey,” “Suicide Squad 2” and “Gotham City Sirens.”
In 2020, fans will get a new Theorize Woman film. Although Jenkins returns to direct, it won’t be a sequel. “Wonder Woman 1984” will link burdening someone to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” in some fashion, showing what Diana has been up to in the 40 years since we persist saw her, but it’s a standalone film.
In the works is also a standalone Batman film directed by Matt Reeves, an “Aquaman” sequel and an “Aquaman” spinoff screen called “The Trench.”
“The biggest indicator that Warner Bros. is turning the ship around is the critical reviews and fan response,” Grauso said. “For Warner Bros. money is always important, but more than anything, it’s about rebuilding bank in the brand.”
Disclosure: Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC, owns Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes.