Inside DC's Confusing State, Massive 'Joker 2' Paydays Search for Their Kevin Feige

When the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery's David Zaslav spoke to investors on August 4, the very first question was about his decision, announced two days earlier, to cancel the release of the DC comic book adaptation "Batgirl", taking the production of HBO Max. (as well as "Scoob!: Holiday Haunt") as a tax cut instead. If Zaslav was hoping his answer might help calm the storm this choice has created across the industry, he seems to have done the opposite.

Zaslav went public with what had been reported and rumored for months: that the company had "restructured" to create a team with a "DC-only 10-year plan" that would be "similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger got on really well with [Marvel Studios chief] Kevin Feige at Disney."

But the executive, who took the reins of the company in April, did not reveal who would be on that team, nor did he acknowledge that Walter Hamada, the executive who has led the DC Films unit since 2018 , actually has a long-term plan for the DC Cinematic Universe and is in the process of putting it into action.

And while Zaslav's recently announced "reset" for DC seemed to dismiss the preparations of Hamada and his team, the lack of details and some mixed signals created an atmosphere of confusion - and rampant speculation - about the future of more than a dozen DC film and TV projects already underway.

As things stand, only one new DC feature project currently has the go-ahead post-merger: "Joker: Double Madness," which is slated to hit theaters in 2024. The sequel to the smash hit 2019's "Joker," which grossed $1.07 billion worldwide, has a much higher price tag than the first. costar Lady Gaga receives $10 million, and those salaries, combined with the cost of producing complicated musical sequences (although an insider points out that "Joker 2" sounds more like "A Star Is Born" than "In the Heights" ), means the sequel will cost around $150 million to produce.

It's still cheaper than most superhero movies, which often cost over $200 million, like "The Batman," for example, which grossed $770 million worldwide in a pandemic environment. Writer-director Matt Reeves is on track for a sequel starring Robert Pattinson, but the project remains in development and doesn't have a green light yet - any future movies are years away. Several other DC properties are in development as feature films, some for years - "Wonder Woman 3" (with Patty Jenkins directing), "Superman" (with Ta-Nehisi Coates writing), "Zatanna (with writing by Emerald Fennell) and “Static Shock” (with production by Michael B. Jordan) – but there have been no substantial updates on those films since the news broke. for the first time. (A Warner Bros. spokesperson declined to comment for this story.)

Meanwhile, the idea of ​​direct-to-streaming DC-branded movies seems to have been scrapped - or at least put in jeopardy - with the cancellation of "Batgirl." Under Jason Kilar, DC intended to introduce several lesser characters on HBO Max before later integrating them into feature films targeted for theatrical release. "Blue Beetle," which features the first Mexican-American superhero on the big screen, was originally part of that strategy, but even before Zaslav took over the reins, the film transitioned to a traditional release on a budget. of $100 million. It will now be released in theaters in 2023.

But "Batgirl" won't, after a disappointing showing of a "10-Week Director's Cut" led to lackluster test results. Insiders point out, however, that virtually every film is in poor shape at the start of post-production, and "Batgirl" was made to be watched on TV, not the big screen, so it lacked the kind of gargantuan set pieces. who could have goose his score. But attempting to expand the film into a big-screen proposition would have required reshoots, which Warner Bros. Discovery considered a waste of money.

And yet a standalone "Black Canary" movie, starring Jurnee Smollett reprising the lead role from 2020's "Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn," is still