Warner Bros. has officially confirmed that Justice League will be directed by Zack Snyder after Batman Vs Superman is released.
While it may feel like we’ve already had confirmation that a Justice League film had been set in motion, Warner Bros. has never officially confirmed that the film was in development.
It’s been reported that the Justice League release date has been set for 2017, most likely one year after Batman Vs Superman hits theaters in May if they’re fortunate enough not to endure any production delays.
Warner Bros. president of worldwide production Greg Silverman says that the studio plans to make a Justice League movie directly after Man of Steel’s sequel is completed.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the script is still in development, Silverman says, “It will be a further expansion of this universe [and] Superman Vs Batman will lead into Justice League.”
They were able to confirm that Man of Steel director Zack Snyder will be directing Justice League, which is something that has been discussed quite a bit since the financial success of his Superman adaptation Man of Steel.
With so many actors joining the cast of Batman Vs Superman, fans have wondered if WB might as well call their currently untitled Man of Steel sequel Justice League.
With Gal Gadot joining the film as Wonder Woman and more recently Ray Fisher joining the ensemble cast as Cyborg, it’s looking more like a Justice League film than a Man of Steel sequel.
Warner executives have also reportedly been in discussions about a Wonder Woman film as well. Since Jennifer Lawrence’s highly successful Hunger Games franchise, studios are ready to have their own female driven franchise.
If Gal Gadot ends up pulling off the character in Man of Steel’s sequel, they’ll undoubtedly be pushing to make her the star of her own franchise in an attempt to ride the train of having a strong female lead.
Sue Kroll, WB’s president of worldwide marketing says, “That is our hope. With the right script, that could be viable. The world is ready for her.”
The Justice League film will undoubtedly be compared to Marvel’s highly successful The Avengers, which pulled in $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office.
Although the films are similar in concept, the worlds are entirely different and more importantly Warner Bros. is going about creating it essentially the opposite of how Marvel has with solo films building up to superheroes finally joining together.
We can only hope that Warner Bros. is up to the task of creating a cohesive film out of this material and that the actors that sign on for these iconic roles are just as capable.
Until then, we’ll keep a close eye on the progression of the Justice League movie and hope that it turns out to be the right move for some of our favorite superheroes.
Superman Vs Batman, which remains a placeholder title, has its new release date set for May 6, 2016.