What Warner Bros. took from "The Dark Knight"...

Adam Lenhardt · 08-22-2008, 12:42 PM

...is apparently to try to make every DC superhero film as pitch black dark at The Dark Knight. From the Wall Street Journal:

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters.

Just what we need, an ultra-dark and angry Superman terrorizing the streets of Metropolis.

Batman and maybe Green Arrow are about the only characters dark enough for that treatment to really work. If anything, Superman Returns was already to dark and brooding.

Sean Laughter · 08-22-2008, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

...is apparently to try to make every DC superhero film as pitch black dark at The Dark Knight. From the Wall Street Journal:

Like the recent Batman sequel -- which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far -- Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as "The Dark Knight." Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.' DC properties. "We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters.

Just what we need, an ultra-dark and angry Superman terrorizing the streets of Metropolis.

Batman and maybe Green Arrow are about the only characters dark enough for that treatment to really work. If anything, Superman Returns was already to dark and brooding.

Meh, Superman Returns wasn't so much dark and brooding as slow and played out. Done as an actual reboot instead of keeping it "saddled" to the Donner style would have done wonders. Don't get me wrong, the originals are great but after that amount of time and with a completely different cast, the last thing I think that was helpful was staying tied to the original film.

In any case, yeah, Dark Knight's mood is only appropriate to characters for which it works. I wish these studios would learn to get people to develop this material that are good with it and know the characters and just let them do something appropriate for the character, rather than try to shoe-horn it into something else.

Chuck Mayer · 08-22-2008, 01:51 PM

Completely agree with Adam. Superman needs to be sunny and optimistic...that is the character. I agree Green Arrow could be gritty, but Green Lantern???

"Hey, the brown horse won the Derby! I want ALL browns next year!"

Iron Man had the right tone...for Iron Man. Spidey 2 had the right tone...for Spidey. X-Men 2 has the right tone...for the X-Men.

Depressing and short-sighted news.

Mark Hawley · 08-22-2008, 02:35 PM

Maybe they made a deal with the Devil to have TDK become such a huge success and this it the way the Devil comes to collect, by making execs severely mismanage and ruin future franchises.

Besids wasn't SR dark enough? I mean it wasn't dark dark but it was full of "gee, ain't it terrible being a superhero!" brooding.

TravisR · 08-22-2008, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck Mayer

Completely agree with Adam. Superman needs to be sunny and optimistic...that is the character. I agree Green Arrow could be gritty, but Green Lantern???

"Hey, the brown horse won the Derby! I want ALL browns next year!"

Iron Man had the right tone...for Iron Man. Spidey 2 had the right tone...for Spidey. X-Men 2 has the right tone...for the X-Men.

Depressing and short-sighted news.

I agree 100%. I can only hope that quote is out of context or not as stupid as I think it is because if it isn't, Warners doesn't understand their DC properties at all.

**HTF Ads**

Greg_S_H · 08-22-2008, 04:26 PM

Green Lantern gets dark if they follow through with the destruction of Coast City, but that would or should be one or more movies in. The first one could be the Top Gun of superhero movies, with Hal being a hotshot pilot who finds out what speed is really about when he gets his ring.

That's how that franchise should be. Model it after the Star Wars trilogy. First is a fun, light adventure (origin). Second is darker, with our hero put into a very bad place (Parallax). Third shows him pulling out of it and conquering evil (Sinestro Corp War). If they play it right, Green Lantern could be another huge franchise.

Sam Favate · 08-22-2008, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

"We're going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it," he says. That goes for the company's Superman franchise as well.

Short-sighted and simplistic reaction. The source material for The Dark Knight dictated "dark," but that's not the case for the other characters in their catalog. Rule #1: Always respect the source material.

Pete-D · 08-22-2008, 05:57 PM

Well that is one take on it I guess.

They also could've made a ton of money on a Michael Bay Superman with Megan Fox or someone similar as Lois Lane and tons of gratuitous slow-motion and body shots.

Not that I necessarily advocate that either.

If the idea is though that they want to go dark and serious with all their properties ... it might not be the worst thing as long as the central character isn't changed too much.

Superman set in a darker, more corrupt world might be kind of cool.

From the sound of it though, looks like Singer is out for the next Superman flick. I think TDK kinda cemented in their mind that they want to go in a different direction.



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