James Gunn has never been someone to shy away from sharing information and opinions about his upcoming projects, mainly via his Twitter account. However, it seems that during his joint DCU announcement recently with Peter Safran, the pair’s harsh comments about the former DCEU and Zack Snyder’s DC Universe did not go down well with Warner Bros. Discovery executives.
Although fans and the press were hanging on every word as the new rebooted DCU’s plans were unveiled, there were some comments made by Gunn and Safran during the press conference that were not well received by some of the big bosses behind the scenes at WBD. In a report by The Hollywood Reporter, a source claimed that “there’s quite a few ruffled feathers” in the wake of the comments about the cancelled Batgirl movie being “not releaseable” and the old DC management “giving away the IP like they were party favors at any creator who smiled at them.”
There has been a lot of conflict and unrest around the old DCU and the transition it is now undergoing under the control of Gunn and Safran. When WBD bought into the Snyderverse, everything seemed to have a coherent direction under Zack Snyder, but when he was forced to drop out of Justice League things fell apart very quickly from what turned out to be shaky ground anyway. Now there is a new regime in place, and it seems to be one that has no issues in calling out the failings of the franchise’s past.
The New DCU Will Not Begin Until 2025, But There Are A Number of Movies Bridging the Gap
The new slate of ten projects, which includes a mix of movies, TV shows, live-action and animated projects, will seemingly not begin rolling out until 2025 in the main, with the reboot of Superman being the first new DCU movie under Gunn and Safran’s grand plan. However, this year will see a number of DC projects arriving after numerous delays, and after only one live-action offering in 2022, fans may be ready for what is being offered.
First up will be Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which will hit cinemas in just over a month on March 17. Having recently released its first full trailer, the promotion of the Zachary Levi-led movie will be ramped up over the coming weeks as the DCEU’s last run attempts to go out with a bang. Following on June 23 is The Flash, the franchise reset that everyone predicted even before the new DC Studios plans were in place. After that comes Blue Beetle, the seemingly unconnected movie that managed to avoid the WDB cull of HBO Max movies and instead secured itself a theatrical release. And finally is Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with Jason Momoa’s movie seemingly paving the way into the Superman reboot.
What exactly the future holds for any of these characters beyond this year is still unclear, as none of them are featured in the initial run of new DCU projects. However, with rumors that all four characters could continue in their present form at some point, perhaps this year’s movies will be essential DC viewing after all.