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Title: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Velorath on February 23, 2007, 05:28:19 PM Reported by Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960018.html?categoryid=13&cs=1)
Quote DC Comics super-team Justice League is heading for the bigscreen. Michele and Kieran Mulroney Batman may meet up with Superman on the bigscreen after all -- along with Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash and all the rest of DC Comics' biggest names. Warner Bros., with its major appetite for fresh franchises, is looking to make a feature based on super team the Justice League of America, hiring writing duo Kiernan and Michele Mulroney to pen the script. It's the first major action the studio has taken on the project. Feature film is bound to include some combination of DC's most iconic superheroes, although the studio wouldn't confirm which ones they might be. It's unlikely that the studio and DC Comics, a division of Warner, would opt to feature second-tier characters. Since its inception in 1960, JLA has featured almost every major hero in the DC Comics universe, although the core team has largely remained the same: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter. The heroes typically band together to fight alien menaces or groups of supervillains. "The Justice League of America has been a perennial favorite for generations of fans, and we believe their appeal to film audiences will be as strong and diverse as the characters themselves," Warner prexy of production Jeff Robinov said in announcing the hiring of the Mulroneys. In taking on the ambitious project, Warner faces several conundrums. Warner Senior VP Dan Lin will oversee for the studio. Now that the Batman and Superman film franchises have been revived, does the studio go after Christian Bale ("Batman Begins") and Brandon Routh ("Superman Returns") to star in a Justice League pic? Studio is also trying hard to bring Wonder Woman to the bigscreen. To a large degree, casting will depend upon the story arc for the JLA feature and at what point in the superheroes' lives the plot takes place. Warner also must deal with myriad producers working on the Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman franchises. Studio dropped its efforts to make "Batman vs. Superman" in order to focus on relaunching "Batman" and "Superman" as individual properties, which it has done. Filmmakers Chris Nolan ("Batman Begins") and Bryan Singer ("Superman Returns") are each on board to helm the next installments in the two respective franchises. Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is eyeing a 2008 release and the next "Superman," 2009. The potential payoff of bringing JLA to theaters can't be ignored by Warner, which turns out more tentpoles than any other studio. Comicbook fans have long clamored for a movie version of JLA, and word of the Warner project is certain to be a hot topic at New York Comic Con, which unspools today in Gotham. JLA has spawned several cartoon TV series, including 1960s and '70s show "Super Friends" and current Cartoon Network skein "Justice League Unlimited" from Warner Bros. Animation. The Mulroneys -- Kieran is the brother of thesp Dermot Mulroney -- caught the attention of studios around town with their rewrite of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" for Fox. Other screenplay projects include "On the Nature of Human Romantic Interaction," "Paper Man" and "Worst Case." Kieran and Michele Mulroney are repped by Creative Artists Agency and Management 360. Hopefully it won't be that shitty version of the League that showed up in Smallville. Oh, and it has to have Martian Manhunter in it, if only because there's no way he's ever going to get his own movie. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Llava on February 24, 2007, 09:12:21 AM Get Bruce Timm on that project, someway, somehow. He did the Justice League damn well, and while that was in an animated feature, there has to be some wisdom he can share to avoid the worst pitfalls.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: stray on February 25, 2007, 02:00:43 AM I think the concept is lame -- in my humble opinion. Justice League sucks. Sorry.
I don't think you can get to major crux of the individual characters in a movie like that. And before you say X-Men, I'll just point out that X-Men, the team, is almost a character in and of itself. There's a bigger purpose to it than just heroes teaming up to beat up baddies. And the individual character stories are so intertwined with the origin of the team as well. There's room for a bigger picture there: Mutants. Justice League doesn't have that. The only crossover WB should even be thinking about right now is DKR. Or something with Judge Dredd -- and umm...Somebody else in it. Heh. For Marvel, I guess they already had Elektra and Daredevil (which makes sense....as would a Punisher/DD story. Maybe). But they should stay away from the Avengers. I think it'd be cool to have one or two characters popping in, say, a Spidey or Hulk flick (like Johnny Storm, Luke Cage, or Nick Fury), but not straight up superteam films. P.S. Spellcheck wants to change X-Men to Semen. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Triforcer on February 25, 2007, 06:07:53 AM In this ensemble cast, I predict one or two good A grade actor casting decisions (by people who know that what they are in is so silly they might as well give a scene-chewing performance) and a bunch of mind-bogglingly bad assignments. Like, Danny DeVito as the Flash bad.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Llava on February 25, 2007, 06:39:33 AM I see what you're saying about the team dynamic, Stray, and it's a good point, but depending on the story involved the Justice League really has been able to tell some great stories that really show who the characters are. Tower of Babel, for instance, when R'as Al-Ghul manages to steal Batman's protocols for defeating every member of the Justice League, then rapidly puts them into effect, was fantastic in showing 1) what weaknesses each of the characters had, which was usually more psychologically based than anything 2) showing the response to that, many felt betrayed, some felt like he couldn't be blamed for having the plans, given mind control and whatnot 3) Batman's mindset in making those plans.
The trouble is that the first movie they almost always do is some sort of intro movie to the characters, as if people don't know Batman already. So we'll go over all the same crap again, waste time, people will be bored, and we'll barely manage to get to any sort of real story. Now, for someone like Martian Manhunter, yeah you have to give some sort of background, most people don't know him. The problem this movie will have is contructing a story that fits the Justice League without it just becoming a Big Guns VS Bigger Guns battle. But with only two hours and no previous character development, that's almost the only option they have. Which is why I say to get Bruce Timm on the project, he's done this before with success. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Tannhauser on February 25, 2007, 09:54:36 PM JLA doesn't translate well to our modern sensibilities.
GL and MM and their powers, done faithfully, will be goofy up on the screen. Plus MM's mind reading closes a lot of doors, tension wise. And GL throws a gigantic anchor up into space with his ring. Lordy. They will need to modify their powers. Make GL a energy blaster with the ring and MM and his crazy power set? Invis, strong, flies, mind reading, morphing? Good God. It's like he was designed by a 14yr old. And I may be missing some of his powers. Don't get me wrong I like MM I just dunno. I guess he could be the infiltrator of the group. Maybe have him appear early on then disappear most of the movie and then in the climax he turns out to have morphed into one of the evil villains goons and bails the JLA out. That way he has a role but the focus is on the iconic three (Supers, Bats, WW) and the others. All I know is that the writers have a heck of a job ahead of them. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: stray on February 26, 2007, 12:23:55 AM I liked that Jack Black as the Green Lantern (http://www.comicbookmovie.com/news/articles/1374.asp) idea that Warner was shopping around awhile back. But the actual fans would have none of it. Heh.
Sure, GL is a badass, but on screen, I believe comedy is the only way his powers would work. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: damijin on February 26, 2007, 12:56:56 AM I liked that Jack Black as the Green Lantern (http://www.comicbookmovie.com/news/articles/1374.asp) idea that Warner was shopping around awhile back. But the actual fans would have none of it. Heh. Sure, GL is a badass, but on screen, I believe comedy is the only way his powers would work. I would have seen that movie thrice. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: HaemishM on February 26, 2007, 09:11:01 AM People who would cast Jack Black as Green Lantern need to die in a fiery movie camera death.
JLA would be a great movie concept, and I think the original White Martian storyline, modified a bit to coincide with Martian Manhunters arrival on Earth could be a great intro story. But being that it's going to be written by the people responsible for the script in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I'm not holding my breath. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Velorath on February 26, 2007, 09:58:36 AM I agree that the Jack Black Green Lantern idea sucked, but then I've never really found Jack Black funny.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: stray on February 26, 2007, 10:13:25 AM Basically, you guys are too close for comfort to judge how fucking great an idea that was. :evil:
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: HaemishM on February 26, 2007, 11:05:06 AM Jack Black would have been great as G'Nort the Green Lantern. As Hal Jordan, or even Guy Gardner, FUCK NO. It's got nothing to do with being close to the source material, it's only to do with actually reading the source material, in which case pudgy, sardonic Jack Black is so obviously wrong it's not even worth discussing.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Llava on February 26, 2007, 09:18:20 PM Hm. I think he could've pulled off Guy Gardner. Post title-stripping.
But a Kyle Rayner or Hal Jordan, god forbid John Stewart, you've got to be fucking kidding. I know, let's cast Jim Carrey as Wolverine. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Samwise on February 26, 2007, 10:23:50 PM Danny DeVito as the Flash Jack Black as the Green Lantern Jim Carrey as Wolverine Did someone say OSCAR? PS: I nominate Zooey Deschanel for Wonder Woman. Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Llava on February 27, 2007, 11:13:07 AM OMG they could make a DC VS Marvel MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: UnSub on February 27, 2007, 08:54:45 PM I'm unwilling to bet that this JLA movie (should it ever materialise) will be better than the other live-action JLA movie.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: HaemishM on February 28, 2007, 12:06:44 PM John Ogden Stiers as the Martian Manhunter was da bomb, y0.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: Furiously on April 17, 2007, 02:37:12 PM Fran Drescher or Rosanne Barr as WW????
Its a toss up to me... Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: tazelbain on April 17, 2007, 02:38:44 PM Sarah Silverman, BEST Wonder Woman ever.
Title: Re: Justice League movie in the works Post by: WindupAtheist on April 21, 2007, 04:43:14 PM (http://sidesalad.net/archives/WonderTwinsJpg.jpg)
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