Warner Bros. needs to stop copying Disney and let its superheroes fly solo

"The Flash" is a flop. "Black Adam" was a bust. And does anyone retrieve "Shazam: Fury of the Gods"?

DC Studios needs much than a hero, it needs a caller strategy – thing antithetic than adjacent its precocious established reboot plan.

DC and its genitor company, Warner Bros. Discovery, person Marvel Cinematic Universe envy. It's casual to spot why. The MCU's movies, including ones that haven't been released by Disney, person grossed astir $30 cardinal worldwide since 2008. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has directed DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran to make their ain shared beingness involving iconic characters similar Batman and Superman.

The occupation is, Warner Bros. and DC are already moving done the process extremity of a erstwhile – and failed – effort to necktie their characters unneurotic done aggregate films and shows. At the movies, DC's Justice League conscionable can't measurement up against Marvel's Avengers.

The apt reply to Warner Bros. and DC's issues is close successful beforehand of them, though: Character-specific franchises that adhere to 1 filmmaker's vision, not a TV-style writers room. Basically, fto your heroes alert solo.

It's worked for DC properties before, adjacent recently.

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Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, which wrapped successful 2012, was a well-reviewed container bureau juggernaut. And adjacent though, they were some connected to the anterior effort astatine creating a DC movie universe, 2017's "Wonder Woman" and 2018's "Aquaman" focused chiefly connected their rubric characters and racked up large bucks and accolades successful the process.

To enactment an adjacent finer constituent connected it, look nary further than the fiscal and captious occurrence of Todd Phillips' "Joker" and Matt Reeves' "The Batman." Neither movie is connected to an extended universe.

"Joker," released successful 2019, grossed much than $1 cardinal worldwide contempt being rated R, portion racking up a champion histrion Oscar for prima Joaquin Phoenix. Last year's "The Batman," starring Robert Pattinson arsenic an early-career Caped Crusader, garnered astir $750 cardinal globally. Sequels to some movies are successful the works.

But truthful is "Batman: The Brave and the Bold," from "Flash" manager Andy Muschietti. It volition not prima Pattinson and volition alternatively service arsenic "the instauration of the DCU Batman," according to Gunn. How galore antithetic Batmen does an already-superhero-saturated moviegoing assemblage need? Especially aft "The Flash," which featured four antithetic Dark Knights from erstwhile movies and shows.

Comic books were erstwhile a refuge from homework. Now, to support up with everything going connected successful Disney's MCU and Sony's Spider-Verse, which is besides connected to the MCU, you request to person watched beauteous overmuch everything that came earlier to get up to speed. That's dozens of movies and shows, going backmost to the archetypal Robert Downey Jr. "Iron Man."

"The Flash," meanwhile, mightiness beryllium the astir aggravated comic publication movie popular quiz, adjacent though DC's cinematic beingness has been each implicit the place. It's jam-packed with cameos (some real, immoderate CGI-generated) from past DC movies and shows, going each the mode backmost to George Reeves' black-and-white Superman.

But successful bid to recognize each the gags, you person to beryllium truly into this stuff. Unless you're a large instrumentality of "Clerks" manager Kevin Smith – large capable of a instrumentality to person watched his standup specials, that is – a "Flash" series involving a Nicolas Cage mentation of Superman fighting a elephantine spider mightiness beryllium mislaid connected you. The movie's punchline, involving George Clooney returning to the relation of Bruce Wayne 26 years aft the severely received "Batman and Robin," is intelligibly geared toward Gen-Xers and older Millennials, not today's younger audiences.

Even the MCU exemplary has tripped up astatine times. Disney CEO Bob Iger himself has suggested that the workplace was going to the good excessively often with definite characters, aft the 4th Thor movie and 3rd Ant-Man installment underwhelmed astatine the container office. That should beryllium different informing motion for DC Studios.

For his part, DC's Gunn precocious acknowledged that determination are "too many" superhero movies and shows. So, if anyone tin travel up with a originative mode to alteration course, it's him.

After moving with schlock mill Troma Films aboriginal on, Gunn built a sturdy Hollywood vocation arsenic a writer and director, alternating betwixt R-rated flicks similar "Slither" and worldly for wide audiences, similar his Guardians of the Galaxy movies for Marvel and Disney. The 3rd introduction successful that bid snapped the MCU retired of its mini funk. It's is truthful acold the second-highest-grossing movie of 2023, down Universal's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."

And helium already has a mates DC works connected his resume: the 2020 movie "The Suicide Squad" and its 2022 companion series, "Peacemaker," some of which won wide acclaim.

Gunn is penning and directing "Superman: Legacy," owed successful 2025. It's intended to usher successful the caller DC shared universe. But there's inactive clip for him to reconsider his attack and fto the Man of Steel – and each the different DC heroes – beryllium ace connected their own.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the genitor institution of Universal and CNBC.