Warner Bros and DC Comics in talks to develop superhero movie masterplan

A NEW masterplan for bringing superheroes to the big screen is being thrashed out by Warner Bros and its comicbook subsidiary, DC Comics.

There is currently no overall strategy for adapting DC's comics catalogue into movies, which has led to frustration among fans over the painfully slow, uncertain and ad-hoc nature of film projects. Now, a big shake-up is set to happen as a result of the top-level talks.

The 'superhero summit' between WB and DC, announced by trade magazines Variety and Hollywood Reporter, follows protests from fans online and a rival movie strategy published earlier this year by Marvel Comics.

Marvel unveiled a schedule of comicbook adaptations up until 2011 and is also moving towards a 'united movieverse' in which its characters exist in the same world and can easily cross over into each other's films.

Back in 2003, WB had pledged to create a new post to oversee films based on DC characters, but that never happened. Now, with very few of DC's classic heroes appearing on screen, it's crunch time.

Only Batman and Superman have been major successes - and attempts to bring Superman back to the big screen were lengthy, costly and resulted in 2006's underperforming and ill-judged Superman Returns.

DC's Steel, Supergirl and Catwoman didn't do well. Swamp Thing wasn't a big hit, although it has a cult following and an award for best horror film. From DC's Vertigo Comics imprint, there have been movies made of Constantine, V for Vendetta, Stardust and The Fountain.

A film based on DC character The Spirit comes out in December and next year sees DC's classic Watchmen brought to the screen by Zack Snyder, director of the stylised Spartan war epic 300. There are also proposed movies for Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow, Flash, and Wonder Woman.

But it's all rather random and there is no-one at Warner Bros with responsibility for overseeing the DC characters. This results in many projects languishing in 'development hell' or simply fading into oblivion.

WB Pictures group president Jeff Robinov and WB Pictures president Kevin McCormick are now meeting with DC Comics executives as well some of DC's top talents, such as Jim Lee, to discuss a proper new direction for film adaptations. Any firm deals or announcements are said to be weeks away.

Warners said: "While we are not going to go into the specifics of the meetings, we're constantly looking at how best to exploit the DC Comics characters and properties.

"DC is an incredibly valuable asset to Warner Bros and plays an important role across the entire studio by providing development and franchise opportunities for all media, including films, television, home entertainment, animation, consumer products, video games and digital platforms."

Let's hope we get a proper masterplan out of all this. The Green Arrow story sounds a great movie idea, and there is no reason why Green Lantern and Wonder Woman cannot be made into good movies. There also needs to be attention given to Superman - there's been no official word from the studio on the proposed 'Man of Steel' sequel to Superman Returns and it's now two years since that film came out.

While the upcoming Batman sequel The Dark Knight seems set to take superhero cinema to new heights, it shouldn't be an isolated peak rising from a mouldering pile of scripts for never-to-be-seen comicbook projects.

WB needs to plan ahead for blockbuster movie projects - Christopher Nolan hasn't yet committed to any more Batman movies and, even if he had, we need more than Batman as a big-screen success.

And this has wider implications than being just about superhero projects - it's about planning 'event movies' in general. The Harry Potter films end in 2011 and so other fantasy adventure franchises will need to take over. More superhero movies could help to fill that vacuum.