Warner Bros. is in the middle of reconfiguring the DCEU after the less than stellar performance ofJustice Leagueat the box office, according to a new report from Variety. The report also goes on to say that it’s inevitable that Ben Affleck will be leaving Matt Reeves’The Batmanand that the director has already been talking to new actors to take over the role, which has been previously reported. There had been rumors before that Warner Bros. was aiming forJustice League to be a homerunand if it wasn’t, restructuring would occur to make up forBatman v Superman.
Variety reports that Jon Berg will leave his post as the head of theDC Filmsdivision. Berg will apparently become a production partner with Roy Lee, the producer ofITandThe LEGO Movieand Warner Bros. is reportedly currently looking for a replacement for Berg. The changeover is expected to start right after the new year. Warner Bros. Picture Group President Toby Emmerich had this to say about the situation.
“This is something that Jon approached me about six months ago, and he expressed his goal was to ultimately be a producer at the studio. I first met Jon when, as a producer, he broughtElfto New Line, which remains one of the best and most evergreen titles in the library. We’re thrilled that Jon is partnering with Roy and anticipate their company being a valuable source of movies for Warner Bros. and New Line.”
Geoff Johns, who has partnered with Jon Berg on much of the creative direction of theDCEU movies, is expected to continue serving as DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer, but may stay on as more of an advisor to new projects. Johns, who reports to DC president Diane Nelson, works in areas such as television (and has written various episodes for DC-inspired shows), publishing, and consumer products, in addition to his contributions to the movies. Both Johns and Berg acted as producers forJustice Leagueand the budget to profit ratio is reportedly very uneven and only offset by the success ofITandDunkirk. This change really comes as no surprise, but it does offer a lot of questions with a lot of the projects that the DCEU has loosely announced over the last year.
As far as Zack Snyder is concerned, the director is not scheduled to direct anything coming up, but he will be acting as producer forWonder Woman 2andAquaman. The studio was reportedly unhappy with what Snyder had shot forJustice Leagueand were not happy to see that the movie was going to have a dark tone, something that the director has been criticized for in the past. It has been reported that there wasn’t a whole lot that Joss Whedon could do when it came to time to punch up the dialogue and change the tone of the existing footage. There were already limitations to what Zack Snyder had finished, including using the all CGI villainSteppenwolf, which has been criticized by fans and critics.
At the end of all of this leavesMatt Reeves' The Batman, which has gone through its fair share of drama over the last year. It has widely been reported that Ben Affleck will not be coming back and that Reeves has begun the casting process, looking for a newBatman. However, the Variety report suggests that Affleck will remain on board for theFlashpointmovie, which has not been reported before. Apparently, Warner Bros. has been impressed with the reaction toThe FlashinJustice Leagueand will continue to develop the movie, which may be used to reconfigure the DCEU as we know it. This is a developing story and more news is expected to be announced soon. You can read more about the Warner Bros. restructuring of the DCEU courtesy ofVariety.
