DC/WB launching new studio line outside of DCEU 0

[Bosco685]

Warner Bros. Launching New DC Movies Franchise That's Not Part of the DCEU

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According to Deadline's initial report about the Joker origin movie:

 

"This will be the first film under a new banner that has yet to be named in which WB can expand the canon of DC properties and create unique storylines with different actors playing the iconic characters."

 

This news will hit with the impact of a bombshell, as there has been so much controversy up to this point about DC/WB's approach to launching the DC Extended Universe franchise of films. What Does This Mean?

 

With this latest move, Warner Bros. is basically taking the same approach it has with both its TV and animated divisions. The DC TV Universe is separated from the DCEU movies, and while some TV shows like Arrow and The Flash are connected, other shows like Gotham and the upcoming Black Lightning stand on their own. In the animated universe, there is a main continuity of Justice League and Batman films that are interconnected, while there are still many standalone animated features the company also releases.

I wonder if they are going for R-Rated, gritty with the one path, and traditional comic book, cheery with the other?

[Bosco685]

Why DC Stand-Alone Movies Probably Don't Mean The End of the DCEU

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With today's announcement that The Joker will get his own stand-alone origin movie came the added revelation that Warner Bros. will launch a whole new category of DC films -- stand-alone movies (henceforth called "Elseworlds" for economy of language) that will reportedly exist outside of the confines of the DC Extended Universe's continuity.

The immediate response from some fans and even the press was to assume the Elseworlds movies would provide an escape plan for Warner Bros. if the DCEU were to become more trouble than it is worth. With at least another five years of DCEU movies planned, it is much more likely that the Elseworlds movies have another purpose entirely in mind.

Elseworlds

One of the things that separates DC from Marvel in the comics is that while Marvel arguably perfected the shared universe, they have had relatively little success telling stories outside of that universe. A number of DC's most popular stories of all time -- including Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, DC: The New Frontier, and the aforementioned Kingdom Come -- fall into the category of non-canonical "imaginary stories" or Elseworlds tales.

Vertigo

Creating stand-alone movies with the DC fanfare at the beginning could help make rumored movies like Sandman a bit more marketable, especially as long as DC continues to be remarkably consistent at the box office. A number of Vertigo's most popular properties, from DMZ to Y the Last Man to The Invisibles and Transmetropolitan, have been rumored for a film or TV adaptation at one time or another, only to have the project stall out along the way.

'A Star Wars Story'

While Elseworlds and Vertigo would provide the movies with whole new genres and universes to play with, there is a more simple approach that The Joker hints at: simply taking characters from the DC superhero mainstream and making separate movies that aren't bogged down by ties to the larger DCEU.

We could call this the "Star Wars Story" approach, since it is basically what Lucasfilm has been doing when it makes movies like Rogue One or Han Solo. Those are slightly different, in that they take place in the same timeline/continuity as the main Star Wars movies, but the events of the Star Wars Story movies do not directly impact the ongoing Episodes and only tie into events that have already been documented in the prequels and original trilogy.

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There is no reason to believe that movies playing fast and loose with the DC timeline would inherently spell the end of the DC Extended Universe any more than these comics (or the Star Wars Story movies) do so for the DC and Star Wars universes. What is assured, is that the decision to set some films outside of the constraints of continuity opens up a world of new possibilities for storytellers.

 

[kagenish]

I see it working for them in a couple of ways. like having these set of movies come out after justice league 2 or once they introduced the multiverse in the movies maybe flash point movie and start calling the movies under the DCEU Multiverse. plus I do think this is their answer for them to make R-rated movies without having it connect to the main DCEU movies. 

[ComicConnoisseur]

7 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

Vertigo

Creating stand-alone movies with the DC fanfare at the beginning could help make rumored movies like Sandman a bit more marketable, especially as long as DC continues to be remarkably consistent at the box office. A number of Vertigo's most popular properties, from DMZ to Y the Last Man to The Invisibles and Transmetropolitan, have been rumored for a film or TV adaptation at one time or another, only to have the project stall out along the way.

A gold mine in those comics. I would start looking at stuff in here that might translate well in movies/TV.

Could have a bunch of comic book sleeper keys in Vertigo?