It's been a week since it released, and "Justice League" has just barely grossed $30 million past its budget. It's still not enough for Warner Bros. to break even, because it would need to make $700 million to break even, and that's not even counting the marketing. Considering their previous entries (except Wonder Woman and Man of Steel) and seeing the film for myself, it's not surprising that their third superhero team-up movie turned out to be as big a disappointment. And with how they ended up pulling some of their future films off the schedule, all while pushing for Wonder Woman 2 for a November 2019 release, it was only a matter of time before they realized they messed up badly. Whether it's because of directors dropping out for reshoots, putting too much into one, cutting out characters or important moments, Warner Bros. has dug themselves into a deeper hole than they did last year. Even DC fans are having a "Phantom Menace" realization that what the studio is doing is messing everything up.
Now the question remains, where will they go from here? Well, here's what I would suggest: don't do a reboot. Marvel Studios has been in this position before, when they started rushing "Iron Man 2" after "The Incredible Hulk" was a box office disappointment, mixed in with issues happening with Edward Norton behind the scenes. "Iron Man 2" is a very mixed bag, but you have to at least thank that movie for helping keep Marvel Studios going, so they could get to "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger," and the box office juggernaut that was "The Avengers." Since then, Marvel has been making hundred million dollar successes, even with their weaker installments.
A while back, I remembered reading something that my brother's friend was discussing about how the "X-Men" franchise was able to pull itself out of the grave after the back-to-back failures that were "X3" and "Origins: Wolverine." Later, we got "X-Men: The Beginnings Trilogy," which has been relatively successful, and fixed the problems that those films made, without going complete reboot. Not only that, but they gave us "Deadpool," which went on to be the highest grossing R rated film of all time, with a sequel coming out next summer. They also have their horror installment, "The New Mutants," scheduled for April, and it so far looks pretty good. Or hell, look at "Logan," which wasn't much of a superhero film than it was a family western drama; it was both a financial and critical success, with some people saying it might even get potential Oscar recognition. Not only were the "X-Men" films getting back on their feet, they began trying new things.
We've seen what happens when too many reboots are constantly thrown at audiences, thanks to meddling from companies like Universal and Sony. Earlier this year, Universal's THIRD attempt at a universe franchise with "The Mummy" sank faster than it could even start, and it's key writer, Alex Kurtzman, left afterwards. "The Amazing Spiderman" films, whether you like them or not, they were box office successes, despite some fans constantly bitching and barely even giving them a chance. Every Spiderman film has at least grossed $700 million each, those two included, so Sony could have easily continued on. However, after the North Korean hacking and executive meddling from then CEO, Amy Pascal, they got cold feet and had to strike a deal with Marvel to keep afloat, but that's a whole other can of worms entirely.
What I'm suggesting is that DC needs to accept what they have, move on, and try to improve upon it. I want more of Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck's Batman, and especially Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman; and after "Justice League," I want more of Jason Mamoa's Aquaman, and I'm hoping his film next year will be like what happened with "Wonder Woman." If they do want to do a reboot, then they should just do what "X-Men" did, and just go for time travel and parallel universes, something DC has been known to do. They had planned on doing a "Flash" movie, possibly adapting the "Flashpoint" storyline, so they always have that option opened, if they can find a director that will stay with them. This would allow their stand-alone Joker film to actually work, because we would be introduced to a whole new world altogether.
Also, most importantly, they should STOP DOING SUPERHERO TEAM MOVIES! Seriously, I'm so sick and tired of these people forcing big superhero team movies to happen; for the most part, they have too many big stars to focus on, barely anyone gets a chance to shine in the spotlight, aside from two or three popular ones, and that's it. "BVS," "Suicide Squad," "Justice League," or that "Gotham Sirens" movie they announced, it has never turned out for the better. A lot of people like to point out "The Avengers" as the best example, and while I do like both movies, especially with how they know to PROPERLY build up a big team such as this, they're not films I would consider to be the best of the MCU, let alone the best superhero movies of all time. One of the reasons I didn't like "Captain America: Civil War" as much as the other two, was because it felt more like an "Avengers" movie, only focusing too much on the superhero battle part, and giving us not only an unnecessary villain, but one of the worst comic book movie villains, if not THE worst. Even with the "X-Men," a franchise BUILT around a team, only one or two of them that focused on the entire team was done right. "Guardians of the Galaxy" is probably the best example I can think of, where a superhero team movie can be done right, and both films are my favorites in the MCU. However, I doubt that's what DC is going to be doing...it's kind of sad, really.
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