So everyone, as of today, George Miller’s Justice League film is officially off. Warner Bros. has cited a few reasons for its decision, chief among them being the studio’s inability to procure expected tax breaks for filming in Australia and a desired script polish made impossible by the ongoing writers’ strike. To which many will no doubt say, “No, it was that stupid cast,” but don’t count me in. That argument, however, could be supported by the fact that the studio has basically let the entire cast go, declining to exercise the contract options that were in place in case of such a delay. Some eight-year-old Brandon Routh fan just crapped his pants. Odder still, is that the first confirmed casting for JL also confirmed they were no longer contractually obligated to star in the film. According to Variety, Adam Brody was the Flash, Megan Gale was Wonder Woman and Armie Hammer Jr. was Banana Man, but you knew that in your gut, right?
But don’t get the wrong idea here. This sounds more like Warner Bros. is turning out the light to save resources rather than yanking the plug and bringing in a new game plan. With the writers’ strike and the sheer complexity of the project, from casting to special effects to making lower tier characters appealing enough on screen for individual films, I didn’t see this flick happening before the summer anyway. While Warner Bros. was definitely aiming for a 2009 summer slot, nobody can be too surprised by today’s decision, but elated? Sure.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Too bad you don’t give credit to the site that originaly broke this story.
January 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
@AB
Variety broke it. Variety is credited.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Good decision on Warner’s behalf. This thing was just a Spiderman 3 waiting to happen.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Super cool! I’m so glad to hear this.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Whew!! That was a close one eh guys? This is great great news. No one wants to see a justice league movie more than me, but this… This would have been a travesty. I know that the writers strike had everyone going crazy for a second there, but thank God they came to their senses on this one.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Can I say hooray?
January 17th, 2008 at 2:03 am
I hate to sound like the Simpson’s comic book guy, but
“WORST… CAST….. EVER!”
Really and truly and sincerely, that was a hideous cast. I would love to have a Justice League movie and totally don’t care about the timing, multiple continuities, recast, whatever. So, I’m not just a HATERZ!1!! ripping every movie to come along. But that cast was amazingly bad. The first week of American Idol freak show kind of bad. I’m so glad they’ve all been cut.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:07 am
I’d agree with you all! I’d also love to see a Justice league film but everystep of the JL movie processhas been so dissapointing!! I’m actually GLAD they pulled the plug! The film should be worthy an excellent director and script, and a top-notch cast. Until they can get that all that right, I think fans wont mind if the film isn’t made.
Fantom.
January 17th, 2008 at 5:56 am
I’m so glad to see that someone at Warner Bros. has the brains to pull the plug on this before it gets started. Hopefully they’ll wait until Nolan finishes a Batman trilogy before trying this again.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:13 am
@ Hunter
Wrong, Variety did not break but like most of your writing, you don’t credit the original source.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:14 am
@hunter
Wrong, like most of your guys content, you don’t credit the original source.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
I, for one had or have faith in George Miller. If he can make a movie about a talking pig one of the best of the year, then the casting of this movie didn’t concern me at all. I’m looking forward to this movie if they get the writers strike settled. These comments prove that the fans out there should never be casting directors.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
@Arse
Okay. I’m not going to debate with a guy named Arse over what pub broke this info first. It was Variety. Spit it out or don’t. Whatevs. And here’s a Tic Tac.
January 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
BRING BACK MICHAEL KEATON FOR JLA!
If Harrison Ford can return as Indiana Jones, then why can’t Michael Keaton return as Batman?
January 17th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Well, there’s always The New Frontier. That comes out next month.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:43 am
praise be