The New DC Universe Will Be Film Or Television, PG-13 Or Mature, Depending On The Story
To say that the folks at DC Studios have had a rough go of it lately is an understatement. The lack of a collective vision, coupled with strokes of ego, left a bunch of question marks up in the air regarding the direction of the company's future. But with co-chair and co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm, they made it clear that they were going to get this ship back on track. After much speculation, the new era of DC is shaping up to look pretty solid.
The first batch of movies in DC's "Chapter 1" slate will include "Superman: Legacy," "The Authority," "The Brave and the Bold," "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow," and "Swamp Thing," while the television side of things will consist of "Creature Commandos," "Waller," "Booster Gold," "Lanterns," and "Paradise Lost." With all of the properties under the DC Umbrella, there's a good mix of familiar titles, in addition to a bunch of new stuff spread out across both mediums.
During an exclusive press conference that /Film's Jenna Busch attended, Gunn was asked what determined which medium a project fell into, of which he made a point to place a huge emphasis on whether the story called for it:
"Storytelling is 100% king. So if it's a story that can be told in a three-act structure, but if it's more complicated, like the 'Lanterns' story is, or more complicated like the 'Waller' thing, or is more kind of an independent TV vibe like 'Booster Gold' in a way, then that's more suited for television. So it has to do with tone. It has to do with storytelling."
'We're gonna give every story what it deserves'
Knowing that James Gunn and Peter Safran are guiding the new pathway for DC Studios on its storytelling, rather than reacting to trends, is comforting to know. What gives me an even greater confidence in these plans is that, according to Gunn, the ratings threshold of these projects will have the tonal flexibility of being what they need to be, while still being tied to the bigger picture. He explained:
"We're gonna give every story what it deserves. I mean, some things we know. 'Superman' is definitely something we would like to be PG-13. I'm sure that it is. Other things like the 'Waller' TV show is a little bit more mature. We have other things that are a little more tame towards young women or kids that are still within this world, but kind of feeds everything back into the Supermans and the Braves and the Bolds."
If this slate goes according to plan, then this is where I believe DC Studios can do what the Marvel Cinematic Universe can't. With the MCU being under the Disney banner, their projects share a uniformity that mostly aims towards a PG-13 demographic, albeit with an exception every now and then ("Daredevil"). It sounds like Gunn and Safran are committed to giving their creative team room to develop something like "Waller" into what it is, rather than what it has to be.
While I'm excited to see how closely these two are going to work with these creative teams, there's an important industry shift that's likely going to affect whether these projects come out according to the pre-planned schedule.
A WGA Strike looms on the horizon, but Gunn's staying ahead of it
If you've been paying attention to the harrowing industry trends, then it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Writer's Guild of America West are prepping for a potential strike later this year. It would be the first time the group has done so since the 2007-2008 shutdown. Naturally, the last thing DC Studios wants after announcing all of these projects is the WGA bringing the hammer down during the development stages. It appears, however, that while James Gunn knows that the looming strike will inevitably slow things down, he still seems determined to kick things into high gear before we reach that point. To quote him directly:
"It's gonna be what it's gonna be. I mean, we're gonna be affected by it like everyone else if it happens. Right now, we're getting stuff in process and we're a little bit, we're doing a lot of it upfront, but it's not because of the writer's strike, but because we want to start getting this stuff out there for the fans."
Warner Bros. Discovery, especially, has been at the heart of an upsetting trend where projects are either scrapped or removed from streaming services, even if it's already been shot. Everything is already on shaky ground, which doesn't exactly sow a lot of trust between the writing talent and the folks distributing their work. I'm interested to see Gunn and Peter Safran bring these plans to fruition, but at the same time, I'd like to see the creative teams behind them get their due.