If there is one thing that DC Entertainment has got Marvel beat, it's that its got all of it's property under one roof. Warner Brothers has the exclusive rights to any and everything DC Comics. Marvel on the other hand looks this this...
Thanks to Stan Lee selling off just about everything in the 70s and 80's, Marvel characters are spread out over 5 studios. There is a bit of a crossover as the Scarlett Witch and her brother Quicksilver fall under the domain of Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox. The pair will make an appearance in the end credit easter egg of Captain America: The Winter Soldier but the word "mutant" cannot be used in anything outside of Fox as they have exclusive rights to the word. Having five different studios control the characters is one of the main reasons why Marvel can churn out franchises at a machine gun pace.
Which brings us back to DC Entertainment. Batman is it's cash cow. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy has grossed over $2.45 billion worldwide in box office receipts. That doesn't include DVD and merchandise purchases. Batman will most likely go on a bit of a hiatus until someone decides its time for a reboot. I'll compare that to the Iron Man franchise because they're both about a wealthy dude in a cool suit that fights crime and they take place over the same time period, 2005-12 for Batman and 2008-13 for Iron Man. Iron Man has grossed $2.42 billion worldwide at the box office (neither are adjusted for inflation). So they're pretty close. In 2006 Warner Brothers rebooted Superman and released Superman Returns to the tune of $391 million worldwide. Not bad right? Sure but the foreign gross was barely equal to the domestic gross (that matters a real lot to studios) and quite frankly the movie was bad. This prompted DC/Warner Bros. to re-reboot Superman in 2013 with Man of Steel and it grossed $668 million worldwide. It was a better film by far (it could have used another round in the editing room) but all of the four Spider-Man films released between 2002-13 grossed more than Man of Steel (even the much maligned Spider-Man 3 made $891 million worldwide and a lot of people hated it!).
Since it appears that the Superman ship has been righted, there is a sequel planned (what a surprise!). This time DC is going to hedge its bets by placing Batman in the film which is entitled, "Untitled Superman-Batman Project (pretty catchy right?)." Since Marvel's The Avengers grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide, DC needs to put is money makers together. As an added bonus, Wonder Woman will also be appearing. That is correct, DC's holy trinity in the same film! This will then lead into 2017's alleged Justice League film which David S. Goyer is under contract to write. The Justice League coming to the big screen has been brandied about the internet for years and with the other worldly box office success of The Avengers, DC has to do something and the terribleness of 2011's Green Lantern cannot deter them. There are an abundant amount of rumors as to who will round out the Justice League and who knows (it can still fall apart) but it should be interesting. Shoot I'll be pushing 50 by the time it comes out but I am so there for the opening.
Since the only thing the DC/Warner has in the chute for the near future, let's talk about Wonder Woman for a moment. One of the major issues bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen is that she's not that far removed from being a female version of Superman. Ability to fly, super strength, invulnerability and the tendency to use brawn first and brains second (both WW and Supes are intelligent but that can get in the way of punching things). So for now we will need to see what happens in smaller roles in male orientated films before she gets a chance at a stand alone film.
Israeli born actress Gal Cadot has been cast as the Amazon Princess...
Since she's Israeli, its a given that she can more handle the ass kicking part of the character. In 2011, ABC tried to bring Wonder Woman to television and the pilot was never aired. There's a lot of reasons I'm sure why it never got off the ground but quite frankly someone may have realized that it seemed very similar to NBC's the Bionic Woman which lasted for 8 underwhelming episodes in 2007 (the fact that the networks were trying to reboot long dead shows about with a super powered female lead makes me scratch my head. Not to mention a Charlie's Angels reboot in 2011 which lasted around 4 episodes). I also don't know what plans they had for the show but they could've taken the high road like they did with Smallville and Arrow by concentrating on character development. The WB aired Birds of Prey in 2002 but the ratings declined and the show was cancelled after 13 episodes. Which leads me to believe that a show about empowered female heroes doesn't translate well to the tv audience. It seems stupid but that's where we are at I guess which is too bad. The premise of Birds of Prey could easily work, it's a show about ass-kicking female vigilantes who are led by a wheelchair bound former ass-kicking vigilante who's an expert computer hacker. But what do I know? In the end I'm just a guy typing on his computer reposting pictures of Wonder Woman in a silly blog.
Since the only thing the DC/Warner has in the chute for the near future, let's talk about Wonder Woman for a moment. One of the major issues bringing Wonder Woman to the big screen is that she's not that far removed from being a female version of Superman. Ability to fly, super strength, invulnerability and the tendency to use brawn first and brains second (both WW and Supes are intelligent but that can get in the way of punching things). So for now we will need to see what happens in smaller roles in male orientated films before she gets a chance at a stand alone film.
Israeli born actress Gal Cadot has been cast as the Amazon Princess...
Since she's Israeli, its a given that she can more handle the ass kicking part of the character. In 2011, ABC tried to bring Wonder Woman to television and the pilot was never aired. There's a lot of reasons I'm sure why it never got off the ground but quite frankly someone may have realized that it seemed very similar to NBC's the Bionic Woman which lasted for 8 underwhelming episodes in 2007 (the fact that the networks were trying to reboot long dead shows about with a super powered female lead makes me scratch my head. Not to mention a Charlie's Angels reboot in 2011 which lasted around 4 episodes). I also don't know what plans they had for the show but they could've taken the high road like they did with Smallville and Arrow by concentrating on character development. The WB aired Birds of Prey in 2002 but the ratings declined and the show was cancelled after 13 episodes. Which leads me to believe that a show about empowered female heroes doesn't translate well to the tv audience. It seems stupid but that's where we are at I guess which is too bad. The premise of Birds of Prey could easily work, it's a show about ass-kicking female vigilantes who are led by a wheelchair bound former ass-kicking vigilante who's an expert computer hacker. But what do I know? In the end I'm just a guy typing on his computer reposting pictures of Wonder Woman in a silly blog.
Adrianne Palicki from the 2011 pilot. Some people didn't like the pants. Is that really worth getting into a twist over?
Lynda Carter from the series which ran for 60 episodes from 1975-79.
Then there's Cathy Lee Crosby in this little known gem from a 1974 made for tv film...
I saw this once as a kid and it was terrible. As an adult I can see why it was never picked up even by 1970's standards (it was a problem in the Marvel Universe as well). Quite frankly the outfit looks as if her next stop is the roller rink for some Roller Derby. Apparently there was a strange story arc in the comics that led to this hunk of turd.
The new rumor is that a Wonder Woman film is on life support. A lot will depend on what happens with the Batman/Superman film. We'll see what happens.
The new rumor is that a Wonder Woman film is on life support. A lot will depend on what happens with the Batman/Superman film. We'll see what happens.
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