The Justice League movie has a release time-frame. Summer 2015. The same potential summer as Avengers 2. Someone’s a bit cocky aren’t they? Am I glad that DC/Warner Bros is finally getting more serious about their comic adaptations outside of Batman and Superman? Yes. Am I glad we are hearing about more firm plans? Of course. Do I think that their current approach will work. NO. In fact I think (even though I do not hope) it will fail. And here’s why.
1.) Its in the same summer as Avengers 2:
Now clearly the JL flick won’t have the same release date as Avengers 2. That would just be plain suicide. However, depending on when in the summer this film comes out, it still might suffer the same fate as many flicks did post-Avengers if its released with 3-8 weeks of the Marvel Juggernaut.The smart idea wold be to release a Justice League film at the end of summer…say August. Fans would get to salivate over this potential summer of geek but Justice League would get to stand on its own, well away from any Avengers 2 collision course. Several films in the summer of 2012 suffered hugely from being released even a month after Avengers got released–regardless of whether they were actually good. Justice League might want to be wary of that as to not kill this potential blockbuster franchise out of the gate.
2.) The build up:
Here is DC/Warners’ biggest problem once the Justice League movie had been officially announced. What is their plan to build buzz and awareness? I hate the repetitive comparisons, but Marvel’s buildup toward Avengers was brilliant. The minute their first film had its $100 million opening weekend (Iron Man in 2008), Marvel released a press release the following Monday about their future title plans leading up to Avengers including release dates and the exact characters that would be getting the solo movie treatment. It took years of planning and smart marketing and choosing of the right talent. Right now, we know of no really strategy that DC Comics is cooking up to ensure that Justice League does not sink…other than that its planning to pull a reverse of Marvel’s strategy. Which leads me to our next issue.
3.) The characters:
DC made a feeble attempt with Green Lantern and is rebooting the Superman franchise. But outside of Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, nothing has really taken off for DC Comics’ movie franchises. But if LA Times is accurate, it seems that DC is pulling the reverse of Marvel’s strategy of building the solo characters up before the big team-up film.
Probably not a good idea, especially since none of the other Justice Leaguers are well known outside of the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel. Even worse, the League at times come off as gods (save Batman) in terms of their power-levels and casual moviegoers might not relate to them well. Why not show who these members of the future Justice League are underneath the masks and tights in a solo movie? It worked wonders for Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, all upper midcard heroes until Marvel’s Phase One strategy took them all to another level. That way, fans will be familiar with them as characters and really look forward to them teaming up with other DC characters? Just a thought.
Honestly, I do hope that this movie does well and becomes a huge hit. However, given DC/Warners past and frequent fumbles in regards to their vast reservoir of bankable characters, I’ll believe a victory when I see one.
Til next time,
CCE
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