Between now and 2020, Warner Bros. and DC Comics are doing everything in their power to get their most popular superhero characters up on the big screen. As we learned earlier today, the coming years will be filled with solo movies about Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Shazam and Green Lantern (not to mention a couple Justice League titles). But those of you who are nervous about the lack of Batman and Superman titles on this list need not be worried - apparently, they are on the way.
Today's announcement by Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara revealed the titles of all the release dates the studio set aside for DC Comics properties back in August, but it turns out that there may actually be even more projects that just haven't been announced yet. Superhero Hype received a great press release from WB, and it promises that we will soon be getting new Batman and Superman movies in addition to all the other features that are coming out in the next six years. It reads:
"In a massive expansion of the Studio’s DC Entertainment-branded content, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema will release a slate of at least 10 movies–as well as stand-alone Batman and Superman films–from 2016 through 2020 that expands this prized universe of characters."
To help everyone realize why this is kind of a big deal, I offer up these numbers: there are currently 30 (yes, 30) features based on DC and Marvel properties that are set to come out between now and 2020, which is an average of exactly five movies a year. So where the hell are brand new Batman and Superman films actually going to fit into this massively packed schedule? As a life-long comic book fan, I couldn't be more excited by this bounty of adaptations, but it's entirely possible that we could get to a point where the market just becomes too saturated and the projects start cannibalizing each other.
Beyond what new Batman and Superman movies mean for the comic book genre as a whole, it will be interesting also to see how WB winds up placing the projects on the schedule - as they could wind up significantly altering how we see the growth of the DC Cinematic Universe. Could these new titles be released right after the first Justice League movie in 2017, or will the studio wait to return to the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader by not having their movies released until after Justice League Part 2 in 2019? Maybe the projects will be split up and Ben Affleck's Batman will get his debut solo adventure after the first team-up and Man of Steel 2 won't come until after the second. There are a number of options to take, and it will be interesting to see which way they take it.
