Whatever your opinion of DC's film universe, there's no question that the franchise has had difficulty finding its footing. Following the announcement of changes at the top of DC movie production, the studio has made another step in a new direction. Last month it was announced that Jon Berg who had been co-running production on DC's movie with Geoff Johns, was moving on to another position. It now appears confirmed that Johns also won't be in a leadership role regarding the films, as Walter Hamada, the producer of the Conjuring franchise among other properties, has been named the president of DC film production.
While 2017 saw DC's first unqualified hit with the release of Wonder Woman it also saw the release of Justice League, a film that was already in production when the negative reviews of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice arrived. Significant reshoots, seemingly brought on by _Dawn of Justice _criticisms,__that had to be undertaken by an entirely different director, led to a movie that, while slightly better received than _Dawn of Justice_, still performed well below expectations at the box office.
Walter Hamada is a long time film producer who previously worked as an executive at New Line, which is where current Warner Bros. Chief Content Officer Toby Emmerich worked previously. According to Variety, he also has a strong relationship with Aquaman director James Wan. In fact, it seems that Hamada is the one credited with successfully expanding the Conjuring universe with the spinoff Annabelle movies, which may the reason he was tapped for this position. Hamada doesn't have any experience working with comic book movies, but he does have experience making cinematic universes work.
It will be interesting to see how things move forward at DC now that there is somebody new in charge. In the short term, DC has movies moving forward, with Aquaman set to release in December and the sequel to Wonder Woman with a 2019 release date. Beyond that, however, things get murky. The Shazam movie seems to be moving forward, but that's really the only other film whose status is clear. There are numerous DC movies that have been announced, including more movies with Harley Quinn than we can keep track of, but when any of them will actually start filming is anybody's guess at this point.
With Walter Hamada now taking the reins, there's a good chance that we will begin to get some clarification on DC's schedule. This could include seeing some of the previously announced films getting removed and/or new ones being added.
Hopefully, this is good news for DC fans and comic book movie fans in general. Perhaps more of an outside perspective is what is needed to help the film universe get on track. We'll find out in the coming months.
