Nolan & Bale Back?

[thecolorsblend]

I read some commentary once that suggested the reason the "minor" characters keep getting films (Constantine, Jonah Hex, etc.) is that they don't spark heated debates in the halls of WB. Bring up the idea of a Wonder Woman film and you'll get a variety of opinions as to the proper approach. But tell them you want to make a Jonah Hex film and the most common response will be "Who?"

And I read one that said that WB thought of Batman and Superman as icons and that is why they were popular. The thinking went that WB always assumed as if by divine revelation that other DC characters wouldn't be successful at the box office... which explains a lot. That lasted until about the time of the first Raimi Spider-Man flick. And even now, a lot of WB suits still hold to the old conventional wisdom (how the hell those people even have jobs anymore is proof that Hollywood truly is fantasy land).

Still, I can excuse WB for a lot of stuff. They developed a successful Batman franchise which the dictatorial filmmaker insisted be a self-contained universe... and, a one billion dollar sequel later, was probably untouchable in WB offices. Then their attempted franchise with Bryan Singer withered on the vine because they gave that lunkhead WAY too much freedom. With their big two otherwise occupied and setting up DC Entertainment... yeah, I can see where they've had their hands full lately.

It's also why I won't have too many hard feelings if Justice League Dark movie gets made before the regular Justice League of America.

[Travesty]

I gave a HUGE sigh of relief when they clearly said Nolan and Bale wont be coming back. Now I just hope I enjoy MOS, since it's going to be the jumping off point for their shared universe.

[phantom stranger]

Then their attempted franchise with Bryan Singer withered on the vine because they gave that lunkhead WAY too much freedom.

To be fair, the fans supported the decision to hire Singer because he had done a pretty good job with the X-Men Movies. Sure, the movies weren't as awesome as the 90's cartoon, but I digress...

Much to everyone's surprise, Singer delivered an incredible mess of a movie. It still amazes me that one of the execs didn't push him to use a supervillain (Metallo, Conduit, etc.) just for the action figure potential. This is probably the only time in recent history where the toy companies could have actually made the film better.

[thecolorsblend]

To be fair, the fans supported the decision to hire Singer because he had done a pretty good job with the X-Men Movies. Sure, the movies weren't as awesome as the 90's cartoon, but I digress...

I didn't support it. In fact, I remember a TON of people having a collective sentiment of "I have a bad feeling about this". It was by no means unanimous but it would be an incredible revision of history to say that most of us were onboard with him.

Much to everyone's surprise, Singer delivered an incredible mess of a movie. It still amazes me that one of the execs didn't push him to use a supervillain (Metallo, Conduit, etc.) just for the action figure potential. This is probably the only time in recent history where the toy companies could have actually made the film better.

The gossip I've heard (and tend to believe) is that Zod was supposed to be in Singerman. Bryan Singer even wanted Jude Law to play the part -- because Blandon Routh and Jude Law battling it out can only mean "epic battle" rather than:

Apparently though, Law told them "thanks but no thanks" three times before they finally got the message.

[Azrael]

However, Robinov was unequivocal when asked if the rumor is true that Nolan will produce a Justice League movie, and bring Christian Bale back with him: "No, no it's not."

What took them so long to officially deny these rumors. It was all over the internet for a month, so long that many took them as fact.

[Paul (ral)]

Anything that keeps speculation and rumour going is free publicity...

I would say now that MOS is hyping up WB don't want anything else to overshadow it...thus clearing the air of rumour.

[BatmAngelus]

I think the WB execs would've been fools not to at least talk to Nolan about the possibility or attempt to change his mind, considering the success and popularity of his films.

I think it's safe to speculate that one or two meetings took place at some point, WB proposed the idea of crossing over the Bale Batman into the Justice League and getting him involved in the production, and Nolan said "No way" and that was it.  It could've happened way back during the production of The Dark Knight Rises or it could've even happened right after Latino Review broke the rumors. 

Either way, the result remains the same and I'm happy that if MOS takes off and there's a JLA, that it'll be a different Batman than the Nolan/Bale one.

[Bobthegoon89]

I was enthusiastic at first when the rumours first emerged Bale might be back again. I can't think who the hell is going to follow him in the suit. Now however I too am quite pleased this is not the case. Largely because I feel the Bale era Batman is becoming too powerful. I was all for the whole "take the comic book out of comic book movies" thing Nolan wanted to experiment with. It was a new way of doing it and gave everything a new look to the series. Unfortunately it's a curse with a blessing because now everybody wants the Batman comic universe to be purged of all the fun stuff people like Burton and Bruce Timm indulged in.

Now I'm worried Superman will have this curse glued to him in the upcoming next movie. I was relieved slightly when Hans Zimmer said the new film has more fun to it than what the trailers are making out. But that remains to be seen. I accept them rejecting Kryptonite if on the grounds of wanting to come up with a newer interesting challenge but I didn't care for Snyder's tone of taking it out because an audience can't relate to a "galactic allergy". That smells a lot like Nolan's killjoy policies.

[thecolorsblend]

I think it's still negotiable yet. If they're going to do a shared universe, they sort of have to strive for a particular tone that won't alienate anything that is intended to follow. Plus, the Pre-Crisis era explicitly said that Superman's arrival on Earth changed basically everything... thereby allowing for the idealized, black and white "reality" of the comics rather than the complicated, inherently gray nature of the real world. The effect is cumulative and builds upon itself to the point where other superpowered beings are more common place... and the movies could run with a similar premise.

Bottom line, no matter how MOS turns out as a movie, the future is wide open so long as the box office is decent.

[BatmAngelus]

Reopening this thread just to say that the reports you'll hear of Bale being offered a huge deal to return to Batman are likely false.

People getting that info cite a new ebook that discusses Bale's tenure as Batman.  Batman-News read the ebook and clarified what it said:
http://batman-news.com/2013/08/09/christian-bale-reportedly-offered-50-million-to-return-in-batman-vs-superman/

I think the websites that originally posted this story might have been jumping to conclusions. I just bought the eBook and here's the direct quote about the "$50 million offer":

"He could probably make $50 million for being in the movie 20 minutes," my friend [who worked on The Dark Knight Rises and many other films produced by Legendary Pictures] observed. "And it would be worth every penny to the studio." Sources close to Christian Bale have reportedly begun expressing their suspicions that Bale now views the Batman films in the same light that Robert Downey, Jr. views the Iron Man films.

It sounds like this part of the book was written around the time that Bale was rumored to return.  Again, it would only be logical for WB to want him to come back, rather than take the risk on rebooting with another actor.  All evidence since then- with Bale saying in interviews he's done with the part, Goyer commenting that the Batman of the DC cinematic universe is a different one, the logo of World's Finest not matching the bat logo of the Nolan trilogy, and the press release that announced the film saying that "The new Batman has yet to be cast"- suggest that Bale is still out.