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After a 20 month - long struggle with the U.S. Justice Department , AT&T ’s $ 85.4 billion takeover of Time Warner hasfinally been approved- meaning that all of Warner Bros. ' DC properties now fall under the AT&T umbrella . News of buyouts , acquisitions and mergers can understandably make some fans nervous about the destiny of their preferent characters and franchise , but the AT&T / Time Warner deal is ( likely ) near news for the DC Extended Universe .
The franchise already has a considerable number of projection in ontogeny . Aquamanwill release later this class , follow byShazam!andWonder Woman 1984next year , and beyond that the films that Warner Bros. has in the word of mouth range from asolo Batman movie(andpossible reboot ) to asolo Lobo movie . Fans who have a groovy interest in ensure one or more of those projects come to realisation may be concerned that Warner Bros. ' new owner will require to begin over from lucre , but the chances of that materialize are slight .
Related:The Fox/Disney Deal Is A Lot More Likely After AT&T/Warner
DC Films , the yield company behind the DCEU , is some way down the collective chain . It ’s a branch of DC Entertainment , whose parent caller is Warner Bros. , whose parent company is Time Warner ( now called WarnerMedia ) , whose parent company is now AT&T. However , just because DC Films is just one of agreat many assets acquiredin the deal , it does n’t entail that the change of possession wo n’t shake thing up a bit . thing are only just starting to move ahead , but here ’s what we know so far about how the AT&T buyout may bear on the DCEU .
The Deal Might Have Saved the DCEU
Earlier this year it was reported that , if the AT&T / Time Warner buyout ended up getting successfully blocked by the Department of Justice , Time Warner wouldmost likely be broken upinto Warner Bros. , HBO and Turner and sell off individually - putting DC Films and the DCEU in an unsealed spot . As it tolerate , Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara will be stay on at the school principal of the party and , as far as we know , the DCEU will continue along its current path . In anemail to Warner Bros. employee , Tsujihara wrote :
While this is truly an evolution of our business , [ AT&T CEO ] Randall Stephenson and [ WarnerMedia CEO ] John Stankey have both said the WarnerMedia company will continue to have the creative freedom and resources to keep doing what we do best .
While that ’s not quite a promise that dead nothing will change for DC Films , it does sound like AT&T will be fairly hands - off when it comes to Warner Bros. ' case-by-case picture show franchises . Moreover , it ’s potential that Warner Bros. was on purpose keeping sure projects in oblivion until the deal went through ( the plans for the buyout were first announced in October 2016 ) , which is why we ’ve heard about so many differentmovies in maturation , but so few have appeared to be actuate forward .
Page 2:The Current Plan For the DCEU
The Current Plan For the DCEU
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have seen some major shake - ups behind the scenes in the last few months . In December 2017 Warner Bros. co - president of production Jon Berg stepped down from his role , and shortly before the AT&T buyout was okay , Geoff Johns left the positionof DC Entertainment CCO and Diane Nelson , president of DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Consumer Products , left as well . In January 2018 , Toby Emmerich was promote to chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group and Walter Hamada - the producer behind recent horror successes likeThe Conjuringmovies andIT- was named the new president of DC Films . It ’s sure enough possible that we ’ll see more shakeups now that the deal was been approve , but for now it seems like Tsujihara , Hamada and Emmerich are staying put .
According to a source atTHR , " [ Hamada ] walk into a s***show , and he ’s endeavor to clean it up . " The DCEU is in a difficult stead right now , after heavy reshoots , a change of music director and a bloated budget failed to make aJustice Leaguemovie that foul up away the box business office . One of the key conclusion that Hamada and Emmerich have made is not to set release dates for projects that have n’t commence shoot yet - perhaps a chic move , given that out of the ten DC picture that were announce with dismission date in 2014 , four have either been delayed or completely stalled . PerTHR , Hamada has " a specific design for the universe , " but whether or not we in reality get to see that design executed will depend to a great extent on the first few DC movies produced on Hamada ’s scout .
Related:Answering The Big Questions About Jared Leto’s Solo Joker Movie
The Next Few DCEU Movies Are Crucial
The DCEU is currently in a delicate position . While some have been call for the cinematic universe ’s head ever sinceBatman V Superman : Dawn of Justice , it ’s unsufferable to write off the enterprise completely thanks to the achiever ofWonder Womanand the as - yet - unresolved voltage of James Wan ’s Aquaman picture . WhileJustice Leaguegenerally leave both critics and fans dissatisfied , Ezra Miller ’s take on The Flash was one of the movie ’s highlights , which augur well for thesolo Flash moviethat ’s currently in developing .
With Warner Bros. under new management , Aquaman is about to confront a great lot of examination when it arrives in dramatics this December . Emmerich toldEWthat " it ’s significant that [ Aquaman ] works , " report Wan ’s movie as " a bit of a bridge movie . " While he did n’t specify precisely where that bridge go , the current card of DC movies in development suggest that Warner Bros. is moving aside from the share universe model , and rivet more on standalone movies with wide varying tones . For exercise , Todd Phillips ' upcomingJokermovie , which isexpected to begin shoot this fall , has a budget of just $ 55 million and stars Joaquin Phoenix in the use , alternatively of the DCEU ’s Joker ( Jared Leto ) . However , Leto ’s Jokerwillalsobe fuck off his own solo movie , while the Phoenix picture show could end up being turn under a " DC Dark " or " DC Black " impression .
To sum up , while the AT&T / Time Warner deal in all probability is n’t going to kill the DCEU , the DCEU as we lie with it may be on the path out anyway . Whether or not AT&T will keep the current plan on track or choose to shake up management at DC once again will depend intemperately on the functioning ofAquaman , Shazam!andWonder Woman 1984- so let ’s hope DC ’s heroes are up to the challenge !
More:Movie Franchises AT&T Gets With The Time Warner Acquisition
