We always forget Man of Steel when taking in the overall response to Warner Bros.' DCU movies, so let's not forget to include it. Along with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, the studio's cinematic universe has taken a pounding from critics for being too dark and gloomy. The box office has been decent, but clearly more was expected considering these are the most famous comic book characters in the world.
We've heard from DC Films' top guy Geoff Johns and Justice League director Zack Snyder that a lighter tone is what's needed to change course, and now Time Warner chairman-CEO Jeff Bewkes has further admitted in a conference call that things could have been handled better and there's "a little room for improvement"...
“The DC Comics characters… have a little more lightness in them than maybe what you saw in [Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad], so we’re thinking about that.”
However, Bewkes did go on to say that they are happy overall with how things turned out, noting that the fan reaction to Ben Affleck's Batman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman has been very positive...
“The strategy worked. The execution did deliver what we wanted to do. We can do a little better on the creative… We’re right on course or better.”
I do think the negative reaction has been a little overblown, but it's only because we can't help but compare DC to Marvel. It's in our nature. We do it with their comic books and obviously that has carried over to the movies. My concern is that WB will shift gears too forcefully in hopes of achieving the oft-glowing critical reviews Marvel enjoys. The best idea would be to trust in their directors and let the movies stand on their own, rather than constant tinkering like they did with Suicide Squad. [Variety]
