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Warner to take a stronger hand at newly revamped DC Entertainment
A week after Disney announced that it was buying Marvel, Warner Brothers is poised to take a larger hand in running DC Comics, which is rebooting itself as DC Entertainment, Variety reported.
DC, home of Superman, Batman and the Green Lantern, will now be run by Warner Brothers vet Diane Nelson, who has overseen the Harry Potter franchise for the studio and managed Warner Premiere, which produces original direct-to-DVD movies, including several based on DC's more iconic heroes, the trade paper reported:
"It's no secret that DC has a myriad of rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters," said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. Entertainment prexy and chief operating officer. "The formation of DC Entertainment will help us bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world."As part of the move, Paul Levitz will step down as president and publisher of DC Comics and segue into a new post as writer, contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment.
It's well known in Hollywood that while Marvel properties have been turned into movie powerhouses, DC characters have had a more mixed record: The Dark Knight soared, while Superman Returns faltered and such projects as a proposed Justice League movie and films based on the Flash and Green Lantern have languished in development.
By PALADIN at 4:24 AM ON 09/10/09
This trend of comic publishers being bought up by 'ConHugeCo' is either going to result in some great movies....or some serious damage to long-cherished pop and cultural icons.
Now i know how NASCAR fans feel when they go to see a great race, but cannot turn away from the grusome spectacle of an accident.
By GrumpyOldMan at 4:57 AM ON 09/10/09
@PALADIN - No one's being bought here; Warner has owned DC for years.
Given that some industry folk blame Warner for making horrible choices on the DC movies to date, I'm not sure why Marvel hitched themselves to a similarly huge company. Perhaps this Warner rebranding involves some sort of streamlining of project approval and management?
I also wonder how much DC is going to pay to rent Superman now that they've lost the rights. Can't imagine much success for their new flagship without him to be honest. Plus there's that whole DCU online game that has Superman all over it...
Should be interesting times for WB and DC.
By Red Mask at 5:16 AM ON 09/10/09
DC's superheroes should corner the TV cartoon market. Their characters are just perfect for more cartoons.
By John Duncan Yoyo at 5:54 AM ON 09/10/09
I have to agree with Paladin. Most of the DC Comics based films have suffered from not enough DC Comics participation. I hope Nelson's real job is to keep the TV/Film/Movie people in line with what made the properties successful as comics.
The constant reinventing of Superman for the movies was dumb. It wasted a decade and a ton a of development money. The most satisfying Superman projects were the least re-imagined Superman- the TV Supermen- the Adventures of Superman and Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman.
I like Smallville but it isn't the same sort of thing. Birds of Prey was actually pretty good too bad it didn't get a chance to run for a couple of years.
By Aberzombie at 6:48 AM ON 09/10/09
The article said that Diane Nelson is the same one who had been overseeing the Direct to DVD animated flicks. Those have been pretty well received so far, which gives me hope that she can revitalize movie franchises for more than just Batman.
By PALADIN at 7:33 AM ON 09/10/09
Personanally, I find it unsettling that Warner has appointed one of their own execs to control DC Comics. I don`t care what their pedigree is.
The Bottom Line on all this is that Spider-Man, Batman , etc. are going to either be controlled by creative talent that cares and has made them work (and PAY ) ...or the characters will be crafted to conform to a ConHugeCo 'Company Vision' .
"Should be interesting times for WB and DC."
--- And the old Chinese Curse says ;
"May You Live In Interesting Times".
By marklifestyle at 10:40 AM ON 09/10/09
DIsney's acquisition of Marvel is perfect if it wants to re-tool its MALL stores. Letting a Disney store sell Marvel comics exclusively breaks the stranglehold that Diamond Distributors has on comics only to reintroduce another obstacle to getting the main product the books. And while the books only make a small portion of the revenue they do kep the movies, cartoons and direct to market DVD quite well stocked. The Disney store benefits because the fanboy needs to go in once a week to get their books and might walk out with some Disney merchandise.
By smegforbrain at 1:15 AM ON 09/11/09
"Letting a Disney store sell Marvel comics exclusively"
Even with the ever-shrinking numbers of comic shops around the country, there are still far more comic shops than Disney stores and in far more cities.
Quite simply, this would be downright effing stupid.
By Fobok at 4:43 PM ON 09/12/09
I think this is a really great idea, personally. I've heard stories about how the different branches of Warner Bros. practically compete with each other, This, obviously, was no help thus far in DC-based movies. This change should, I hope, help things run a lot smoother.
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Fobok:
I think this is a really great idea, personally. I've heard stories about how the different branches of Warner Bros...More »