Kevin Feige has made the most successful franchise in the history of film with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Meanwhile, across the bay, his rivals at Warner Bros. Discovery look on with envy, mashing together Superman and Batman action figures in the hope they’ll spark and spit money.
The studio has had some success with films based on DC superheroes — people liked The Batman, Joker was a huge hit, Aquaman did pretty well, etc. — but there has also been mess. In the beginning, Zack Snyder was supposed to be the Kevin Feige of DC Films, but the results were mixed. Recently, CEO David Zaslav has taken the reins at Warner Bros. Discovery and made it his mission to revitalize the DC brand and turn the universe into something that can rival the MCU. Naturally, his first move was to cancel the already-completed Batgirl, ticking off talent both behind and in front of the camera. He also redoubled efforts to find a Kevin Feige-esque guy who can manage this whole thing for him, and for a minute it looked like he’d found it in The LEGO Movie producer Dan Lin.
Ends up that didn’t pan out. Variety, citing “sources familiar with the situation,” reports that Lin will not be taking the job. Apparently he wanted Warner Bros. Discovery to buy a stake in his production company Rideback and allow him to keep working there while he managed all things DC, but the two parties couldn’t agree on terms.
Warner Bros. Discovery wanted Dan Lin to be its own Kevin Feige, but nope
Per Variety, Warner Bros. Discovery has “no immediate urgency to fill the job,” although you’d think they would. Walter Hamada, the current guy in charge of DC movies, was reportedly so angry over Zaslav’s decision to cancel Batgirl — as well as his choices in general — that he’s going to peace out after the release of Black Adam next month. After that, Warner Bros. studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be in charge of DC stuff.
Besides Black Adam, WBD still has sequels to Aquaman and Shazam on the docket. Then there’s The Flash, which will probably come out but has been beset by issues involving its star Ezra Miller. Give or take a Blue Beetle movie that’s apparently still happening, DC doesn’t have much beyond that in the hopper. We’ll see how they fare, with or without a Kevin Feige to call their own.
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