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DC Cinematic Universe Discussion

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3 hours ago, Shorty said:

What the actual fuck is that

That’s DC doubling down on their gritty universe. Oddly enough it isn’t convincing me to subscribe to their new streaming service.

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Another streaming service? Does this mean that DC will pull all of their films off other services, like The Dark Knight Trilogy and put those onto their own service instead? I generally dislike the way things are going with multiple streaming services. It's just making things more expensive for the fans/everyday folk.

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Well that looks awful. 

But on the upside (uh, I guess, if there were to be one?) that isn’t part of the DCEU...as far as I can tell. 

They’re doing such a poor job of communicating what’s going on with their cinematic universe right now, which really isn’t helped by having spin-off/related/other DC live-actions shows which could very easily be related to the DCEU, but aren’t, for some silly reason. There’s no synergy between WB’s television and film studios right now, which is definitely worrying.

@Fierce_LiNk agreed, I’m not a fan of everyone going their separate ways to try to sell what can only be described as hot garbage like this. The only one I see myself subscribing to is Disney’s: I know that they have an exclusive live-action series directed by Jon Favreau on the way; I know that The Clone Wars is finally making its triumphant return, and will hopefully be completed this time around; and I know that I’ll have access to the rest of the shows and films under the Disney banner. It seems like an investment which, at the very worst, is a little questionable, but it’s not a crazy investment where I think that I won’t get my money’s worth.

Whereas DC Universe seems to be where all of the hot garbage which everyone wants done right is ending up on the DC side of things.

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Well one thing I'll say about Aquaman, it looks like it'll have some amazing visuals.

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Shazam looks great! Really looking forward to it now. :D 

Aquaman...I hope it'll be good. Please be good. Can't really tell from the trailer.

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Both Aquaman and Shazam look great. It's about DC stepped away from the dark, gritty stuff and had a little fun with their franchises. The leaked Wonder Woman shots also seem to be quite colourful, as if they are trying to imitate the TV series from the 70s/80s. Hopefully they bring back the theme tune. :D 

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Aquaman looks like it can wait for Netflix. Shazam, however, looks fun and fresh. May watch that in the cinema if I can get the night off for it.

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8 hours ago, bob said:

Did DC just make.....a good film?

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves :p trailers are typically put together by third parties, meaning that those working on the team still have plenty of time to mess/have messed this up in post-, and a good film a good (I actually only thought they were half decent, but to each their own) trailer does not make. I still have a better feeling about Shazam! than I do Aquaman, and neither film has a particularly strong footing with their release dates. There’s still the obstacle of a complete lack of planning going on behind the scenes when compared to other cinematic/extended universes, and until we see two or three films have a solid performance both at the box office and with critics, I doubt that those preconceptions will change.

Edited by Julius Caesar
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Let’s not get ahead of ourselves  trailers are typically put together by third parties, meaning that those working on the team still have plenty of time to mess/have messed this up in post-, and a good film a good (I actually only thought they were half decent, but to each their own) trailer does not make. I still have a better feeling about Shazam! than I do Aquaman, and neither film has a particularly strong footing with their release dates. There’s still the obstacle of a complete lack of planning going on behind the scenes when compared to other cinematic/extended universes, and until we see two or three films have a solid performance both at the box office and with critics, I doubt that those preconceptions will change.
Yeah but....Chuck as a superhero? They can't mess that up.
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3 hours ago, bob said:
3 hours ago, Julius Caesar said:
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves emoji14.png trailers are typically put together by third parties, meaning that those working on the team still have plenty of time to mess/have messed this up in post-, and a good film a good (I actually only thought they were half decent, but to each their own) trailer does not make. I still have a better feeling about Shazam! than I do Aquaman, and neither film has a particularly strong footing with their release dates. There’s still the obstacle of a complete lack of planning going on behind the scenes when compared to other cinematic/extended universes, and until we see two or three films have a solid performance both at the box office and with critics, I doubt that those preconceptions will change.

Yeah but....Chuck as a superhero? They can't mess that up.

He's already been Spider-man

chuck_and_sarah_19_by_kwiku001-d5fbre2.g

I'm looking forward to Shazam! as Levi can do comedy with a tinge of drama pretty well so I think it should be fun.

I didn't get much from the Aquaman trailer, think I need to watch it again.  I like how they put a middle finger up to the 'talks to fishes' criticism at the start.

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Hmm should this thread title be changed as apparently its officially known as Worlds of DC...

Makes sense as it seems all films aren't going to be connected.

This is adorable:

I'm looking forward to his press tour. 

I also want that shirt.

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4 hours ago, Ashley said:

Hmm should this thread title be changed as apparently its officially known as Worlds of DC...

Makes sense as it seems all films aren't going to be connected.

Well, it was the DCEU — DC Extended Universe — in the first place anyway, so we’re a bit behind :p the ‘Worlds of DC’ doesn’t seem to be official (yet?), but then again, anything’s better than DCEU, so I’ll take it. 

As for not all of the films being connected...have I already mentioned how much of a trainwreck DC’s connected universe is? :p 

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It never was officially DCEU and Worlds of DC is official (was confirmed at Comic Con). 

And how can their connected universe be a mess when it's not all connected? 😉

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1 hour ago, Ashley said:

It never was officially DCEU and Worlds of DC is official (was confirmed at Comic Con). 

And how can their connected universe be a mess when it's not all connected? 😉

Normally they’d come out during the presentation/have a separate press release to push ‘Worlds of DC’ in the event that it was their brand name for the universe, so I don’t think it’s official, just a title they want to throw associate with their SDCC presentation. 

It’s just more of a mess than it was before is all ::shrug:

I feel sorry for the kids who are going to have to do some mental gymnastics to attempt to understand why there are two separate Joker films, and even more sorry for the parents who are going to have to attempt to explain the convoluted mess over at WB to their kids. Or maybe this is WB not having enough faith in themselves, so they’re making and releasing two films, with the best received being added to their cinematic universe? :p 

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I mean, have you looked at comics...?

There are some films that are part of an interconnected story (Man of Steel through to JL), some are related but not linked to the storyline (Wonder Woman, Aquaman) and some are standalone stories (the other Joker film). I'm not saying it's simple, but it's not exactly rocket science. It's clearer than the Zelda timeline and we all made it through our childhoods 😋

Plus are kids really that concerned with the upkeep of ongoing storylines? Isn't that more of an adult thing? I'd assume kids just like seeing the characters and enjoy it in the moment. 

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I mean if we are using the Joker as an example then in the comics there are currently 3 of them which was a big reveal a few years ago so if they wanted to DC could easily keep that as interconnected.

Three-Jokers.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=738&dpr

Edited by Happenstance

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@Happenstance @Ashley sure, in the comics, but let’s not forget how off the wall they can get at times. They’re great for adapting bits and pieces from, but there are a lot of things in comics — be it DC, Marvel, or any other brand — that just wouldn’t work as effectively in film. Let’s not forget for a moment that the vast majority of avid movie-goers aren’t also avid comic readers. 

But what I was actually getting at is the fact that there is obviously the MCU around, and the very fact that DC attempted to build something akin to that with their films is why it could be confusing. If there are two Joker movies which aren’t at all connected, then surely we could see two different versions of Batman, too? And then, surely, you’re going to get kids wondering why one is Ben Affleck and killing pretty much everyone around him, whilst the other Batman is [insert name here], and is more like his old comic embodiment in that he is against killing. Plus, if one is a one-off but received extremely well, but it’s the other one that isn’t received very well which gets a sequel and is integrated into the larger DC movie universe, then yes, I can imagine there being confusion and a bit of a stir. 

DC can hardly string together a couple of films at the moment which are received well by both critics and the audience, @Happenstance, so I think that they should be focusing on nailing one Joker before attempting anything like that. They still lack a solid foundation.

@Ashley but that’s my point: the reason that the MCU is so effective is because we know that it’s all connected, and so it’s easy to kick back and enjoy the ride. We know what we’re in for: it is all connected. Whereas what DC seems to be doing resembles the confusing situation between the MCU and Sony regarding Venom — except that DC owns the rights to their characters, so that shouldn’t be the case! — and don’t need to muddy the waters. If DC made it clear from the start that their plan was to make standalone films, then I’m sure fans would be on board, because we’d know what’s going on (I actually think that it would have been better if there films at least started as being standalone). But they didn’t, and they decided to go with the connected movie universe in an attempt to cash-in like Marvel has with the MCU; at this point, to have standalone films outside of their ongoing connected universe seems pretty pointless from a financial perspective, and it’s a bit like having the standalone Star Wars Story films not be part of the “official” canon of Star Wars. 

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I'm not that bothered about having to have all of the films and tv connected. From my point of view, it's actually been one of the reasons why I haven't gotten into the Marvel films. I watched the original Iron Man and didn't think much of it. Then, I didn't watch Iron Man 2 or 3, I didn't watch Captain America, and suddenly there's a whole universe that has appeared. As someone who hasn't kept up with all of the films, I didn't watch the new Avengers film (despite hearing that it was very good) as I hadn't watched the 15 or so films that came before it to fully appreciate it, especially all of the references and character motivations.

There's a difference between having to watch movies 1 and 2 to understand the plot of 3. But, with the Marvel universe, it's a bit more complex than that. I'm sure it's great if you've kept up and I imagine that it's really cool to spot all of these little things. But...that's a bit of a commitment to make. Imagine if you told James Bond fans that they had to watch all of the previous films to understand Spectre or Skyfall. 

For me, there are bigger issues with the DC films. Take The Dark Knight trilogy and look at what made those films universally loved. The writing was great, the dialogue was stunning at times, the cinematography, the soundtrack, the plot points, the characters, etc. They were good films in their own right. Compare that to something such as, say, Suicide Squad. Could have been great, should have been amazing...yet I thought it was easily the worst of the recent DC films. Because it lacked in all of those departments that I just mentioned. What's the point in a connected universe if the parts themselves are weak? 

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I still think you're giving kids too much credit for caring or even noticing @Julius Caesar. Were kids confused when the voice actors in Pokémon were all replaced? Were they confused when the actor behind Hulk was replaced? 

I just don't think kids really notice. Adults, sure. But not kids. 

Obviously there's a clear visual difference, but I don't see them getting confused between the Batman they see in JL, LEGO Batman, Batman the Animated Series and the various unconnected films. I think kids (most of them anyway) just see a character, not a history. 

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