On Thursday I saw Captain America: Civil War and it was everything Batman vs. Superman was not. The plot made sense, it had levity and humor and it moved fast enough to be interesting. Without revealing spoilers, well known superheroes were reintroduced in a way that seemed fresh and new. It wasn’t just a rehash of known backstories punctuated by dream sequences and stuff blowing up. Most people agree with me, the film is at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and it cleaned up at the box office. As Kaiser reported earlier, it’s the fifth biggest box office opening of all time although it does need to do incredibly well to make up for its huge budget.
Now that Civil War has come out and is generally superior to BvS in both box office numbers and reviews, there’s a new story confirming what we’ve suspected all along – that Affleck was very upset at the negative reviews of BvS. This isn’t just a rumor and seems to be well sourced because The Guardian has picked it up. What’s more is that Affleck and his co-writer, Argo screenwriter Chris Terrio, are going to rework future DC scripts, and Affleck has been named an executive producer on Justice League, filming now. Director Zach Snyder is being “edged out”:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Affleck has become executive producer on the already-filming Justice League movie.
Affleck and writer Chris Terrio are going to shape up the script to make sure it’s something people might actually want to see. Once filming is complete, Affleck will have some say in post-production concerns. This means Affleck is now creatively involved in the film on a very real level.
Hold up, the red phone is ringing. Oh hey, it’s Devin Faraci, who has this to add:
“My sources have told me that Affleck was incredibly unhappy about the reception of BvS. He felt humiliated after spending so much of the press tour saying how much better this film would be than Daredevil. On top of that his agent was furious when Kevin Tsujihara jumped the gun and announced him as the director of The Batman – there were still negotiations happening.”
This move seems to help placate Affleck while also edging Zack Snyder out of a controlling central position in the DC Movieverse.
This is just the latest step in an ongoing shakeup at Warner Bros in response to Batman v Superman’s poor reception… While it’s certainly fascinating to see played out in public like this, the bottom line is a hope that these movies will actually get good. With the help of Affleck, an honestly talented filmmaker, that comes closer to being a reality.
[From Birth.Movies.Death via The Guardian]
When Affleck was promoting BvS he explained how Snyder storyboarded the plot for him and sold him on his vision for the movie. I would argue that it wasn’t executed in a way which was audience-friendly, although some comic fans have said they liked it and that it was true to the source material. Now Affleck is stepping in to save the day, and to try to make DC viable competition to Marvel. They have a lot of catching up to do and obviously they realize that given the timing of this story. We’ll have to see how Suicide Squad does when it’s out in August.
Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and their kids are shown getting a train from Paris to London on 5-8-16. Credit: FameFlynet. Graham Norton screenshot from WENN
