So, director Christopher McQuarrie (MI: Fallout) was answering fan questions on Twitter this morning and confirmed that he and Henry Cavill pitched a Superman film to WB/DC executives, while also submitting a written proposal for a connected Green Lantern film, but WB/DC didn’t pursue either project. McQuarrie also goes on in the same thread to say he now has no interest in pursuing either a Superman movie or any superhero film at all. Thoughts? Seems like a huge lost opportunity imo, especially since it would have been the perfect chance to have Tom Cruise in a Green Lantern film.
Links to Twitter thread:
https://mobile.twitter.com/chrismcquarrie/status/1147088978610442241
https://mobile.twitter.com/chrismcquarrie/status/1147094345247535104
https://mobile.twitter.com/chrismcquarrie/status/1147130756445159424
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I guess it depends on when these ideas were pitched. We know that by the time they were filming Justice League WB execs were already getting cold feet about Snyder’s approach to the characters, so maybe they worried about committing to two more interconnected films that would continue with Cavill’s Superman (even if the tone was totally different from Man Of Steel). In retrospect it seems like a bad idea not to partner with the guy that made the last two Mission: Impossible movies, but prior to Rogue Nation he’d only directed two films (Way of the Gun and Jack Reacher), both of which were reasonably small in scale.
Today it seems stupid, but depending on when this proposal was handed in I can definitely see why WB might have passed.
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Style, tone, timing and budget all are part of the equation. Finally taking a queue from MCU by building up previously undone big screen properties like WW, Aquaman & Shazam for lower budgets and higher ROI is not a bad idea. Both from a more characters in the public eye, growing a cinematic universe more organically, rather than just leading with your two heavy hitters all the time. Hopefully it will take a good 2-2.5 years before the latest Batman film hits theaters. Time and distance from the last incarnation is a good thing. DC certainly shied away for quite a while even on Superman to get time and distance from Christopher Reeves. There are still many who see Reeves as the quintessential film Superman. It’s a big hurdle. They have only done so with Batman post-Keaton because they’ve done so many and different styles and tones.
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