Kevin Feige and Geoff Johns said that there’s no competition between the DC Extended Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but everybody can agree that Warner Bros. appears to be playing catch-up with Disney. They skipped giving their characters origin stories (which would have done wonders for Suicide Squad and for Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and fast-tracked the shared universe.
The results were less than satisfactory, at least until Wonder Woman (an origin story) was released. Then the studio changed the initial 2014 movie slate and announced several additional projects.
Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman Film)
According to recent reports, Wonder Woman has given the studio wings. Umberto Gonzales of The Wrap said that Warner Bros. intends to release three to four movies each year.
A lot of people have been asking me what's the next movie in 2018-2019. I know for a fact DC is trying to get three to four movies made a year moving forward (via Screen Rant).
If this happens, we can presume that it will begin in 2019. Aquaman is set for a December 2018 release, and it’s too late to get anything else going before that.
But there’s a twist.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, after recent bombs from auteur directors Guy Ritchie (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) and Ben Affleck (Live by Night), the studio isn’t willing to risk big projects with directors who have their own recognizable style, so to speak.
Outside the silos, there has been a big waste of money on projects that don't make sense. [Under Emmerich] they're not going to make a movie like The Judge with Robert Downey, Jr. for $60 million. For $35 million "” maybe.
THR also says that the movies from big franchises such as the DCEU might not fall into this category, so Warner Bros. might back those directors. But Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice fell, and Suicide Squad sank even further. Additionally, Rick Famuyiwa reportedly departed from The Flash because the studio deemed his vision too risky.
Rick Famuyiwa (Variety)
Will Warner Bros. play it safe from here on out? If they do, we hope that the DC Extended Universe will remain discernible from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the X-Men Shared Universe is.
