What if DC ditched franchises for the time being and focused more on one offs?

[Skrilla31]

Look I don't want to start a flame war here. I'm sure there were a lot of you here that loved Man Of Steel and I'm sure there's just as many of you looking forward to the Superman/Batman movie in 2015 and all the things that are sure to follow. I get that. So if you're one of those people, then I don't expect you to roll with me on this one.

But I think I speak for at least a few people here who aren't really keen on what WB/DC is doing right now. And to those people, I propose this alternative.

What if they shifted their focus away from franchises and just put all their attention into making huge, epic one offs every other year or so? I'm talking event films that aren't bound or constricted to the limitations or rules of existing franchises in some futile attempt to try and make everything connect.

Example. Kingdom Come.

If they could make Watchmen, they could make Kingdom Come. Watchmen featured a roster of characters that nobody knew going in and yet that movie worked out just fine. Why? Because the movie educated you about it's characters and their histories and the film took care of the rest. Now imagine that same approach but with a movie that already features iconic characters like Superman and Batman.

Could you imagine the images in that trailer?

People would flock in droves to see a massive superhero epic like that.

No need to establish a continuity or a set of established franchises. Just dive head first into these amazing stories and don't worry about trying to create a universe.

So many great DC stories to choose from.

 

[Airwings]

Why couldn't they do solo films instead of huge team ups?
I mean:

One Wonder Woman

One The Flash

One Aquaman

One Hawkman

One Green Arrow

And that's it!

The more mythological heroes with the same scope as LOTR

 

[metaphysician]

Might as well ask "What if pigs were flying pack predators that hunted baby humans to implant their eggs?" The nature of the market is such that everything will always revolve around the franchise. Even movies not intended to be a franchise will become one if they actually succeed by more than a small margin.

 

[Wise]

I think because Marvel has proved that continuity sells. People love going to Marvel movies because they're familiar with and love those characters. They're almost like an old Serial but on a much much larger scale.

 

[metaphysician]

Its not even continuity, or anything Marvel did. Its simply that sequels sell. The audience *wants* sequels, enough so that sequels are almost universally safer investments than original movies.

 

[smallville fan]

Look I don't want to start a flame war here. I'm sure there were a lot of you here that loved Man Of Steel and I'm sure there's just as many of you looking forward to the Superman/Batman movie in 2015 and all the things that are sure to follow. I get that. So if you're one of those people, then I don't expect you to roll with me on this one.

But I think I speak for at least a few people here who aren't really keen on what WB/DC is doing right now. And to those people, I propose this alternative.

What if they shifted their focus away from franchises and just put all their attention into making huge, epic one offs every other year or so? I'm talking event films that aren't bound or constricted to the limitations or rules of existing franchises in some futile attempt to try and make everything connect.

Example. Kingdom Come.

If they could make Watchmen, they could make Kingdom Come. Watchmen featured a roster of characters that nobody knew going in and yet that movie worked out just fine. Why? Because the movie educated you about it's characters and their histories and the film took care of the rest. Now imagine that same approach but with a movie that already features iconic characters like Superman and Batman.

Could you imagine the images in that trailer?

People would flock in droves to see a massive superhero epic like that.

No need to establish a continuity or a set of established franchises. Just dive head first into these amazing stories and don't worry about trying to create a universe.

So many great DC stories to choose from.

Well look at Superman Returns which from a certain point of view was a "one off" film. That really didn't work out so well. People want to be introduced to new characters and to let them be part of their lives and go on a journey with them from day 1. Sure you could argue that for niche geeks who like the straight to DVD animated movies DC makes that they would love to see your pitch happen except it's live action this time, but you need to consider what the regular people or general audiences want.

It's like having Avengers done straight away with no solo film build up. Sure many will enjoy that Marvel's A-Team is brought to the big screen at long last but to many others it'll just feel like another "X-Men movie". There was something fulfilling and rewarding about building towards the big one with all those little movies. Plus it made the event film all the more special.

Now wouldn't it be more epic to actually build towards a Kingdom Come style cinematic epic rather than make DC's answer to X-Men 3?

 

[Boom]

I'm certain a Kingdom Come movie would kill me. My heart would not be able to take it.

 

[Red Mask]

What if they shifted their focus away from franchises and just put all their attention into making huge, epic one offs every other year or so? I'm talking event films that aren't bound or constricted to the limitations or rules of existing franchises in some futile attempt to try and make everything connect.

Then Warner Bros. would finally get **** done!

 

[Kevin Smith]

Look I don't want to start a flame war here. I'm sure there were a lot of you here that loved Man Of Steel and I'm sure there's just as many of you looking forward to the Superman/Batman movie in 2015 and all the things that are sure to follow. I get that. So if you're one of those people, then I don't expect you to roll with me on this one.

But I think I speak for at least a few people here who aren't really keen on what WB/DC is doing right now. And to those people, I propose this alternative.

What if they shifted their focus away from franchises and just put all their attention into making huge, epic one offs every other year or so? I'm talking event films that aren't bound or constricted to the limitations or rules of existing franchises in some futile attempt to try and make everything connect.

Example. Kingdom Come.

If they could make Watchmen, they could make Kingdom Come. Watchmen featured a roster of characters that nobody knew going in and yet that movie worked out just fine. Why? Because the movie educated you about it's characters and their histories and the film took care of the rest. Now imagine that same approach but with a movie that already features iconic characters like Superman and Batman.

Could you imagine the images in that trailer?

People would flock in droves to see a massive superhero epic like that.

No need to establish a continuity or a set of established franchises. Just dive head first into these amazing stories and don't worry about trying to create a universe.

So many great DC stories to choose from.

I would love this. This has been an idea of mine for a long while now.

 

[ЯɘvlveR]

Ii've thought that this would be a smart way for them to go. i don't think they'd have the problems that marvel will have in the future, whether it's about actors salaries, or basically the story arcs running their course, it all seems like it'll end after avengers three, when they face off against the baddest of them all.

given man of steel the casting of cavill so shorty after returns, and affleck's casting after tdkr, they've definitely set precedence for themselves in that respect.

if they focus on live adaptations they can pretty much cast as many different actors for the big roles that they want. live action continuity be damned.

 

[Visualiza]

I'm indifferent. So long as the movies themselves are solid, it doesn't matter whether or not they're episodic.

I will say that the build up to sequels and cross-overs can be exciting, but again, that rests on whether or not the individual movies are actually good.

 

[kguillou]

I loved Man of Steel and am greatly looking forward to B v S, but I admit I'm actually very much for this proposed idea of one off films. Event films. One of the things I really loved about Man of Steel was that it felt, to me at least, like its own contained epic superhero event. Marvel's movies feel more like...episodes and that's including the Avengers. As good as the avengers was I felt like even that movie held back from being a truly epic film like MoS was. MoS went for broke and went all out and I love that. I think a series of one off DC movies could work.

However.

The nature of Hollywood would never allow this to happen. Hollywood wants franchises and they want to make stars out of actors. Let's say we had a Kingdom Come movie and then a Infinite Crisis movie a couple of years later. Would it be the same actors playing the same roles or different actors each time? If it was the same actors, then the general public would naturally assume that its the same continuity.

Its something that will never happen but I actually think its a cool idea.

 

[ЯɘvlveR]

all i know is, if kingdom come ever gets made, cranston needs to be batman.