JUSTICE LEAGUE’s Massive Budget Revealed; FLASHPOINT Still a Priority

After years of development, DC’s greatest heroes finally join forces in Justice League, which hits theaters next week. There have been some hurdles to overcome in order to bring these characters to the big screen, and a new Wall Street Journal piece breaks them down.

According to WSJ, the production budget for Justice League is close to $300 million. This is the number after the extra money spent on reshoots, and it does not include marketing and other costs. Simply put, that is a staggering amount of money to spend on any movie, superhero or otherwise. And it means that the film has to make a LOT of money in order to churn a profit. Hopefully, that won’t be an issue.

WSJ’s piece also sheds light on the behind-the-scenes process of getting Justice League right. While Warner Bros. liked Zack Snyder’s early cut, the studio felt like additional work was needed, which led to Joss Whedon being hired to write and, eventually, direct new scenes. There was an effort to meld the two filmmakers’ styles. While early cuts didn’t do that, the final version succeeded. In fact, a test screening recently earned audience scores on par with Wonder Woman, which was a huge critical and financial success. Additionally, WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara pushed for the film to be under two hours long.

Additionally, sources say that 2018 – which only has one DC film, Aquaman – will be a “reset” year for the studio, as executives focus on a slate of individual films that are filmmaker-driven. President Toby Emmerich says that the focus should be on making great movies, not making a shared universe. “We don’t want to limit the creativity filmmakers can bring to the table by saying these characters have to come in a particular order and all fit into the same universe.”

However, one film that is still a priority for the studio is Flashpoint. Originally conceived as a Flash solo film, it later evolved into an adaptation of one of DC’s biggest stories, featuring other heroes such as Wonder Woman. Emmerich says that the movie is still a priority, with a director “close” to being hired and a greenlight hopefully coming soon. Plus, WB sees Flash as the breakout character from Justice League.

Stay tuned for more DC movie updates as we have them. For WSJ’s full article, click HERE.

Justice League is scheduled to hit theaters November 17th. The fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Amber Heard, Joe Morton, Willem Dafoe, Jeremy Irons, and J.K. Simmons. Zack Snyder directs from a script by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon.