DC Films’ Jon Berg and Geoff Johns have spoken about the shortcomings of previous DC Extended Universe movies while also looking to a more positive future.
Wonder Woman is looking to be the film that helps DC turn the corner with its movie universe, changing attitudes slightly towards proceedings after the mostly negative reception both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad received.
DC Film’s Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, the two men behind the cinematic universe, have spoken openly about the previous movies’ shortcomings in a recent interview with Variety.
Asked why people embraced Wonder Woman so well, Johns replied: “Most of the DC Universe is known as being a hopeful and optimistic place. It’s known for characters that are inspirational and aspirational. Anyone who knows and loves the DC Universe knows that a lot of that has to do with its hope and optimism.”
Berg, in a moment of openness, spoke about the lesson learned from the earlier movies and the particular problems those films suffered:
“There are lessons from every movie. You would be silly not to analyze how a movie was received — what went right and what went wrong on the making of a movie. On Suicide Squad, the movie did incredibly well commercially. It didn’t work narratively. You had some great casting and some great characterizations, but where the story fell down was on narrative, on plot. We could do better. Batman v Superman was tonally dark. People didn’t respond to that.”
SEE ALSO: Geoff Johns says “heart, humor, hope, heroics and optimism” are now the focus of the DCEU
It’s certainly refreshing to hear content creators talk so honestly about what didn’t work regarding their movies, and it certainly bodes well for the future of the DCEU.
Next up in the franchise is Justice League, a movie that has been in development for a considerable time, so it will be interesting to see if Johns and Berg had time to implement any of the lessons learned into the making of that movie.
I see from the live action promo image above that they learned one lesson well: put Wonder Woman front and center!