In this edition of The Week in Spandex, we look at Justice League, Wonder Woman 2, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Harley Quinn, Batman Returns, Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, Black Lightning, Krypton, Titans, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Silver & Black, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, The Gifted, Legion, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Logan, Hellboy and more…
It’s the first Week in Spandex of 2018 (Happy New Year!) and we’re starting things off with the DC Extended Universe, given that Warner Bros. has announced that New Line Cinema exec Walter Hamada has been appointed as the new head of DC Films. Hamada, who has worked on the likes of It and The Conjuring for New Line, replaces Jon Berg and Geoff Johns following an internal restructure in the wake of Justice League’s box office underperformance, although Johns remains on board in an advisory role. “Walter is creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films,” said Warner’s president and chief content officer Toby Emmerich. “He’s a terrific production executive and served as an executive producer on two of the summer’s most popular films, New Line’s It and Annabelle: Creation. I’m confident Walter and Geoff, working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences as well as DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter’s a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post…”
…With Justice League winding down its theatrical run – having grossed $652.3 million going in to this weekend – it seems we have a good idea as to when we can expect the home-entertainment release of the DC superhero team-up. A listing on website of the U.S. retailer Best Buy has suggested that Justice League will arrive on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on Tuesday, March 13th, while rumours are suggesting that the digital release will hit on January 30th…
…Wonder Woman’s hopes of making an impact at the Academy Awards received a boost this week when the film received a nomination at the PGA Awards, although we will of course have to wait until January 23rd to see if it manages to secure a Best Picture Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, as she continues development on the sequel, director Patty Jenkins has teased her plans for Wonder Woman 2: “We’re actually making a totally different film with a lot of the same, similar like things that we love, but it’s its own movie completely, so it’s not ‘two’ to us. It’s an entirely new adventure together that we couldn’t be luckier [to do]…”
…In other Wonder Woman news, Gal Gadot has revealed why she never responded to James Cameron’s criticism of the DC solo blockbuster. “Because I didn’t want to give him the stage,” said Gadot. “First of all, I’m a big fan of his work. His movies are great. He was very innovative in many things that he did, and I’ve got nothing but great things to say about the creative and professional side of his work. When it happened, the timing of when it happened, he was promoting another movie of his. It was like he was looking for publicity and I just didn’t want to give him the stage.” Meanwhile, receiving the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs Festival, Gadot expressed her thanks to Zack Snyder for casting her as Diana Prince in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, crediting the director with saving her career; read her comments here…
…With Shazam gearing up to go into production, director David F. Sandberg took to Twitter this week to defend the project from a critical fan, urging them not to judge his film before he has made it: “Not to stop you from having an opinion about something that doesn’t exist yet, it’s the internet after all, but as I designate a movie the obligatory Best/Worst Ever!!,” said Sandberg. “I find it helpful sometimes to have more info than a few character names. Sometimes I’ll even wait for a trailer of some sort if I really want to go crazy.” Meanwhile, young actor Asher Angel also spoke about his casting as Billy Batson, stating that: “I was self-taping for it, and then they wanted to call me in for a test. So I came into Los Angeles, I tested with [director David Sandberg]; it was so much fun. I just felt so comfortable. And the next day I went into Warner Bros. to do one last scene in front of the execs and everyone, and two days later we were leaving to go from LA to Utah and we got the call…”
…While Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn proved to be one of the more popular aspects of Suicide Squad, it seems that not everyone was happy with her casting, as the actress has revealed that some crackpot, idiot fans decided to send her death threats: “You’re about to be in a comic book film; now here’s the worst-case scenario of how big and scary it can get. There’s just all this stuff you learn along the way, like, when you get those death threats, it’s [smart] to have a security team do a background check on whoever sent them to see if there is any past history of violence because you’ll need to know whether you need security to go to certain events. And every time you do a background check, it’s going to cost $2,000, so take that into consideration when you’re getting yourself into this…”
…Christian Bale has been chatting about Batman this week, revealing that he hasn’t been able to watch The Dark Knight Rises following the tragic Aurora theater shooting, as well as stating that he’s yet to watch any of Ben Affleck’s Batman performances: “I have not [seen Ben Affleck’s Batman]. Yes, I’m interested [in seeing it], my son seemed like he was really interested, but then I realized he just wanted to see the trailer and that was it. I tend to go see films that [my kids] want to see. I have to confess I’m not a huge superhero film fan. People seem surprised at that, I don’t know why. I’ve not seen any of the Avengers films or any of those films at all. I hear they’re very good, but I’m quite happy just hearing they’re very good…”
…Fans of Tim Burton’s take on the Dark Knight may want to check out a new video which goes into detail on the director’s original vision for Batman Returns, which would have featured the likes of Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent/Two Face, Marlon Wayans as Robin; watch the video here…
…With Batman’s next animated movie Batman: Gotham By Gaslight set for release later this month, Warner Bros. has unveiled a new clip which sees the Dark Knight taking on Big Bill; watch it here…
…With The CW set to kick off its ‘Super Season’ beginning January 15th, the network has released a new ‘Suit Up’ promo featuring the heroes of Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, and Arrow [watch it here]. Meanwhile, we also have a trailer for the midseason premiere of Supergirl ‘Legion of Superheroes’ [watch it here], a trailer and promo images for the midseason premiere of The Flash ‘The Trial of the Flash’ [see here and here], and a batch of promo images for the midseason premiere of Arrow ‘Divided’ [see here]…
…The CW’s newest DC show Black Lightning also gets underway on Tuesday, January 16th, and we have a new trailer for the series [watch it here], along with a first-look promo image of Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce in her ‘Thunder’ costume [see here], and promo images for the first episode ‘The Resurrection’ [see here] and the second episode ‘LaWanda: The Book of Hope’ [see here]…
…Following last week’s premiere date announcement of March 21st, Syfy has now released a batch of promotional images for its upcoming Superman prequel series Krypton; check them out here…
…A casting call for Titans has arrived online this week for a character who is set to feature in a major role in the season finale of the live-action Teen Titans series. The description reveals that the show is looking to cast a male in his late 30s-40s, who is described as a charismatic cult leader attempting to reunite his family, with speculation suggesting that it could be the demonic villain Trigon (although Brother Blood is also a potential candidate)…
…Click below to continue on for Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4, Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Silver & Black, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, The Gifted, Legion, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Logan, Hellboy and more…
Originally published January 6, 2018. Updated April 16, 2018.
