Last month saw a bit of a shake-up over at Warner Bros. with the DC Extended Universe. Producer Jon Berg and DC CCO Geoff Johns, who were tapped to lead the DC film franchise after the release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, were pushed aside in a restructuring in the wake of Justice League‘s disappointing box office earnings and critical reception. While Johns is remaining on board in an advisory role, WB has chosen a new head to take charge of its comic book films: New Line’s Walter Hamada will oversee production of DC films going forward.
Hamada helped WB usher in their horror hits It and The Conjuring, as well as expanding The Conjuring with sequels and spin-offs. He also has a close relationship with Conjuring director James Wan, who is also directing Aquaman for WB with Jason Momoa and Amber Heard. Hamada will be leaving his post as an executive at New Line, which WB owns, for the job at Warner.
“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.”
Hamada will work closely with Johns on the upcoming DC films. Johns is already helping craft the story to Wonder Woman 2 and will receive a story credit for Green Lantern Corps as well. Following the news of the appointment, Johns congratulated Hamada over Twitter…
Welcome aboard, Walter!! Thrilled to be working with you! It’s been a blast on Shazam! — now it’s off to the rest of the DCU! (And get a twitter account!) https://t.co/qAGAWzWxWP
— Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) January 4, 2018
What do you think of the new shake up? What films do you hope will come out of this? Let us know below…
