Suicide Squad has finished its sixth week at the worldwide box office, and has about 700m to show for it. Numbers like this, on a 175m budget no less, look a lot like an unqualified smash, but its ridiculously steep 67% 2nd week domestic decline, terrible reviews and mediocre (at best) audience reaction give the success a bitter aftertaste.
Its Batman v Superman all over again, as the executives have yet another DC entry that, despite making money, is yet another critical failure, and again makes everyone less sure that this cinematic universe will work. Even the fans agree, things need to change up at Warner Bros concerning their superhero film franchise. So, as we begin the run-up to 2017-slated Wonder Woman and Justice League films, here are 5 changes that need to happen to the DC Cinematic Universe as soon as possible:
1. Lower the Budgets
Superhero movies are always going to be expensive. The huge stars, the third-act effects sequences, the seemingly endless marketing budgets. I doubt we will see a mainstream superhero movie from that costs lest than 100m within the next 20 years (Deadpool excluded), the films just cost too much money. But DC (or maybe just Zack Snyder) seems to have a problem with keeping cash in check on their movies, even by a superhero standard. Man of Steel seemed to begin this trend, with the aforementioned director shelling out a ridiculous 225m for a stand alone Superman movie. Had they learned nothing from Superman Returns? For reference, this is the 22nd most expensive movies of all time, and costs more than any MCU films save the two Avengers pictures.
After that films disappointing 667m worldwide total, it could be assumed that they would have learnt their lesson for the next time out. The opposite was true though, and they added another 25m for the next installment, creating a Batman v Superman film that needed more than 600m to break even, and upwards of 1 billion to be considered a success. Obviously that didnt happen, and the movie opened big but fell quick to a disappointing 868m worldwide total. The movie made profit, sure, no one disputes that. But because of its hefty price tag, it wont be considered anything close to a win.
If their movies keep staying well below Avengers number (and, even with a significant increase in quality, they probably will), DC simply needs to lower their budgets if they want to make proper blockbuster profit. Wonder Woman only coming in at 150m seems to be a step in the right direction, but Justice League simply cant be another 250m extravaganza that only clocks in at 800m worldwide. Cost just needs to be lowered at Warner Bros.
2. Find a Compromise for Director Studio Creative Control
It seems that the DCEU has already experienced both ends of the director-studio control spectrum with just 3 films. In Batman v Superman, they put too much faith in their film maker, giving Zack Snyder complete creative control and allowing him to make decisions in full defiance of the source material. When that film didnt really connect on either a creative or commercial level, they swung to the other extreme, pulling Suicide Squad director David Ayer away from his already filmed project, desperate to not put out another critically panned under-performer.
How they reacted was understandable, since the only piece of media theyd put out that had actually been praised by virtually everyone was the Bohemian-Rhapsody Suicide Squad trailer, with hype building of the back of it on a higher level than even BvS. So they cut and reshot the film until it turned from David Ayers original dark and gritty crime film into the pop-song and wisecracking filled romp we got in cinemas a month ago. And, well, that didnt work either. The film ranked even lower on Rotten Tomatoes than BvS, and although the audience perception seems to be slightly better, the film still had that patented DCEU 65%+ tumble in its second domestic week.
Neither of these extremes worked out for the studio, and for good reason. They need to find a balance between complete director or studio control, otherwise their movies are going to keep being either over-budgeted vanity projects or focus group controlled messes, and under performing ones at that. Hopefully Wonder Woman can find that balance with Patty Jenkins, but well have to wait and see.
3. Stop Just Going With Whatever is Popular
Although theyve only put out a couple of films into their cinematic universe, DC have already been very guilty of following the trends of modern Hollywood to a tee. Both Batman v Superman and Man of Steel jumped on the dark and gritty bandwagon, with Man of Steel emulating Batman Begins to an extreme point.
When that didnt pan out, and the bleakness of BvS drew major criticism from general audiences, they followed on the heels of Marvels ridiculously successful Guardians of the Galaxy, and rearranged Suicide Squad to fill it with humour and ill-judged musical cues.
Like the studio/director issue, this is simply something that DC needs to get under control, because if they keep it up, their films will continue to draw the same criticism, and, presumably, fall in gross. Like Marvel, they need to do something new, and do it well enough that it becomes a trend in itself, because they certainly arent going to shake their image of being the second tier superhero cinematic universe by following whatever the guys over at Disney just made popular.
They may right this ship in time, but with the dark tone and the fun tone both being soundly rejected in 2016, it will be interesting to see in what form Wonder Woman and Justice League are released after the studios get their hands on them.
4. Stop Relying on Zack Snyder
Zack Snyders reputation as a filmmaker has fallen substantially since he started making movies for the DC Cinematic Universe. In just 3 years he went (in the eyes of the filmgoing public) from a slightly pretentious but visually rich talent to a hackneyed fraud with a poor grasp on story and characters. Whether this is objectively true or not is irrelevant, Zack Snyder has consistently failed the DC films franchise in a quality and box office sense, and, if the universe wants to advance on any level, he needs to go.
The first mistake was rehiring him after After Man of Steel wasnt the 700m+ universally loved smash it needed to be, but after the catastrophe of Batman v Superman, bringing him back for Justice League is just stupid.
Although Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns are rumoured to be actually running the show on the 2017 team-up blockbuster, having him there in any position of real authority, as well as a producer of Wonder Woman, is a mistake that the studio should have learned to avoid at this point. He needs to be kept from all future projects if they want any critical or audience acclaim coming their way. It may be a bitter pill to swallow for fans of his movies, but Zack Snyder simply needs to be pushed out of the DCEU for everyones benefit.
5. Find a Control Between Light and Dark Tone
Yet another balance that needs to be found in the DCEU is its widely diverging tone, which, again, needs to be levelled out for a successful film to be produced. Batman v Superman was too devoid of humour and colour for most, and Suicide Squad, while adding some lighter costumes and dialogue, is thought by many to let its fun and irreverent tone conflict with its characters, motivations, and most of all its plot.
Wonder Woman looks to find some sort of balance between humour and bleakness, but then again, the Suicide Squad trailer promised quality, and look what we got. Where this may be harder to find is with Justice League, as this, like Suicide Squad, seems to have been written as a darker film than what the studio now wants, which may lead to another mess being created.
The Comic-Con footage was defintely full of quips and visual humour, but we already saw simply adding that in doesnt make the film good. DC doesnt necessarily need to find the equilibrium between funny and dark for every film, but they need to find it for their franchise. Its okay to release a dark Batman film, but not every movie can follow this tone, just like every movie cant be a freewheeling, fun-filled adventure. You need to have both. And, most importantly, whatever tone you do use, it needs to be integrated seamlessly and not conflict with the movie itself. So far, the DCEU hasnt pulled that off for anything, and if they want to improve, this balance needs to be found.
Did you agree with my points? How do you think the DCEU needs to improve? Leave any and all thoughts below, and if you enjoyed this article, follow this blog on Twitter to see when we post a new one.