DCEU Will Be More Connected Going Forward Says WarnerMedia CEO

Going forward the DCEU will be more connected. The DC Extended Universe kicked off in earnest with 2013’s Zack Snyder film Man of Steel. Feeling pressure from the world’s other popular comics cinematic universe, the studio seemingly rushed several films into production to keep up with the MCU. Zack Snyder directed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, bringing together Henry Cavill’s Superman and Ben Affleck’s newly introduced Batman. The film also introduced Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and had a brief appearance from Ezra Miller as Barry Allen aka The Flash.

When Justice League hit screens in 2017, the first signs of behind-the-scenes turmoil began to surface. Snyder left the film during post-production and soon after WB brought in Joss Whedon to do extensive reshoots on the film. The DCEU trudged onward, with 2018’s Aquaman becoming the highest-grossing DC film and the first one to cross $1 billion at the box office. Wonder Woman was also well-received, but the franchise seemingly stalled after Affleck left the DCEU as Batman and the studio seemed unsure of what their future looked like.

With Zack Snyder’s Justice League acting as a sort of pit stop and COVID-19 sending the entire industry into disarray, the DCEU’s future seemed even shakier. Newly anointed WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff is looking to change that. Sarnoff tells Variety that, going forward, the DCEU will be more connected in both “subtle” and “overt” ways. Sarnoff says that they have meetings with key executives of every division weekly in an effort to stay on the same page and flesh out a universe that will be satisfying for fans in every demographic.

We have weekly meetings with our key execs in every division. Last August, I was made head of studios and networks and I now have all of the creative groups underneath me, so now around that table it’s not just Warner Bros. film, Warner Bros. television, and Warner Bros. games, but it includes HBO and HBO Max and the Turner networks, Adult Swim, and the Kids and Family networks. We are involving all of those people in our plans going forward and that means the media is going to be more connected, sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes in more overt ways. Like opposite The Suicide Squad we’re spinning out Peacemaker with James Gunn and Jon Cena passionately developing that for HBO Max. It’s my job to make sure we super serve our fans across all demos and all fanbases.

The DCEU’s rocky beginnings can be partially blamed on the catch-up game they were trying to play. Starting in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the most successful franchise in history and WB likely wanted to capitalize on this fanfare by rapidly introducing a slate of heroes of their own. Unfortunately, the way it was executed was not as streamlined as Marvel’s plans and the DCEU consistently faltered while Marvel continued to gain popularity. With DC Films readjusting their strategy, they have the potential to course correct now that Justice League is fully behind them.

With Affleck out as Batman and Cavill’s future as Superman uncertain as the studio works on a reboot of the character, two of DC’s most popular characters are being replaced. The Flash also has the potential to reset the DCEU timeline when it releases in 2022, making the introduction of alternate worlds an easy fix to the tangled web that the DCEU has created. The studio has also announced various DCEU shows coming to HBO Max that will supposedly tie into the movies at some point. What’s next for the film side of things seems just as expansive and it may be some time before the DCEU‘s plans become clear, but they are clearly cooking up something massive. This time, though, it seems like they’re not rushing into things.