In a few weeks, a new page will open for the DC team. More than a decade after Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, Warner Bros. is starting from scratch with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the controls. Aware that its saga dedicated to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was having difficulty staying afloat, the company made a change of direction with the father of Guardians of the Galaxy in command. In the cinema as on the small screen, DC characters are reinventing themselves with new performers and in the hands of new directors. Gunn opens the ball on Max in December, after Creature Commandos. After that, it is with Superman that the spectators have an appointment in the dark rooms. Lanterns, Supergirl, Peacemaker saison 2there is no shortage of projects. If the precise calendar remains a mystery, James Gunn discussed his strategy with the media Collider. During an interview, the director confides refuse nothing in terms of format and tone.
While Marvel has long refused to devote itself to more dramatic or violent stories, and therefore less suited to a young audience, Gunn does not rule out this possibility. “It’s not about testing to see if it works. It’s just about telling a story. If a story needs to be rated R (not suitable for under 18s in the United States), we’re totally OK with that. If it has to be rated PG, PG-13 or G, I don’t care, whatever is necessary for the story, that’s what we’re going to do”. It must be said that the DC universes are particularly suited to this, the house’s comics having always been considered darker and mature than its rivals.
Less risky for the studios?
From these first moments, Marvel has made the general public its core target. Kevin Feige wanted to make his characters accessible to as many people as possible, to give himself every chance of working miracles at the global box office as well as to be included in a richer Disney catalog largely aimed at young spectators. Before joining the ranks of the Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Fox was the first to hatch superhero adventures, playing with the limits of socially acceptable and not skimping on hemoglobin. With a much smaller budget than its direct competitors, Deadpool was illustrated as the highest-grossing R-Rated film in history. Three years later, at DC this time, another comic book character won the prize. Joker dethrones Wade Wilson, proving that superheroic universes have a card to play. In 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine recover the title and invite themselves to the highest steps of the world podium.
If the studios found it difficult to focus on cinematographic offerings reserved for an informed audience, the success of Deadpool and Joker could have opened the way to other proposals of the genre. In Hollywood, one hit often leads to others. James Gunn still wants to reassure spectators, the idea is not to produce R-Rated at all costs. “I firmly believe that if we tell great, authentic stories, whether a film succeeds or not, if we uphold that same philosophy, we will build a universe that people will love and want to be a part of for a long time.”.
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