>Zack Snyder, primary engineer of the DC Comics movie universe since Man of Steel, whose creative vision has been polarizing to say the least, will take a significantly smaller role with the franchise going forward, as will his wife, producer Deborah Snyder, Mashable has learned.
>The Snyders left Justice League as director and producer in May, saying they needed time to grieve for their 20-year-old daughter, who had died by suicide two months before. Multiple sources with knowledge of Warner Bros.' plans say that as the DC Extended Universe moves forward, the Snyders will no longer have anything like the level of creative influence that got the franchise to this point.
>For its part, Warners strongly denied the notion that the Snyders would no longer be actively involved in creative decision-making. Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros. Pictures Group president and chief content officer, said in a statement that the Snyders would maintain a role:
>The Snyders remain an important part of the Warner Bros. family and are actively involved in several upcoming DC pictures, including their continued creative input on Justice League. We are excited about our partnership and look forward to our continued collaboration.
>Indeed, Zack and Deborah will be getting respective directing and producing credits on Justice League — they oversaw the bulk of production after all — and it's still possible that they'll carry executive producer or other types of credits for future DC films. But that involvement will be at a distance, multiple sources say, and for the time being the two are spending time with family while figuring out their next move, which is understood to include Warner Bros. films not within the DCEU.
>While the Snyders' phasing out may not come entirely as a surprse, it's sure to send a shockwave through DC fandom, which fiercely supported Snyders' films in the face of harsh critical reception. And struggles with the Snyders were not entirely due to the increasingly hostile critical reactions to their films — Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad in particular: Warner Bros. brass was becoming increasingly concerned with their tendency to drive up budgets, and have been anxious for a freshened creative direction that manifested in Wonder Woman, on which the Snyders were producers.
>Zack Snyder had been heavily involved in all of DC's movies to-date; he directed Man of Steel and Batman v Superman and was an executive producer on Suicide Squad. And future films like Aquaman, Suicide Squad 2 and The Flash: Flashpoint still carry his name in producing roles.
>His creative imprint — a dark, metallic visual style and grim, brooding, muscular-emo sensibility — were all over the DCEU, and will surely linger into future films. But the post-Snyders regime is widely expected to take the films in a more hopeful, colorful, comic-book inflected direction — like what we saw work so well with Wonder Woman.
Lucas Jenkins
>At the forefront of that effort is Geoff Johns, who swiftly ascended from the comic-book world to become president and chief creative officer at Warners' DC division last year, reporting to Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment. His close creative partner and secret weapon will be Joss Whedon, who stepped in for the departing Snyders to finish Justice League. As Variety first reported on Monday, extensive re-shoots are under way on that film, and more than the usual regularly scheduled pickup shots; sources confirm that while Snyder's action sequences are useable, a wide swath of story and dialogue are being redone.
>Whedon also has Batgirl on the DC slate, which is expected to proceed on schedule. But Whedon — who never quite got the credit he deserved as a key architect of Marvel's cinematic universe alongside Kevin Feige after Avengers: Age of Ultron — will be a major part of WB's creative team in the future.
>To some, the same can possibly be said for Aquaman director James Wan and Matt Reeves, the War for the Planet of the Apes director who is taking over the directing chair from Ben Affleck on the planned Batman movie. It's early yet, but Reeves' reputation after Apes could not be more sterling, his world-building chops are clearly first rate and the studio will throw its support to him.
>Another person whose involvement is now in question: David Ayer, the Suicide Squad helmer, who is still listed as the director of the Harley Quinn-led spinoff Gotham City Sirens. That film was not featured in Warner Bros.' Comic-Con sizzle reel of nine upcoming DC movies last weekend, and sources say Ayer won't ultimately be part of their plans. Ayer's rep flatly denied that he's off the project, saying it's still in development and that the script is not yet complete.
Christian Perez
Good.
Tyler Hernandez
>Hey, sorry your daughter killed herself, but we got to get the move on rushing these cinematic abortions out the door, so since you'll be holding us back, your career is done.
DC fans will support this.
Daniel Nelson
>Multiple sources with knowledge of Warner Bros.' plans
fake news, next.
Nicholas Sanders
Thank you, suicidegirl. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
Alexander Barnes
>But there are other signs that he's moving on: Ayer seemed to signal his discontent with his WB/DC experience at his Comic-Con panel on Thursday for Bright, the fantasy buddy-cop film that Netflix gave him $90 million to make.
>"I don't think people realize the situation filmmakers face," he said, stressing that Netflix didn't intervene in his process — they just let him run with it. "[Bright] isn't like, some bullshit standard issue studio PG-13 movie. I was able to do some real shit here," said Ayer, who has directed exactly one PG-13 movie in his career: Suicide Squad.
>Patty Jenkins, on the other hand, is definitely in the insiders club — as if there would be any doubt of that, given that Wonder Woman is now the DCEU's most successful film.
>At the very first screening of Wonder Woman for select press, Johns and the WW director held court at a reception that followed; as things wound down and people were leaving, Johns and Jenkins shared a warm embrace and exchanged kind words — they knew they had made something special, and it was clear that its director and DC's new creative honcho are fans of one another.
>And the timing of changes at Warners' DC division are not entirely coincidental: Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, knows he needs to get his studio's most important house in order before parent company Time Warner's impending merger with AT&T. New bosses will want to see more results like Wonder Woman — which is still legging out record-breaking box office on a leaner budget — and less like Batman v Superman, which was a bona fide worldwide hit, but plunged in its ensuing weekends and cost a massive fortune.
Leo Jones
I know the movies were bad but I wouldn't kill myself over it.
Wyatt Myers
>The Snyders are certainly not without their fans. Their exit will be a particular blow to the faction of DC Comics' fandom that supported them fiercely, loyally and vocally against critics — and that includes the people they've worked with.
>One of them, Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg in Justice League, wore an "I [heart] ZS" (for Zack Snyder) T-shirt to the film's panel at Comic-Con (which Zack Snyder, who is always at Comic-Con championing his films, did not attend).
>It was — perhaps well-known to Fisher — a final Comic-Con tribute at the end of an era that has defined modern superhero movies, like it or not.
If only we got a full reboot to reverse the permanent damage.
Thomas Harris
Is it part of your Netflix contract to defend how cool their cannibalistic approach to distribution is?
Benjamin Gonzalez
Good. Getting a competent director like Matt Reeves is already a step in the right direction
Cooper Brooks
It's weird to see the DCEU franchise slowly being to right itself after being such a pile of awful from the getgo.
I know the vocal minority that love Snyder and hate Whedon will never shut up about this but things are finally looking up for the DC movie slate.
Caleb Gonzalez
This is a weird article. Zach was always leaving after Justice League. He wanted to work on some George Washington movie in the style of 300. He mentioned it before even starting Justice League. He made 3 movies already. what else is he going to do?
Dominic James
>cinematic abortions But Wonder Woman was a smash success, senpai.
Aiden Johnson
Look on the bright side, Zack. At least now you can spend more time with the remaining members of your family.
Ryan Jenkins
Never noticed that Zack is slightly wall eyed. Does he have a glass eye or something?
Hunter Price
Zack "The Hack" Snyder
Luis Walker
Wait...Valiant's making actual FILM films?
I thought their entire initiative was Bat in the Sun guy's fanfilms with JDF as Bloodshot?
Luke Carter
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. Are you telling me SONY is in charge of the Valiant Cinematic Universe? God fucking dammit.
Christopher Rogers
Oh right, Wonder Woman. The ONE movie that was a success. I liked it better when it was called Captain America: the First Avenger.
Samuel Johnson
>It took the death of his daughter to stop him from making bad movies Monkey's Paw is a hell of a thing.
Kayden Barnes
He wasn't as involved as all other movies, because the director basically told him to fuck off.
Oliver Walker
DCEU Fans are Sick
Jason Hall
>The ONE movie that was a success. All DCEU movies were financial successes.
>I liked it better when it was called Captain America: the First Avenger. Of course you did.
Joshua Bailey
More fake news.
Sebastian Campbell
Wait, isn't the guy who played Tommy in Power Rangers playing Bloodshot?
Jayden Scott
Aye These DCEU Fans are sick just leave them
Hudson Young
You mean besides being the guy who pushed making the film when the bigwigs thought it would bomb and getting a scriptwriting credit in the film?
Christopher Murphy
>he watches movies for illiterate chinese children and complains about another movie for illiterate chinese children
Christopher Gray
>I liked it better when it was called Captain America: the First Avenger
Wonder Woman is a much better movie, and I say that not being a huge fan of either character.
Brandon Bell
its fake news, they even debunk it IN the article
>For its part, Warners strongly denied the notion that the Snyders would no longer be actively involved in creative decision-making. Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros. Pictures Group president and chief content officer, said in a statement that the Snyders would maintain a role:
>The Snyders remain an important part of the Warner Bros. family and are actively involved in several upcoming DC pictures, including their continued creative input on Justice League. We are excited about our partnership and look forward to our continued collaboration.
Lucas Peterson
>sinking
sure, mate
Austin Thomas
>vocal minority
son, you have no way of proving that. If anything its a majority. Rotten Romatoes gives BvS and MoS audience ratings over 60%. BvS was one of most profitable movies Warners ever put out. And pic related. You have literally 0 proof that its a vocal minority.
Liam Harris
You mispelled damage control.
Gavin Taylor
BvS sold so much merch, especially to adults. I know the logos are good for t-shirts but it was ridiculous how bvs merch destroyed civil war.
Nolan Evans
....are you retarded? Literally every report goes against your narrative.
>Snyder, who came up with the story for the film and also serves as the producer, spoke about Wonder Woman’s importance in today’s culture and why fans are drawn to the member of DC’s Trinity.
>“This idea that, like, this warrior for love will set the world right, and not through what we would consider the normal sort of, like, aggressive male, like ‘grrrr, I’m gonna fight for it,’ though if challenged, of course she will,” Snyder said. “But this deep sort of impossible for, I think at first, impossible to understand this mystery of sort of feminine power but that it’s driving you to have to explore.”
"Zack was making Batman V Superman simultaneous to making this, but he was very instrumental in the direction the film was going to take. That ended up leading to my signing on, because I know enough about these worlds now that unless we really have a shared vision, it's going to be two years of fighting, and who wants that?" - Jenkins
Do you just enjoy making things up instead of actually doing research like a smart person?
Caleb Jones
Marveltards need to be communicated to in quips otherwise they can't understand.
Owen Morales
>look forward to our continued collaboration
Oof.
In studio speak, that's only slightly better than ,"We wish him well in his future endeavors."
Camden Lee
Yeah the two most mainstream of heroes in a team up movie sold more merch to normies than a bunch of characters who were B-list at best 10 years ago. How utterly baffling.
Joseph Brown
the sad thing is you probably genuinely believe what you type... how delusional do you have to be to think "continued collaboration" somehow means they arent working together anymore? Do you have ANY proof to back that up?
Matthew Myers
its so sad that you always have to throw up excuses.
You know Superman Returns didnt move much merchandise right? And that one of the reasons they stopped doing the burton movies was because they failed the move merchandise on the levels they wanted, right? Its not like these characters always magically move merch.
James Moore
Edgy
Jack Thomas
Good. They don't need a guy who thinks comics are stupid planning out the the universe. Put Geoff Johns in charge of the overall planning and let directors execute their vision. It's already going to take a lot of retconning to fix the mess he made with only 2 films.
Elijah Wood
Every time these threads show up as having more than 20 unique posters I'm a little surprised.
Christopher Parker
Jesus that's like escaping the Titanic to buy a ticket for the Hindenburg
Henry Howard
He didn't get screenplay credit, he got story credit because he came up with the whole World War 1 thing. Patty Jenkins said in an interview she spent more time collaborating with Geoff Johns than Snyder.
Dylan Clark
>pretending he wouldn't have been kicked out even if his daughter didn't die >pretending MoS wasn't literally rushed out the door because a pending lawsuit and Snyder was an easy to work with director they could throw the script at >pretending he isn't the direct reason Batman was forced into what should have been MoS2 and turned into the abortion that was BvS lmao
Ryan Morales
> But Whedon — who never quite got the credit he deserved as a key architect of Marvel's cinematic universe alongside Kevin Feige after Avengers: Age of Ultron — will be a major part of WB's creative team in the future. Key architect my ass. He was brought onto Avengers after around the time First Avenger started filming.
Juan Carter
>He wanted to work on some George Washington movie in the style of 300. Jesus Christ, will his hackery ever end?
Kayden Brooks
How does it feel to be so closed to being correct, yet ultimately fail? Read her later interviews.
Kayden Anderson
Yeah, and Thanos and making various objects Infinity Stones was all his idea. Not to mention making Loki a household name. He also came in mid filming on The Dark World to save the movie from being literally unwatchable.
Eli Kelly
He actually wants to make some shitty Ayn Rand movie, so no.
Blake Russell
How is it a better movie?
Caleb Campbell
>a guy who thinks comics are stupid
hahaha what? Snyder loves comics. Gimme a source on your bullshit.
Cameron Bell
>DC forces his Flashpoint story into rebooting the DC universe >everyone hates it >he comes up with Rebirth >single handedly saves the company and fixes the New 52 >WB hires Goyer and Snyder to make MoS in a rush before they get sued >it's meh >Snyder makes BvS and is the biggest laughing stock in the comic book movie world since Batman and Robin >WB decides to promote Geoff Johns and help out on the movies >first movie he's involved in is Wonder Woman >universally praised and potentially the most profitable movie they've made yet >gets Snyder fired and Whedon hired
Is there anything this man can't do?
Juan Bell
Don't forget his unflinching love of cereal
Adrian Adams
The Fountainhead isnt even the most "Randian" rand book. And from all accounts, Snyder's read on it is almost completely apolitcal, he just wants to examine the part of it thats about an architect creating art in a world thats against him.
I mean he very obviously doesnt prescribe to Rand's philosophies at all. Just by the very fact that him and his wife so many adopted kids is enough to prove that.
Ian Price
>Snyder sucks Ayn Rand's manly cock That explains a lot, actually.
Caleb Ortiz
>"My mother saw I was into this comic called 'Heavy Metal' magazine, so she got me a subscription. You could call it 'high-brow' comics, but to me, that comic book was just pretty sexy! I had a buddy who tried getting me into 'normal' comic books, but I was all like, 'No one is having sex or killing each other. This isn’t really doing it for me.' I was a little broken, that way. So when 'Watchmen' came along, I was, 'This is more my scene.'"
you guys are pretty dumb. You think a movie is a laughing stock when all signs point to it being popular among the public see Also Whedon was hired before Johns came on board and had been working with Snyder since about halfway through production of JL. From what the actor who played Cyborg said, Snyder picked Whedon himself.
Jaxson Stewart
YAAAAS! TIME FOR QUIPS!
QUIPS QUIPS QUIPS
I WANT QUIPS
QUIPS QUIPS QUIPS
GIVE ME QUIPS!
Justin Martinez
>Snyder makes BvS and is the biggest laughing stock in the comic book movie world since Batman and Robin What is Green Lantern? What is Jonah Hex? What is Catwoman? What is Elektra? What is Daredevil? What is Fant4stic? What is Spider-Man Homecoming?
Christopher Reyes
I'm sorry, I didn't realize a poll of 3000 neckbeards on the internet was indicative of the movie being widely popular. Look, if even fucking Kevin Smith can't find the movie enjoyable, it's probably shit - he loves literally everything, Batman being his favorite.
Hudson Wilson
hahaha you retards always bring this out. Are you really surprised that a TEENAGER liked heavy metal and Watchmen? Really? Hell, Grant Morrison like Heavy Metal as a kid too, does that mean he hates comics? Is context that hard for you? Find me something better than that son.
Julian Lopez
why do you do this? Why only respond to a single part of a post instead of the whole thing? You know there was more evidence poster right? Do you like looking retarded?
Bentley Hernandez
Johns has been working with them since before BvS came out. His first project was Wonder Woman, as Suicide Squad was already done filming and in post production. He then got another promotion after that where WB decided to put him and Jon Berg in charge of everything.
Aaron Foster
>hurr durr one shitty filmmaker didnt like it so its a laughing stock!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Oliver Butler
>stating a fact is sick Let me guess, you are also a liberal.
Kevin James
Quips take a minimum of effort on the writer's part. It's much easier to make up "badass" lines like >Consider this mercy!
Gabriel Bennett
>war movie >HURR IT'S COPYING MARVEL MCU truly shrinks your brain
Evan Rogers
So either bvs isn't as hated as you want to pretend of marvel. Isn't as popular as you wanted to be.
Fun fact more people dressed as superman for Halloween in 2016 than in 2015, and less people dresses as captain America than in 2015.
Cooper Gonzalez
>REEEEE >why won't you just blindly accept my #alternativeFacts?? >REEEEE
Charles Adams
>I had a buddy who tried getting me into 'normal' comic books, but I was all like, 'No one is having sex or killing each other. This isn’t really doing it for me.' Sounds like the average Sup Forums eurocomic hipster cuck to me.
Gavin Stewart
Johns is the reason the flash movie died.
He literally killed an entire movie because he pitched cyborg.
Eli Robinson
>Johns has been working with them since before BvS came out. His first project was Wonder Woman, as Suicide Squad was already done filming and in post production. He then got another promotion after that where WB decided to put him and Jon Berg in charge of everything.
Uh no. He was chief creator officer for DC, so of course he has that roll to play in all the movies, but thats virtually nothing.
Here in the article about his promotion (which was when he started to have a real hand in the movies) it even states how JL started filming before Johns got the promotion. Why do you retards spew shit you make up instead of getting facts using an easy google search?
so your 0 evidence is more evidence than ticket sales, rotten tomatoes polling, and CBM polling? Okay kid.
Daniel Evans
>I liked it better when it was called Captain America: the First Avenger.
I loved when Cap was born in a immortal man-only island created by a god to stop the god of war from corrupting the humanity, saves a foreign spy from a plane wreck, he and his friends fight a modern group of soldiers with old weapons in their island, learns about the outside world from the spy and becomes convinced that the god of war is manipulating humanity into an never ending war and leaves the island only to find himself in a fish out of the water situation in which he has to learn about the modern ways while trying to convince his spy friend of the existence of the god of war, they go to the front to stop the mass production of a lethal gas, he uses his magical powers to cross no man's land and finally they find that the bloodthirsty general isn't the god of war but the guy who was negotiating the peace treaty knowing full well that those negotiations were going to cause WW2 even if his german minions failed to destroy london with their gas
But yeah she has a shield, I hope they don't get sued
>hurr durr im going to make things up without any proof
you can even see it on his IMDB. He had executive producer roles up to WW due to being chief creative officer, but then has actual Producer credits on movies he actually had a hand in (like Green Lantern and now JL and beyond).
Cameron Sanders
>Limited at best, dunzo at worst Shouldn't that be the other way around?
Daniel Parker
>What is Spider-Man Homecoming? A FUH-LOP!
Alexander King
He's also the son of Christian "scientists".
Even he must realize that any serious Objetivist would laugh at that and never stop.
Hunter Gutierrez
>how dare they have action movie dialogue in an action movie! >dance off, you and me bro, thats so much better writing omg!!!!
oy vey
Ryder Reyes
>movies that are directed by Snyder underperform and are critically mixed-unanimously negative >movies that aren't directed by Snyder meet/surpass expectations, are critically lauded or in the case of Wonder Woman, both
Not really surprised WB wants to boot Snyder out of the DCEU after JL. If Aquaman and Shazam do well, Zack ain't ever coming back.
James Butler
Sounds like every person that got into comics without starting in capeshit. Nothing wrong with that, going into capeshit is hard when you start with more mature and crazy stuff. Snyder got into capeshit because if watchmen and tdkr, nothing wrong with that.
Angel Nguyen
>quips take effort
lmao, does anyone have any orange slices?
Carter Wright
why dont you actually try engaging in covnersation instead of being a glib, meme spouting chucklefuck?
Luis Morales
>it's sure to send a shockwave through DC fandom, which fiercely supported Snyders' films in the face of harsh critical reception. Fuck off. Don't lump all DCbros in with the DCEUfags #NotAllDCFans
Jackson Reyes
You just reiterated what I said. He was working on Wonder Woman, Patty has said she worked with him a lot on it and he got producer credit, then he got an official promotion to be the head honcho in charge of the whole thing. Nothing I said was incorrect.
Eli Garcia
You do know that he was the one who came up with the idea of making Infinity War as the ovearching storyline, right? Literally what the whole of the MCU has been building up to since Avengers.
Nathaniel Martin
yeah for real, and from all accounts Snyder is a super nice guy always helping out everyone that works for him and hiring people he likes on a whime (like the military girl in MoS was specifically hired because Snyder saw her in a commercial and wanted to use her). Not really Rand at all.
Ryan Foster
Wasn't that a robot chicken skit?
Liam Harris
Dude, EPIIIIIIIIC!!!! XD
Isaac Davis
>Patty has said she worked with him a lot on it and he got producer credit
source?
And no, i didnt re-iterate what you said. You said he worked on BvS, MoS, Skwad, and he really didnt. From all ive heard about WW he just helped decide costumes in post.
Juan Lewis
He never got into capeshit beyond Watchmen and TDKR though is the problem. He can do all the visual homages he wants, but he certainly doesn't try to make the characters act like how they're supposed to.
Jackson Brown
>This is a weird article. Zach was always leaving after Justice League.
He and the wife were listed as co-producers on all the movies going forward. He's still going to be listed as a co-producer on the Aquaman movie, for example.
He cast all of the principal leads (save whomever will be the Lanterns).
He story-lined all the plot points - how the principals got their power, etc.
Zachary Barnes
>I-I don't have an argument >I know, I'll say EPIC! THAT WILL REALLY TEACH THEM!!!
I feel bad for the person that has to change your diapers and wipe your ass.
