As we’ve seen with the success of The Avengers, a number of potentially lucrative superhero team films are currently in the works, like Justice League.
It’s not often a project that went dead is lucky enough to be revived in Hollywood, but to have all those superheroes in one film is a force probably too strong for the average human to resist. I mean, you just know the prevailing logic is “let’s throw a bunch of money-generating superheroes into one big movie.” And presto, it’s supposedly an instant box office bonanza.
So the news recently broke that Ben Affleck is up for directing Justice League, and frankly, I’m not sure what to make of it. I mean, I was definitely less than thrilled to learn that Affleck was supposedly up to direct a three part movie version of The Stand.
Remember, Affleck’s also got a flick coming up this fall called Argo that’s generated positive advance buzz, and he’s also received good marks for his directing. Sill, I’m curious why his name name was selected out of the very many A-list filmmakers you could choose for Justice League? (Or The Stand for that matter).
Interestingly, both Variety and Collider claim Ben is the only potential director who has gotten a copy of the Justice League script, which was written by Will Beall (Gangster Squad). As to whether he’ll play a superhero in the film or not, I have no idea, but if he’s in a serious director phase of his career, he may want to avoid speedos and a cape.
And apparently Christopher Nolan was up for it too, he’s a more obvious first choice, but he passed, although it sure would be interesting to see what he’d do with it.
What’s also interesting is this is coming on the heels of the announcement that Joss Whedon is back for the next Avengers flick. Indeed, Collider notes that Justice League could end up going head to head with the next Avengers in 2015, but maybe they can get it made faster and have it out sooner.
So again, I don’t know why Warner Brothers is so hot for Affleck and putting him up for two big potential films like Justice League and The Stand, so we’ll see how this all pans out.
If Affleck passes, there won’t be any problem getting someone to helm Justice League, and I’m also curious how JL will translate to the silver screen.
I’m also wondering when we’re going to see the Superfriends movie announcement, and who’s going to do the voice to Ted Knight: “Meeeeeeaaaaaanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice…”
