Way back in June 2013, it was reported that Justice League was in development. Four years later and we’re just about ready to see the film.
The film is slated to be the biggest Warner Bros. film, both in budget and in its ensemble cast. Although the budget has not been revealed, we can be assured it’ll be in the hundred millions given the scale of the cast. Warner Bros spent over $550 million on their previous superhero movies. Batman versus Superman (2016) cost Warner Bros $250 million to make, Suicide Squad (2016) $175 million, and Wonder Woman (2017) $149 million. In July 2017, Justice League went through 2 months of re-shoots in London and Los Angeles, with “Warner Bros spending about $25 million into them (more than the typical $6–10 million additional filming costs).”
Set for release November 17th 2017, Justice League looks set to be the action packed superhero film that Warner Bros has been wanting. The fifth instalment into the DC Extended Universe is directed by Zack Synder and written by Chris Terrio.
There have been a number of changes to the direction of this superhero film, and that doesn’t provide a lot of confidence. In April 2014 Zack Synder was announced to be directing the film, however dropped out due to the death of his daughter. Joss Whedon has taken over post production of the film.
With an all star cast, it may be a struggle to balance the screentime. Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot are just three of the stars of Justice League.
Alongside that, a number of new cast members have been announced. J.K. Simmons is set to play Commisioner Gordon, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko and Amber Heard as Mera. With this many cast members, it’ll be a struggle to flesh out everyone with enough recognition.
If we’re going off of the shambles that was Batman vs. Superman, then Superman may be quite absent from the majority of this film. Although he’s appearing in some promotional posters, the canon is quite clear, and Superman is dead.
Justice League has gone through development hell, and after ten long years has finally got a release date. Can it live up to the critical expectations? Especially when compared with the Marvel standards of today. Only time will tell, and I hope they can manage to produce a great film.
