Doug Liman Quits 'Justice League Dark'

Warner Bros. and  DC Films is not having a good week. Yesterday it was revealed that director Zack Snyder was stepping down from “Justice League due to a family tragedy (his daughter committed suicide in March) and Joss Whedon of “Avengers” would be taking over post-production duties and shooting a new few scenes that he had written. Now, the DCEU has been hit with more bad news.

Doug Liman, the filmmaker behind “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “The Bourne Identity” and “Edge of Tomorrow” has quit directing duties on “Dark Universe” aka “Justice League Dark,” a spin-off DC film that would center on more of the supernatural character in this comics universe like John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, magician Zatanna, and Etrigan the Demon.

Insiders tell Variety that Liman is leaving due to scheduling conflicts. He’s still to helm “Chaos Walking,” which recently received a green light from Lionsgate, but it’s notable that this would be the second superhero movie in less than 12 months that the director has bailed on (Channing Tatum’s “Gambit” is a project he attached himself for only a brief few months).

“Justice League Dark” is unique in that it’s being produced by prestige producer Scott Rudin, who usually doesn’t venture into the superhero movie territory.

Sources tell the trade the studio has already started meeting with other directors and hopes to have a new replacement set up shortly. THR says “IT helmer Andy Muschietti is one of those possible directors. The film will apparently play a major role in the new D.C. Cinematic Universe, but from the outside, it just doesn’t look great. The DCEU has struggled from the get-go, but Warners and its producers are hoping that the well-received “Wonder Woman” (at least from early Twitter reviews so far) will turn their ship around when it opens next week. “Justice League” will follow in the fall.