If you’re one of Hollywood’s most legendary gossip-mongers, forced to sit in your hands for months by a non-compete clause before launching your own self-titled website, you’d better come back with a doozy of a scoop. Fortunately, that’s what Nikki Finke has done. The much-feared, much-ridiculed writer debuted her new NikkiFinke.com site earlier today, and has followed it up with a pretty huge story: the details of Warner Bros.‘ plans for their DC Comics movies, which the studio were planning to reveal at Comic-Con.
Beyond a May 6th "Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice" date (pushed back from the original summer 2015 plan, which Finke says is due to wanting to shift the film to plan more for "Avengers"-style team-ups and cameos), little’s been confirmed from Warners about what they have planned, beyond how crucial the DC properties are to a franchise-starved studio.
But while Finke stresses that the situation’s still in flux, she says that ‘Dawn Of Justice’ will be followed up with a "Shazam" movie in July 2016 (which may well be the DC property that Dwayne Johnson has been hinting at, and which has a release date that puts it directly in conflict with an as-yet unannounced Marvel movie). Then Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s adaptation of "Sandman," a fairly risky prospect, will hit that Christmas, squaring off with Gareth Edwards‘ "Star Wars" movie.
Beyond that, 2017 will bring the main event of a "Justice League" movie in May before "Wonder Woman" finally gets a solo picture that July (presumably starring Gal Gadot), while that Christmas will see an as-yet untitled movie teaming up The Flash and Green Lantern, the latter of whom will NOT be played by Ryan Reynolds. And finally (for now), a direct sequel to "Man Of Steel" will hit in May 2018, five years after the first film. It’s an ambitious schedule, with three movies a year seemingly planned, and with "Metal Men" and "Suicide Squad" pictures also mooted at some point too.
Unless Finke went completely mental during her exile, she’s normally reliable enough, so it seems that Warners’ big Comic-Con surprises may have been spoiled. Certainly, all eyes will be on Hall H, and we’ll see if further details like directors and casting are revealed in the meantime.
May 2016 – Batman v Superman
July 2016 – Shazam
Xmas 2016 – Sandman
May 2017 – Justice League
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2
