Just about a month ago, reports swirled around the internet that Warner Bros. had a screening of "Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice" on the studio lot, and it was wildly received, with the audience in attendance giving Zack Snyder‘s movie a standing ovation. At the time, I wrote a piece that cautioned against giving in to that kind of hype, and noted that there was likely still much to be done before the picture was complete. Here’s an excerpt:
As for "Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice," there is still a very long road ahead. While WB themselves might be pleased at the moment with the picture, they have a lot riding on the film— its success or failure (which is not an option, as far as WB is concerned) will determine the future of their DC universe movies. And there will certainly be more test screenings ahead, with responses swinging both positive and negative. What if the studio loves Affleck but early viewers take to another character or actor instead? Or what if viewers find Snyder’s movie too violent or grim? There are likely lots of little questions about the movie WB wants answered by test audiences before the movie opens. Snyder will certainly be spending the next seven months tweaking and shaping his picture to be the best, most widely pleasing it can be, while still retaining his overall vision.
So it’s not a surprise to hear just weeks after that initial buzz that word is coming down about the changes the studio wants to make. According to Heroic Hollywood, WB wants ‘Dawn Of Justice’ to feature more Batman and less Superman, because apparently Ben Affleck‘s Batman is totally owning the screen opposite Henry Cavill’s Superman. That latter part of the equation we’ll have to wait see, but logically speaking, this probably isn’t a huge surprise, given that while there’s still no official followup for "Man Of Steel," executives have already inked Affleck to write and direct a solo Batman outing. So naturally, they want to set the table for that character as much as possible. So maybe this is much ado about nothing. And while some may point to WB’s "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." recently tanking at the box office, that had little to do with Cavill, who actually got some nice notices for his charming performance.
In short, Warner Bros. reportedly wants more screentime for a major A-list actor who will later be leading a solo film that he will also direct. Doesn’t seem like much of a controversy to me —it’s just the sort of post-production and editing decisions that’s par for the course for his scale of movie. Below, check out Jesse Eisenberg talking about how awesome and not cartoony ‘Dawn Of Justice’ will be.
