In case you haven’t been aware, a lawsuit regarding the licensing right to Superman has been in a legal dogfight for many years now. Without getting into too many of the details, back in 1992 Joe Shuster’s sister , Joe was one of the co-creators of Superman, signed a deal with Warner Bros. to have the rights to the character. Years passed and all seemed well in good until the agreement was called into question by other family members and eventually led to a judge ruling in favor of the family. So there has been a constant battle ever since between the family and WB about who owns the right to the Superman character and what led to the quick move to production for Man of Steel. Yesterday a judge ruled that the original agreement made back in 1992 was a legal and binding agreement which means WB controls the rights to Superman well after Man of Steel releases.
So how does this factor into a Justice League movie? According to the LA Times, this lawsuit has been a huge factor as to why there hasn’t been solid movement with a Justice League film. Since the film wasn’t in production before the prior ruling, Superman could not be used for the film, and what is the Justice League without its main hero? They also state that with the lawsuit being settled and ruling going in their favor, they are ready to move full steam ahead and the search for a cast and director will begin immediately, with plans for production begin in Summer 2013 and a release date of Summer 2015 (Watch out Avengers 2).
Fans have been wondering how the Justice League film will work with Warner Bros. plans to sort of relaunch their DC franchises. It seems that Warner Bros. plans to go the opposite route that Marvel went and plans on releasing Justice League first and then proceed to make individual films there after. I can sort of see the benefit of this and agree with Warners’ approach. There isn’t enough time to try and develop some of the key members of the Justice League with individual stories and you can’t push Justice League back another five years or else Marvel would have a strangle hold on the market. Releasing Justice League first will also allow them to see exactly which characters fans flock to and build a connection with which will help set the stage for deciding who gets independent films and who doesn’t.
I will say this, if you are young in Hollywood, you better make sure your agent is doing everything they can to try and get you locked into a role for this film, it could lead to a pretty nice multi figure deal. Summer 2015 is shaping up to be a huge year for Superhero films!
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