The title of an upcoming project in the DC Universe (DCU) is Batman: The Brave and The Bold. But “brave” and “bold” weren’t exactly the qualities the Batman film’s director, Andy Muschietti, or his sister/producer, Barbara, conveyed in a recent interview.
When Variety asked the duo if a Batman movie was still in their future, Barbara said, “The intention is yes, but we can’t talk about it.”
Muschietti: More Cautious Than Bold?
Andy Muschietti was announced as the director of Batman: The Brave and The Bold in 2023, just days before the release of The Flash. While that movie was the beginning of the end for Warner Bros.’ DC Expanded Universe, the new co-chairman and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, was enthusiastic about Muschietti’s work.
Gunn took to social media to share that The Flash was “unbelievably good.”
Worlds collide in the second trailer for #TheFlashMovie! (And yes, the rumors are true, the movie is unbelievably good). pic.twitter.com/cRfV2QUugi
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 25, 2023
READ: Glamour Names Rachel Zegler a ‘Woman of the Year’ Despite Disney Disasters and Political Outbursts
For a variety of reasons, The Flash was a box office bomb. Since then, Muschietti has lined up other projects and overseen a prequel series of his IT movies, IT: Welcome to Derry, which recently premiered on HBO Max.
Still, Gunn insists that The Brave and The Bold is still happening and that Muschietti is still attached to direct. However, Gunn has also been vocal about his role in the casting and overall design of the upcoming Batman movie — decisions typically left to the director.
Director Andy Muschietti doing press for IT – YouTube, SyFy
Unfortunately, Muschietti recently made waves, blaming fans for the failure of The Flash. Whatever goodwill he’d maintained with comic book fans may have been lost.
In response to Variety’s question about The Brave and The Bold, Muschietti said, “We have to wait a few, a couple of months to start talking about it.” Realizing even that may have been too much, he then added, “I screwed it already.”
Such vague — even deprecating — remarks only open the door to further speculation, and hardly give the impression of a director confidently moving forward on his next project. But it’s possible that the reason he needs to wait to provide more information has nothing to do with Muschietti, and everything to do with Warner Bros.
The Merger That Could Destroy a Universe
Now that Warner Bros. Discovery is officially for sale, everything connected to the studio is in question. Rumors have circulated that if Paramount Skydance is successful in acquiring Warner Bros., its CEO David Ellison might show Gunn the door. And if Gunn is out, what would that mean for the DCU and the “Superman Saga” that Gunn is orchestrating?
James Gunn sits for an interview – YouTube, GQ
While it’s uncertain that new leadership could or would fire Gunn, there is still plenty of uncertainty to go around. With new ownership, at the very least priorities and budgets could easily change. It should be noted that Matt Reeves is still working on The Batman: Part II, which takes place in a totally different continuity from the DCU. Reeves’ last Batman movie was a success. Muschietti’s only superhero movie so far was not, and the DCU has yet to prove itself.
For the time being, everyone involved seems to be treading carefully. Intention isn’t confirmation — and confidence isn’t commitment.
Do you think Andy Muschietti will be the director of Batman: The Brave and The Bold? Is the movie even going to get made? Let us know!
A failed director is failed. As much as he blames everything but himself for the failure of The Flash, as the director the buck is (supposed to) stop with him. If he didn’t like the script or the studio was trying to bully him, he could/should have quit.
And having multiple Batman movie franchises going at the same time or coming quickly one after another, is going to dilute each movie, especially if they use different actors for the key roles that appear in both variants.
Pattinson in The Batman and someone else in Brave and Bold? The dissonance will be hard to reconcile. One of the things which eased the transition between Batman actors in the past was leaving a decent time gap between previous and next as well as some continuity in other positions, like the same director even with a different actor.
Would Heath Ledger’s and Jack Nicholson’s performances be seen as being as high quality as they were if they were released within a year of each other (as an aside, I think Nicholson’s performance is overrated thanks to nostalgia). Pattinson did a good job, but how would he compare if The Batman was fresh at the same time Nolan’s Dark Knight series was running?
Anyway, at this point I think Gunn is the most overrated figurehead in the industry and I hope he rises to the stress and pressure. This means reevaluating projects and looking to make them audience pleasers rather than keeping with the wacky style, heroes and villains, that has become his calling card.
His first two guardians were fine by me since I had no grist in their comics game. Since then he seems like an over-groomed homo hipster, bent on furthering himself, above all else.
Yeah, the first two Guardians movies were solid. I also didn’t know anything about the characters or comics so I had no idea how closely he was following any particular storyline. Plus, it introduced Chris Pratt to the world and gave him a ladder from the small niche he’d carved out in Community. The world is a better place when someone like Pratt is an A-lister.
Anyway, Gunn – based on his filmography – has taken every opportunity to stroke his own ego. Most of his movie titles have his name plastered on them somewhere like “James Gunn presents: ” or “A James Gunn film”.
Batman is becoming a bit wet, not sure I’m into him in the woke era.