DC Films head honcho Geoff Johns has revealed that his favorite director happens to be Robert Zemeckis, giving fans cause to believe that the acclaimed filmmaker could be directing The Flash. Warner Bros. officially kicked off the DC Extended Universe with Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice last year, and that film’s events will continue through Snyder’s Justice League later in 2017, featuring the world’s finest heroes - Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) - unite against Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and his Parademon army.
The next DCEU movie on the studio’s docket is James Wan’s Aquaman, though it was originally supposed to be The Flash. The studio announced The Flash movie three years ago, with the plan to have the film released in March 2018, written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and directed by Seth Grahame-Smith. However, Smith had later exited the project citing creative differences, with Dope director Rick Famuyiwa replacing him the following month. Unfortunately, Famuyiwa ended up dropping the project as well, thus leaving the anticipated DCEU movie without a director. In May, several top-tier directors had found their names attached to the project, such as Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman, X-Men: First Class), Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man), and Robert Zemeckis (Cast Away, Back to the Future) - with Lord and Miller joining later on, following their exit from Lucasfilm’s Han Solo movie. Out of all of them, Zemeckis was listed as the frontrunner to direct, though there hasn’t been any news since then.
Today, during Geoff Johns’ solo panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the DC chief revealed (via Twitter) that Zemeckis has been his favorite director for years, and that has caused fans to believe the reports regarding Zemeckis as the frontrunner to direct The Flash. Interestingly, Johns also revealed that he would love to make a Hulk movie, if he could acquire the character’s rights from Marvel (and Universal Pictures).
Geoff Johns says Zemeckis is his favorite movie director #SDCC— Chris Sylvia @ #SDCC (@sylvioso) July 20, 2017
Although this shouldn’t be taken as confirmation that Zemeckis will be directing The Flash, Johns’ comments are intriguing, especially since they come mere days before DC Entertainment takes the stage during Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, where attendees should receive some concrete information regarding the DCEU’s future. It’s certainly possible that the studio has found a replacement director but is waiting until their panel to reveal the news. After all, it’s the biggest entertainment stage in the world.
If they don’t announce The Flash’s director, then perhaps the studio will at least confirm the movie’s new release date. Since it hadn’t gone into production yet, the studio had removed the DCEU film from their 2018 release schedule and subsequently replaced it with one of their other tentpole films: Roar Uthaug’s upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander as the titular Lara Croft. Considering that the studio has dated two more unannounced DCEU films for 2020, it’s certainly possible that The Flash could take one of those dates, though we’ll just have to wait and see what happens this Saturday inside Hall H.
Next: Where to Watch San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Panels Online
Source: Twitter
- Justice League Release Date: 2017-11-17 Aquaman Release Date: 2018-12-21 Shazam! Release Date: 2019-04-05 The Flash Movie Release Date: 2023-06-23