Man of Steel Sequel in 2014, Justice League in 2015?

[KalElFan]

Domestically, Man of Steel set an all-time June record,
beating sequels to Toy Story, Transformers, and Harry
Potter. It set an all-time record "hold" for Father's Day,
making almost exactly the same as it did on Saturday.
Saturday is usually a lot higher and even Toy Story 3
and Batman Begins, both Father's Day weekend openers,
dropped 13.5% and 13.1% Saturday to Sunday. Man of
Steel also took in more in 3 days (Friday to Sunday) than
Green Lantern took in in its entire run.

$325M domestic ought to be achievable for Man of Steel,
the same overseas, and it already has $160M in promotion
money from 100+ sponsors, another all-time record. That'd
be $810M from those three sources alone, and so with
other revenues it should pass $1 billion. The Rotten
Tomatoes score was very disappointing (though still close
to 60% Fresh), but Real People Who've Seen The Movie
have been rating it much higher. :-)

Word that Man of Steel's sequel was being "fast-tracked"
came several days ago, and today follow-up news. Citing
the Wall Street Journal as its source, and with the key
quotes excerpted immediately following the link, it seems
the Man of Steel sequel could be so fast-tracked that it'll
be in theaters by December 2014, as soon as 18 months
from now.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=105557

"... in speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Warner's
president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman had this
to say about the future: "It's more than just a franchise
for us, it really opens up the door to do combinations of
the DC Comics characters. We can build them up like
Marvel did and benefit from the history of DC..."

"... the sequel is being fast-tracked to accommodate a
2014 release date. Furthermore, "knowledgeable people
close to the studio" also told the WSJ that a "Justice League"
film could come out "as soon as 2015."

Now that may seem unachievable, but consider that sets for
Man of Steel were being built in Plano, Illinois in July of 2011,
less than two years to the June 14, 2013 release date. That
was 23 months or so. So the 5 month quicker turnaround may
be possible if scripts, plans, locations, some sets and so on
are in place, and given learning curves after the first one.
Speculating beyond that...

After December 2014, Warners could stake out the third Friday
in July and, say, the first Friday in December each year for a
DC movie. Batman Begins started that trilogy by opening
Father's Day weekend just like Man of Steel -- very much a
"Superman Begins" equivalent. But then, for The Dark Knight
and Dark Knight Returns sequels, they moved to that third
Friday in July with enormous success. December releases
can also see enormous success, from Superman 1978 to
Titanic and Avatar and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So it
might go like this for DC's live-action cinematic lineup...

Dec 2014 - Man of Steel Sequel ("World's Finest"?)
July 2015 - Batman (recast)
Dec 2015 - Justice League
July 2016 - Wonder Woman
Dec 2016 - Flash
July 2017 - Man of Steel 2nd Sequel

So clean reboot then, led by Man of Steel. Does the
new Batman come first? I think so. It's a proven big
success in two incarnations now, Burton's and Nolan's.
Hence my suggestion in the list above that the new
Batman appear in the December 2014 movie, at least
as an intro to his appearance in his own movie in July
2015.

Calling the Man of Steel sequel "World's Finest" or Man
of Steel: World's Finest would allude to the Superman
and Batman team-up comic that ran for 45 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Finest_Comics

I think that would send antipation for the movies in
December 2014 and July 2015 into overdrive. It also
makes one rethink the Batman Reboot, because a
Bale return would arguably turbo-charge it even more.
Again, tough call, but I think it'll work fine rebooted
with a new Batman. The "World's Finest" could apply
to Superman mainly in the December 2014 sequel,
but with a bit more-than-cameo Batman, then vice
versa in the rebooted Batman perhaps, followed by JL.

[KalElFan]

Time to revisit this...

On rec.arts.comics.dc.universe, "Pat O'Neill" wrote in message
news:7e8828bd-8eab-4adf...@googlegroups.com...

> I think I'd wait to see if the film has "legs" before I
> start predicting sequels, let alone a Justice League
> movie...

Well, it's at $619M worldwide, plus the $160M from
the 100+ promotional partners so $779M and counting.
How much is enough? Here was the possible schedule
I posted based on the information last month:

>> Dec 2014 - Man of Steel Sequel ("World's Finest"?)
>> July 2015 - Batman (recast)
>> Dec 2015 - Justice League
>> July 2016 - Wonder Woman
>> Dec 2016 - Flash
>> July 2017 - Man of Steel 2nd Sequel

The 2016 for Wonder Woman fits because that was
mentioned as her 75th anniversary. But I think I read
they might be putting Justice League back, and the
December 2014 seems more unlikely the longer we
don't hear specifics. So maybe it'll be more like
these being the next five:

July 2015 - Man of Steel 2
Dec 2015 - The Flash

July 2016 - Wonder Woman

Dec 2016 - Batman
July 2017 - Man of Steel 3

I think it'd help if Warner Bros. / DC Entertainment
announces a schedule soon, perhaps along with
a re-release announcement for Man of Steel. Offer
a superticket deal because the Blu-Ray release date
will be closer. Include a post-credits teaser like the
rumored Kara Zor-El one. Put some promotion money
behind it and don't be shy about spoilers. Let people
know about the "Lois has the inside track on Clark"
element, allude to the Killing Zod scene controversy.

It's difficult to see how Warner Bros. would not use
this opportunity to greenlight a comprehensive plan.
They're unlikely to get another chance for a decade
or two, if that, if they don't. I think much of their core
base would just give up even caring, and anything
they did announce would get viewed as vaporware
or crying wolf.