The Internet is on fire with rumors surrounding a possible split for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Not literal fire or even the kind of fire you should have your doctor look at, but the figurative fire we sometimes get in deep in our bellies. The kind that accompanies excitement.
It’s all due to this grainy, probably fake photograph that claims to be from a teaser trailer (possibly the very trailer that will precede Jupiter Ascending on February 6th):
https://twitter.com/_JackW97/status/553889295090847744
As you can see, the photo shows two separate movies for Batman V. Superman now. One is still penciled for March 2016, the already announced Dawn of Justice. The other, Enter The Knight, is the surprise and it carries a release date of October 2015.
Is this true? Would DC be able to keep this sort of cat in a bag until now or is this some new development they’re planning to drop on the populace like a turd at the dinner table? From Entertainment Weekly:
When contacted by EW, Warner Bros. did not comment on the rumors about the movie-splitting, possibly because it’s not true, possibly because it is true, and possibly because Warner Bros. already announced like a million movies from now until 2020, so even the studio has lost track of what is and isn’t being made. In the “no way is it happening camp”: As Batman-News.com discovered, Warner Bros. doesn’t own the domain name BatmanvSupermanEnterTheKnight.com.
So that’s the official tale right now, or at least the one I’m wiling to believe. That doesn’t mean it is out of the realm of possibility or a bad idea (to a point). Ain’t It Cool News points this out with their write up:
Giving Batfleck something of an “intro” movie would allow the character to breathe before pitting him against Henry Cavill’s Kal-El, and would establish him as his own entity in this rapidly expanding universe.
Sure, that’s all well and good. It’d be great if they wanted to pull back and let their characters breathe for a bit. I just don’t have that sort of hopeful, bright attitude in my heart these days. I have to go back to Entertainment Weekly and side with their thoughts on why this split could happen:
Peter Jackson had this brilliant idea to start releasing a bunch of DVD extras into movie theaters, and now those DVD extras are probably going to gross one billion dollars. Lionsgate just released an entire Hunger Games movie where Katniss Everdeen paces pensively through corridors and promises to do really cool stuff in a year, and The Hunger Games—Mockingjay, Part Zero might wind up beating Guardians of the Galaxy at the domestic box office. Why not make one movie into two movies? Who turns down free money?
We also can’t forget that Warner and DC Comics are playing catch up with Marvel in the eyes of the public. Every studio is trying to capitalize on that shared universe nonsense and now that Marvel is splitting their own triple A franchise into a big two parter, Warner might need to do that themselves.
I don’t know. It’s all purely speculation on all parts at this moment, but it’s one of those rumors that is possible. It isn’t something crazy like Marvel and DC making one big movie together or Disney bringing Patton Oswalt’s Parks and Rec movie to life. We’ll just have to wait and see.
(Via Latino Review / Entertainment Weekly / Ain’t It Cool News / IGN / Badass Digest)
