Ben Affleck won’t just be reprising his role as Batman in Zack Snyder‘s ‘Justice League – Part One’, but he will now be executive producing the movie. And word has it… #sadaffleck might have something to do with it.
Affleck’s casting as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Snyder’s ‘Batman V Superman’ was met with revulsion by the internet, but once the movie came out, his performance was lauded as one of the high points of the film, with fans clamoring for a solo ‘Batman’ movie– something that is now becoming a reality, as Warner Brothers has greenlit the film which Affleck will also co-write and direct.
It was also reported that Affleck and DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns would have complete creative control over that movie, which is believed to be entitled ‘The Batman’. This, of course, means that WB’s go-to guy for their still fledgling DC Expanded Universe, Snyder would not only not be calling the shots on this installment, but would apparently have no input whatsoever.
Now comes word that Affleck would also be stepping up as an executive producer on the currently-shooting ‘Justice League – Part One’, which Snyder is directing. But after ‘Batman V Superman”s underwhelming performance, rumor has it the studio is fuming and drastically looking to change course and that has resulted in clashes with Snyder and reportedly also contributed to Seth Grahame-Smith quitting ‘The Flash’ and rumors that James Wan was similarly looking to exit ‘Aquaman’, although Wan has since debunked that gossip.
As for Affleck’s new role on ‘Justice League’, he was brought on board “to make the film the best it can be.” He is said to be fine-tuning the script by his ‘Argo’ collaborator Chris Terrio and is also expected to play a part in post-production. The fact that Snyder originally cast Affleck and by all reports, enjoyed a friendly collaborative relationship with him, may ease Affleck’s transition into his new role.
That all sounds well and good, but now rumors are bubbling to the surface that Sad Affleck is “humiliated” following the lambasting ‘BvS’ took, especially after he assured fans that this film would be infinitely better than his critical and commercial flop ‘Daredevil’. And it didn’t help that he got turned into the #sadaffleck viral meme days before the film opened.
“Affleck was incredibly unhappy about the reception of BvS. He felt humiliated after spending so much of the press tour saying how much better this film would be than Daredevil. On top of that his agent was furious when Kevin Tsujihara jumped the gun and announced him as the director of The Batman. There were still negotiations happening. This move seems to help placate Affleck while also edging Zack Snyder out of a controlling central position in the DC Movieverse.”
‘Daredevil’ has a Rotten rating of 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, but hoo-boy does ‘BvS’ top that and not in a good way, sitting at a dismal 28%.
But keep in mind, ‘BvS’ is in no way a flop. It’s raked in an impressive $537.8M worldwide, but Warner Brothers had their eye on that $1 billion prize and the movie fell far short of that. But they still have the R-rated extended version due to hit home video reportedly on July 15, which may additionally pad the film’s numbers.
Does Affleck’s new position give you greater confidence in ‘Justice League’? Do you think this signals a change in direction for the DC movies? And is that a good or bad thing?
Justice League Part One on November 17, 2017. ‘The Batman’ has not yet been given a release date, but WB has already locked in untitled DC films for October 5, 2018 and November 1, 2019.
Sources: Movie Web, Screen Rant