justice-league-dark

The R-rated animated adaptation of ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ will premiere at SDCC which kicks off on July 20 and runs through the 24th.  The movie will be released to the public digitally on the 23rd and on DVD and BluRay on August 2nd.  In addition to bringing this classic story to life, the release will include a preview of Warner Brother Animation’s next DC movie: ‘Justice League Dark’.

The previous release ‘Justice League Vs. Teen Titans’ expanded the animated universe, which is loosely modeled after the New 52 comics, in which the Justice League is a newly gathered forced.  Now that the Titans are established as part of this world, it looks like the mystical side of the DCU is entering the fray.

‘Justice League Dark’ launched at the beginning of the New 52 along with the standard ‘Justice League’ and included the magical characters of the DCU including John Constantine, Zatanna, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Swamp Thing, Frankenstein and Black Orchid among others.

Of course, there has been a live-action ‘Justice League Dark’ movie in the works for longer than the DC Expanded Universe has existed.  Director Guillermo del Toro had hoped to craft a film starring Constantine and other magical characters, which he dubbed ‘Dark Universe’.  Unfortunately, del Toro always has multiple projects in various states of development and with Warner Brothers going all in on a DC film universe, they chose to take this particular project away from him in hopes of getting it out sooner rather than later.  They may still use the script that del Toro had prepared.

As the director said:

“It all depends on the calendar, you know?”

In 2013, WBA released an original animated movie ‘Batman: Assault on Arkham’ which featured Deadshot, Harley Quinn and other DC rogues who would go on to be featured in the live action ‘Suicide Squad’ movie coming out this summer.  Does basing the next animated movie on ‘Justice League Dark’ mean that the live action film is one step closer to reality?  It very well could, but only time will tell.  We know Warner Brothers wants to make this movie, but so far, no official release date has been selected, nor has a new director been signed.

Are you excited to explore the darker side of the animated DC Universe?  Do you hope to see a live action version in the near future?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter