Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is what has truly gotten the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) rolling, and now Warner Bros. is moving onto the next films in line. All the parts and members of the Justice League will get their own solo films, and that includes a solo Batman film just recently announced. Things were going full speed ahead, but now have to slow down a bit as director Seth Grahame-Smith has left The Flash movie over creative differences.
Yes, there is going to have to be someone else in charge of making sure the Scarlet Speedster gets put together in a good day.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , Seth Grahame-Smith has left the film due to “creative differences,” but it isn’t exactly known what those are. It had already come as a bit of a shock to many that he would be the writer and director on The Flash considering his past work.
Grahame-Smith is the author and screenwriter for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and Dark Shadows. Still, Warner Bros. Obviously thought enough about him and believed that he was capable of putting together a comic book movie, but maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
One of the good things is that The Flash is not going to have to start from scratch as Grahame-Smith’s script will be kept on board. He wrote it working off of a treatment by Christopher Mill and Phil Lord, who were the genius minds behind the Lego Movie .
The fact that Warner Bros. is keeping his script may mean that the studio likes Seth Grahame-Smith’s ideas, but wants a more comic book-savvy director to guide things, as Collider points out. As of now, there is not a gigantic rush on finding a new director as Justice League is what the focus is on right now.
Still, there is some work that needs to be done and Warner Bros. needs to be proactive here and get someone on board and ready before too much time passes. They cannot afford to let Marvel continue its strong showing at the box office without having anything to fire back at them.
The Flash is a major part of the DCEU, and making sure that it is a strong film is a priority that needs to be addressed soon.
Now, Warner Bros. and Seth Grahame-Smith haven’t totally severed their relationship, as he is still working on The Lego Batman Movieand Beetlejuice 2 . The latter seems to fit in more with what he’s normally worked on in the past.
In what can only be seen now as a scary situation for Warner Bros., the solo Aquaman movie could also be in for some trouble as director James Wan may be leaving, according to The Playlist . It was set for release in July of 2018, while The Flash is due out in March of that year.
As of now, the loss of another director could really hurt the DCEU as those two films are now just two years away. It is not the time for two films in the franchise to be without any direction, especially when there was such promise and hope for both of them.
Losing Seth Grahame-Smith on The Flash is a big deal as the film is set for a 2018 release date, and that means Warner Bros. and DC needs to find a new director quickly. Some were always confused as to giving the control to Grahame-Smith in the first place, but obviously he didn’t have enough control, as he is no longer telling Ezra Miller what to do.
[Image via DC Comics]