Suicide Squad and the Art of the Franchise Builder

Now, people look to the upcoming Wonder Woman movie, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, to do what Suicide Squad could not. But maybe fans are getting ahead of themselves. We’ve already had three movies set in this fictional universe, including Man of Steel and Batman V Superman – which had lukewarm and poor receptions respectively. Usually, at this point, most studios would deem the project a failure, but the problem is that Warner Brothers already has a Justice League film in development, in addition to the aforementioned Wonder Woman. There’s simply too much money already into this to stop now. So, how can a studio build a franchise if it can’t even get off the ground? Let’s go back in time to see how a movie franchise was born…

It’s 1977. It was a long time ago on this very rock called Earth, and all people could talk about was this new film called Star Wars. What made this film resonate with everyone was how it fleshed out its characters into living, breathing characters. We cared about Luke, Leia, and Han. We watched them grow over the course of the film. Even though the film ended with the promise of more, it still managed to deliver a complete narrative, and it worked.

But here’s the thing; unlike the DC movies, Star Wars had no source material to work from. Sure, it drew from many places, both real and fictional, but that’s how all fiction works; it’s not the same as adaptation. But that’s not to say that only wholly original works can turn into franchises. Otherwise, the Marvel movies and Disney’s Princess brand wouldn’t be the cultural juggernauts they are today. So what do these all have in common?

They all have good movies. It’s that simple. Oh, and they also have easily marketable characters, but so does DC. In order for a movie to give birth to a successful franchise, quality filmmaking must exist alongside marketing. And while Warner Brothers can pump as much money into promoting these things as they want, we’re already three movies deep without the success needed to carry a franchise. Thankfully, recent history has shown us that it’s not impossible for a film series to course correct after previous blunders.

Within the past month, Star Trek Beyond was released to widespread acclaim, especially when compared to the previous films. That may sound odd when the first two Reboot-Trek films released to slightly higher overall reviews, but the conversations surrounding them has been significantly less positive once the buzz died down. But we digress…

The point is that there is precedent for a series of bad movies to turn themselves good. How would DC and WB go about doing the same?

This is a bit of a tricky question, since what makes a good movie varies from film to film. There is no foolproof formula to good cinema. We might think that studios are the problem, but this is more complicated than black and white. In recent years, WB has overseen the release ofGravity, The Lego Movie, Edge of Tomorrow, and Mad Max: Fury Road. Without studio money, these films may have never been made, and that would be an utter shame. At the same time, studio mandate can be disastrous for films that really need to be given room to breathe.

Sometimes, studio executives make bad decisions. These people are moneymen, not movie men, and they cannot always know what is best for a film. In the case of Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, hiring Zack Snyder to direct the films and lead the creative process for the DC film making process probably wasn’t the best decision. While you don’t want to disparage the guy, it’s no secret that his particular style of blockbuster is polarising, to say the least. When the goal of your film is to appeal to everyone, it’s a good idea to have somebody in charge that understands not just the material, but how to translate that into something accessible to everybody.

From the sounds of things, Zack Snyder’s influence with the DC movies may fade as time goes on, with Geoff Johns taking his place. To those of you who don’t know who he is, Johns is one of DC Comics’ premier writers, known for his robust knowledge of DC’s properties and their history. It’s impossible to say if he can translate that knowledge into making Superman, Wonder Woman, and everyone else truly shine on the silver screen, but it sounds like a step in the right direction. The problem then becomes whether the change is enough or if it will be too little too late.

All of this is very theoretical – and, we dare say, beyond our remit! There’s a great mechanism to this thing, and no one person can perceive the whole. It's evident that there does stand a precedent for things to turn around, but there’s so much that need to happen for that to occur. And even if we do get supposedly great people working on these films, that’s no guarantee that all the necessary elements will come together in order to make the rousing success that people hope for.

But now WB needs to make this happen. In the past, before Iron Man, if a superhero movie property didn’t turn out the profits the studios wanted, it would get shelved indefinitely. But now that Marvel has its own shared universe of highly successful movies, Warner Brothers has much greater reason to keep trying. We’ll just have to wait and see.