I think the thing with saying "just make good movies" is...well duh. Generally, it's a good practice for any business to make good products. It gets said all the time, but it truly bares repeating: no one sets out to make a bad movie. There's no "good movie" spell WB can cast. We can look at them now and say "Oh they should have done this and this" but that's the gift of hindsight. We see the finished products; not the process of making them. Sure there were more glaring red flags, but some decisions I could totally understand. Like, Jesse Eisenberg is a great actor. Hiring him would seem like a no brainer in the moment. Yet, his take on Luthor landed with a thud. Live and learn.
People compare it to the MCU but that is something literally unprecedented in the film industry. No one knows how Marvel does what they do. Hell, I still say if they had to do it all over again, there's no guarantee it would work out like it did this time. That's in no way to diminish their accomplishment; I respect what they've done even if I find myself less and less interested in the films as time goes on. It's just to say it's not the kind of thing we should start expecting all the time. It's an anamoly.
The biggest lesson from all of this for WB (and us, for that matter) is that creatives matter. People need to get out of this mindset of "DC made this!" and "Marvel made that!" and look at the people who are actually making the movies. Synder is a nice guy and, despite what some folks want to say, a talented one. Dude has an eye for film and cinematography and at his best, he knows how to make a scene stick with you. That said, he was just a poor choice to take on Superman and Batman. Again, I'm sure it made sense in the beginning - his films were successful financially, he loves the source material, and Nolan himself recommended him. But it just didn't work out. Again, live and learn.
The next batch of DC films that we know of has some promising folks on them. James Wan made yet another crowdpleaser of a film and it's cleaning up. Wonder Woman 1984 needs nothing said; Patty and Gal about to come through and crush the buildings again. I'm excited for New Gods because A Wrinkle in Time showed that at least from a visual standpoint, Ava's got what it takes to bring the Fourth World. The little bit we've seen of Shazam suggests Sandberg at least understands comedy and how to get at what it feels like to be a kid with superpowers. Having seen Game Night, I'm done for whatever the directors do with The Flash (whenever that comes out). Reeves' Batman is probably gonna rule the world whenever it hits. Everything we hear about Birds of Prey and who is working on it sounds amazing.
Will all of it work out? Idk. Good decisions in the moment and all that. But thus far, I have no reason to feel nervous about the upcoming movies.
