'Justice League' Loses, Moviegoers Win

Word is that the film is on hold

By: David Frank
Published: Wednesday, January 16th 2008 at 5:59 PM

Word came by several days ago that citizens of Earth would know the fate of the Justice League movie by the middle of this week. Thanks to IESB.net we can now stop holding our breath and go back to watching "American Idol". JLA is on hold. Which in Hollywood speak tends to mean "dead."

Perhaps I am being (very, very) optimistic and it doesn't mean "dead" entirely, but one can hope. Nevertheless, this outcome seemed inevitable. If you Googled the movie, I bet 99% of the articles include the word, "troubled." Honestly, I always wondered whether the news of a JLA movie was just an epic prank pulled on Internet fan boys by a bored Warner Bros. suit still pissed over getting flame-broiled for Batman and Robin.

It's no secret that a few of us here at RopeofSilicon were anticipating a JLA movie like the outcome of napalm in a microwave. A JLA movie is just a goofy idea, no matter how you spin it. The premise requires too much exposition to make good cinema. So either we'd get a movie that was all setup or one that was completely half-baked. Regardless, the final result would probably be a silly, tire-mark on the undies of Batman Begins (and even Superman Returns) sort of McDonald's movie. Our universe is better off without a JLA film.

I'm glad Warner Bros. (for now) agrees. Apparently, few were happy with director George Miller's cast of rejects from Laguna Beach playing some of America's greatest fictional icons—although part of me doubts Warner Bros. had trouble with this, after all this is the studio that was courting Josh Hartnett and Ashton Kutcher for Superman—and reportedly no one was feeling jolly about the script. So no writers equals no rewrites which equals no film. In my mind, the writer's strike has accomplished its mission and then some. Pin a medal on these heroes.

Now maybe Miller can go and finally make Mad Max: Fury Road, a film in which I've read nothing but exuberant raves about from everyone who has either viewed the script or preproduction work. But that's just me being (very, very) optimistic again.

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