DCU Animated Movies Will Get Theatrical Releases

Movies

The DC animated films are coming to theaters. On his Threads account, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn answered a couple of fan questions about how upcoming animated movies would fit into the DCU and be distributed. First came one about Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, the animated feature based on the landmark comic book crossover from 1985 that was announced at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. A fan asked if the film would tie into the DCU:

That’s understandable. Gunn and fellow DC Studios CEO Peter Safran have a specific vision for the DCU, and something as huge as Crisis on Infinite Earths would be hard to shove in without affecting the overarching story. I could see them using it as the starting point for their new universe if they wanted to; the comic book served as a consolidation of the DC multiverse, which had grown unwieldy. But it’s unnecessary, and it risks confusing people, especially if it comes out well ahead of Superman: Legacy. Not to mention, people seem to have had their fill of multiverse stories lately. I’m looking forward to this movie; while I wasn’t huge on the comic – it has great moment and elements, but it’s so big and has so many characters that it doesn’t have the emotional weight it would if it focused more closely on a few – I think they can make a great movie out of it. It’s got to be better than that atrocious Arrowverse version.

In that same thread, Gunn was asked if the animated DC movies that do tie into the DCU would be released theatrically:

That’s a smart move. Getting wider audiences to understand that the animated movies tie into the live-action ones is going to be a challenge; a lot of people don’t look at them the same way, and since they’ve never been connected before, the default will be to disregard them. Releasing them in theaters and playing up the connection in advertisements is a good way to make people realize they’re important. It’ll also be great for fans of the animated films to be able to see them on the big screen; I remember going to the theater with my mom to watch Batman: Mask of the Phantasm – which is still my favorite DC animated movie – and it would have been great to see some of the better ones that way, like the excellent Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox. (How criminal is it that Flashpoint Paradox didn’t get a theatrical release while the vastly inferior The Flash, another “Flashpoint” adaptation, did?) It’ll be interesting to see what these films are; this could be a great way to cut costs on some of the larger-scale stories they want to tell at a time when Hollywood is hurting for cash. Superman can fight Lex Luthor and Batman can fight the Joker in live-action, but when Darkseid brings his armies to invade Earth, maybe animation will let them create the epic story live-action won’t for less money. But is it viable? Hardcore fans won’t mind, but will wider audiences accept this? I’m fascinated to see.