Why Didn't it Happen?
There are several reasons, some are creative, while others are just a question of beauracracy and economics. Timing was definitely a factor.
By some accounts,
Justice League: Mortal was mere days away from filming, with Weta having built nearly everything from sets to props and costumes, with special effects pre-vis already set to go. I've exhausted myself trying to track down images of the costumes that Weta designed for this film, but there's very little out there other than some concept art which you can see below. By all accounts, they were rather remarkable. There's a fun video of
Armie Hammer freaking out a little bit over how cool his Batman costume "with all the carbon fiber and mechanics and springs and pistons" on it (there's an appropriate story purpose for that stuff, by the way, Batman is injured and is wearing high tech arm and knee braces) would have looked.
Adam Brody remembers trying on an early version of the Flash costume.
He told MTV that “It was kinda what you’d think, without [certain features]; it was the first, rough-draft version...We were in Australia for some table reads and fittings and whatnot for a few weeks with George Miller and his camp, and that was a great experience. I don’t regret a second of it; I had a really good time and a lot of positive things came from that.”
Our own Don Kaye had a chance to ask George Miller about why
Justice League: Mortal had its plug pulled at the last minute. "Well," he began, "it's weird." We don't doubt it.
He did clarify things, though:
"There was a writers strike. There was some legislation with a tax rebate to make it in Australia. It was the first film that came up, and there was a debate about whether it was Australian content even though I was driving it. It didn’t have to be Australian content, but Australian control. But there was a board that no longer exists that the government cobbled together from people who knew nothing about the film industry. And they voted -- they struck it down by one vote. We were all ready. Once that happened and then the writers’ strike happened…it fell apart."
(you can and should read the rest of Don's interview with George Miller right here)
But there's always the lingering issue of whether Warner Bros. was comfortable having different versions of its own characters competing with each other for audience dollars.
Superman Returns had opened in 2006 with Brandon Routh in the title role, and while it underperformed at the box office, a sequel had been penciled in for 2009.
Smallville was in the middle of some of its most successful seasons. DJ Cotrona would have made the third live-action Superman vying for attention at the same time.
Adam Brody believed that Warner Bros. "just didn’t want to cross their streams with a whole bunch of Batmans in the universe and all the other reasons they didn’t make it."
Justice League: Mortal would have been in production while the promotional machine for Christopher Nolan's
The Dark Knight was in full gear, and with the third film in that Batman trilogy on the horizon, an "unassociated" Batman might not have been welcome. Meanwhile, the big screen Batman of the era, Christian Bale,
seemed less than enthused by the whole affair, saying "It’d be better if it doesn’t tread on the toes of what we’re doing," and "it would be better if it comes out after
Batman 3."
I also have to wonder how Christopher Nolan felt about the whole thing. By the time "Batman 3" (which we know as
The Dark Knight Rises these days) was in production, Warner Bros. was already making impatient noises about competing with Marvel Studios' shared universe model, and that was a game that Mr. Nolan wasn't at all interested in playing with his Batman films.
So, now that the world has had a good dose of
Mad Max: Fury Road, which appears antithetical to many of the traditional CGI-laden superhero movie aesthetics we've become accustomed to over the last few years, the question remains: would George Miller ever want to try again?
"I mean I’m a DC man," Mr. Miller told us. "Like a lot of these things, of course, they're deeply rooted in Greek mythology, and I’m very into mythology and so on. But I’ve got a lot of stuff on my plate and not enough time to do it. If it was something I’d be interested in…If I could do it so it felt fresh, that’s my biggest thing."
We suspect he could. Too bad he didn't get his chance with
Justice League: Mortal.
if they drop this tomorrow.
dude this war is gonna be fought on all continents for the infinity stones plus space. They got THANOS and THE BLACK GUARD and an entire minions to deal with...
nah...they wouldnt attach to that
