Doug Liman Hired to Direct ‘Justice League Dark’

Warner Bros'. DC Extended Universe has had a terrible time recently with their attempts to play catch up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe - the releases of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad were met with mostly negative reviews and a former employer recently released a public letter stating Wonder Woman was a troubled production. Still the studio must move forward and Variety have reported that Warner Bros. has hired Doug Liman to direct Justice League Dark. Doug Liman is an experienced action director, best known for making The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Edge of Tomorrow and was recently set to direct superhero movie Gambit for Fox before Warner Bros. poached him. Liman previous movie the sci-fi-actioneer Edge of Tomorrow has become a cult hit and The Bourne Identity was the movie that brought some grit the spy-thriller genre and had some of the best action scenes in the series, mainly because the action scenes are comprehensible. These credentials would make Liman a good fit for the DCEU, but his previous superhero movie Jumper was not fondly remembered. Justice League Dark is a superhero team of supernatural heroes and anti-heroes in the DC universe and often threats accordingly. Their members include John Constantine (who has already had appeared on film and TV), Swamp Thing, Zatanna, Deadman and Etrigan the Demon. A supernatural superhero team does sound promising but there is a risk that Justice League Dark could be too similar to Suicide Squad, a team of unconventional heroes working together. Scott Rudin is set to produce the movie and he has a strong pedigree - his credits include The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Captain Phillips and he is the first producer to win the Oscar, Emmy and Tony Awards. Michael Gilio is set to write the screenplay. Guillermo del Toro was originally set to direct Justice League Dark but withdrew because of his busy schedule. Liman's next movie is the thriller American Made about a pilot  who works for the CIA and a drug runner in the 1980 with starring Tom Cruise. It is set to be released on September 29, 2017. The next two entries in the DCEU are Wonder Woman, having a release date of June 2, 2017 and Justice League, set to come out on November 17, 2017.