George Clooney Told Ben Affleck Not To Play Batman

George Clooney Told Ben Affleck Not To Play Batman

It's no secret that superhero movies are everywhere. While all eyes are currently on the contents of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the genre goes back way before Tony Stark announced himself as Iron Man. On the DC side of things, there's been quite a few silver screen adaptations, especially when it comes to iconic heroes like Superman and Batman. The latter was mostly recently played by Ben Affleck, but it turns out that a former Bruce Wayne actually discouraged him from taking the role.

George Clooney had a brief stint as Batman, appearing in the final Joel Schumacher installment, Batman & Robin. The movie itself is known as one of the worst Batman movie, and Clooney has been the butt of countless jokes-- especially when it comes to his Bat nipples. Ben Affleck has officially hung up his cowl and cape, and Clooney recently revealed that he tried to talk him out of the role in the first place. As George Clooney puts it:

I actually did talk to him about it. I said, ‘Don’t do it.’ It was only from my experience, which is, you know.

It's been over 20 years since Batman & Robin hit theaters, and it looks like the experience still stings. Christopher Nolan's Dark Night Trilogy may have proved that a Batman movie could have quality, but that didn't stop George Clooney from discouraging Ben Affleck about taking on the mantle on the big screen.

George Clooney's comments to THR might not come as much of surprise, given how infamous Batman & Robin has become over the years. The over the top blockbuster was the final nail the Batman franchise's coffin, and is widely considered one of the worst movies of all time. So you can't blame Clooney for being a cautious regarding the Dark Knight's life on the big screen.

Ultimately Ben Affleck might have been wise to heed George Clooney's advice, as Batfleck had a rough go as Gotham's Protector. While Affleck brought a hulking physical presence and sense of jadedness to Bruce Wayne, the movies themselves left something to be desired. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was super divisive among the fandom, and sad Affleck became a viral meme.

Related: Ben Affleck Confirms He's Done Playing Batman

Justice League fared even worse critically, and was also a box office flop for the DCEU. And after dealing with substance abuse issues, Ben Affleck decided to drop out of the role, rather than reprising it in Matt Reeves' The Batman. So while it was a longer run as The Bat than George Clooney, Affleck's tenure was ultimately cut short.

The next DC release is Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Shazam! Producer Calls The Marvel And DC Rivalry ‘Bullshit’

Shazam! Producer Calls The Marvel And DC Rivalry ‘Bullshit’

Marvel and DC Comics have been business rival for decades. It makes sense. The two companies are in the same business of publishing comic books, largely about superheroes. Now, both companies are making movies about those same superheroes. While the competition may make sense from a business standpoint, Peter Safran, producer of the upcoming Shazam!, doesn't think the rivalry ever needs to extend to fans. He thinks fans of superhero comic books have more in common than they realize, which goes beyond the label on the book, and he's got some pretty strong words for those that disagree.

As an example of this, Safran points out that director James Gunn is getting ready to helm both a DC movie (The Suicide Squad) and a Marvel movie (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3). For him, this is a prime example that both sides of this debate can get along. According to the producer...

I’ve always believed, that which unites comic book fans, is much greater than that which divides us. And so the whole Marvel, DC rivalry thing is kind of bullshit. Because really we’re all fans of the same thing. I love the fact that he’s directed a movie for Marvel and directed a movie for DC. And the Earth is not spinning off its axis. It’s okay.

It seems that picking sides is an intrinsic part of being a fan of something, whether people are drawing a line between comic book characters or video game consoles. Once a person chooses to invest emotionally or financially in one thing, defending it against attacks from the other side becomes part of being a fan. That's certainly the case in the classic Marvel/DC rivalry which has now spilled over into the the cinematic universes that both companies have created. It seems like most people, or at least the most vocal, have chosen which one they love, and have written off the other.

However, as Peter Safran tells Uproxx, there might be a crack in the wall between Marvel and DC. Zachary Levi actually had a small role in Marvel's Thor franchise before he became the title character of Shazam!, but now, we have the first director who will make films in both franchises.

It was an interesting turn of events when James Gunn was removed from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, only to eventually find his way to writing and directing the second Suicide Squad movie. It certainly made sense, both were comic book movies that focused on a team of dysfunctional heroes. However, things took an even stranger turn when we learned that Gunn had been hired back by Disney and would actually direct both films, one after the other.

People will always need to make choices with their entertainment dollars and not everybody is going to be able to afford to go see every comic book superhero movie in the theaters. In that case, choices must be made, and one might decide to spend their money on one cinematic universe exclusively over the other. But even then, there's no reason you can't also be a fan of the other. Having a favorite superhero doesn't mean you can't also like all the other ones, regardless of which brand they're associated with.

Why Horror Directors Make Great Superhero Films, According To David Sandberg

Why Horror Directors Make Great Superhero Films, According To David Sandberg

There’s a pattern that seems to be forming in the DC Comics film canon, and it’s something that stretches all the way back to Superman: The Movie. As it turns out, some of their biggest ticket directors in the comic realm have backgrounds in horror filmmaking, with Richard Donner and Tim Burton putting in strong efforts in earlier ages, and now Aquaman’s James Wan and Shazam! director David Sandberg getting to continue the precedent in the modern age. All of this builds a case for one pretty awesome conclusion: horror directors are fantastic hires when you want to make a superhero movie.

It’s something that feels right to say after seeing Shazam!, as the mix of superpowered mythos, a heartwarming foster family, and some pretty creepy stuff involving the Seven Deadly Sins all come into frame. While the film is more than likely ok for your kids to see, there’s still some material that might creep them out, as part of the character’s underlying story is the fight of virtue versus evil, with seven figures representing each side of the fight.

While sitting down with CinemaBlend, David F. Sandberg, half of the pair behind the redemption of the Annabelle series with Annabelle: Creation, talked about how the hypothesis of horror directors being particularly adept at the superhero genre could be supported because of the following reason:

Maybe, I mean it takes a lot of work to get horror right. Like a lot of filmmaking skills that all needs to sort of come together. That, I guess, prepares you for other genres as well.

Consider all of the effort that goes into a film like Annabelle: Creation: there’s a lot of effects work, maintenance of the balance of tone and scale, and most importantly, the efforts to make sure the personal story of the characters don’t get lost in the more fantastical pieces of the film’s story. Those are all of the same factors that apply with any comic book movie you can think of.

Spinning all of those plates isn’t easy, and it’s certainly not impossible for a director or writer to pick up on. But if you’re someone like David F. Sandberg, or the many other horror professionals who have jumped from scares to super powers, having experience with the latter helps immensely when you try to tackle the former.

It’s even more amazing when you think about how Sandberg’s previous film, the first sequel in the Annabelle series, operates on a very similar track as Shazam! Both films, at their heart, are tales of orphans who bond through a series of extraordinary events, with one eventually being embued with a special connection to powers greater than themselves. Except while Annabelle: Creation progressed with a more insidious aim at its core and resulted in quite a few fatalities, Shazam! opts for a more friendly and much less scary way of doing things.

Another person who could appreciate the parallels between David F. Sandberg’s theory of why horror directors work particularly well in a superhero project is producer Peter Safran, another teammate from the Annabelle: Creation side of things. Adding some further praise to the efforts that Sandberg had made with Shazam!, Safran said the following:

I think horror filmmakers don’t really get the due that they deserve, in terms of the quality of filmmakers that they actually are. And we’ve found with James Wan, and now with [David F.] Sandberg that these guys can make the jump into the superhero genre really, really well.

Though the deeper historical context of horror directors in the world of superhero films certainly wasn’t lost on David F. Sandberg or Peter Safran, as you’ll be able to see below in the clip from our sitdown at the Shazam! junket.

There’s a lot of moving pieces that go together to make a film like Shazam! work, and thanks to the expertise of Mr. Sandberg, the finished product works as beautifully as it does.

Shazam! is in theaters now. Just say the magic word and use your favorite ticketing app, and you’re there! But if you’ve already seen the film, take a look at our discussion about the end credits scene, and what it means for the series. Also, don’t forget to listen to our ReelBlend interview with Sandberg and Safran, if you’re curious to hear more from the pair. It looks like there’s plenty more fun where this came from.

Dark Phoenix Will Have More Than One Major Character Death

Dark Phoenix Will Have More Than One Major Character Death

Many of today’s movie trailers have certainly been known to cross the line and give away too much before audiences get a chance to buy a ticket. This happened in a big way during the marketing of Dark Phoenix when one trailer spoiled the death of Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique at the hand of Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey.

No one slipped up. Director Simon Kinberg has said that he made the decision to reveal this early plot point in order show the high stakes the X-Men will be dealing with during the last film in the franchise. Mystique won’t be the only character to say goodbye in Dark Phoenix either. Check out Kinberg’s tease:

There are certainly other major casualties in this.

Looks like Dark Phoenix won’t be messing around. The movie is set up with tragedy for the team and it will only continue as the film rolls along, perhaps with even more beloved characters kicking the bucket as the long-running franchise closes out and makes room for the comic title joining the MCU sometime in the future.

While it was a surprise to see Mystique die in the trailer, it’s no shock that the character was going to be killed off in this X-Men film. Jennifer Lawrence has been vocal about her distaste with being turned blue in the harrowing makeup process since 2011, and has reportedly wanted out of the franchise for some time. The actress already has a convenient exit with the Disney/Fox merger sure to change things up, but maybe that wasn’t enough and she needed it to be official on screen.

Simon Kinberg’s words to EW do beg the question: Who else is going to die? Will the franchise go so far as to kill off the franchise’s huge players, Charles Xavier and Magneto? Though James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are likely to be finishing off their time as these characters with Dark Phoenix, will their last moments be their deaths?

There are tons of other X-Men characters in play here who could see their demises as well -- such as Nicholas Hoult’s Beast, Evan Peters’ Quicksilver, Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops and Alexandra Shipp’s Storm. Considering J-Law was on the table to be killed off, who knows if they’ll make it out either.

The movie already has the tough job of creating a satisfying conclusion to the Fox franchise that started with 2000’s X-Men. The film has undergone massive reshoots and multiple release date shifts, and it may face the lowest earning opening weekend for the franchise to date, as The Secret Life of Pets 2 aims to be its biggest competition on its debut.

The movie follows the team as they venture on a space mission and Jean gets hit by a solar flare, leaving her with a new powerful burst of energy and powers to attempt to control. When she kills Mystique, the X-Men must figure out what to do about her: kill her or save her somehow? Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7.

Looks Like Avengers: Endgame Could Have A Massive Opening Weekend

Looks Like Avengers: Endgame Could Have A Massive Opening Weekend

It goes without saying that Avengers: Endgame is going to be a huge movie. Story-wise, it’s the final chapter of both Phase 3 and this iteration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that began with Iron Man, and commercially, given how Avengers: Infinity War performed last year, it’s been expected that Endgame do just as well, if not better. Sure enough, current estimates place Endgame as making upwards of $200 million opening weekend.

If Avengers: Endgame debuts in the $200 million-$250 million domestic range that Variety reports, it would join Avengers: Infinity War as one of only six films to ever surpass $200 million in ticket sales during its first weekend. Currently Captain Marvel holds the record of best North American debut in 2019 with $153 million, but it’s practically guaranteed that Endgame will rocket past that amount. After all, people came out in droves (figuratively speaking) to buy tickets online, breaking records for both Fandango and Atom Tickets.

One thing that might affect Avengers: Endgame’s overall box office performance is runtime. The movie will be just over three hours long, making it the longest MCU entry yet. This long runtime means that theaters can’t hold as many screenings as they could if it was the standard two-two and a half hour runtime, meaning less butts will be put in seats. But that’s a minor nuisance at best. Marvel has proven itself several times over as a powerhouse franchise, meaning that it’s a given that a lot of people will be seeing this epic story on the big screen. Plus, as we’ve seen in the past with movies like Return of the King, long runtime doesn’t always hinder the box office haul, as the final entry of the Lord of the Rings trilogy walked away with over $1.1 billion at the end of its theatrical run.

That said, Avengers: Endgame still has a long road ahead if it wants to take the record for largest opening of all time domestically. That’s currently held by Avengers: Infinity War, which crushed initial predictions and gathered a monstrous $257 million during its first days in theaters, knocking Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its $247 million to second place. Perhaps Endgame will also soar past its initial box office estimates and make $260 million or more opening weekend stateside, which would be astounding. As far as the global launch goes, Endgame is expected to surpass Infinity War’s take, helped by the fact that it’s opening in China the same day. Put simply, we can reasonably assume that Endgame will become the eighth MCU movie to cross the $1 billion mark.

With the universe reeling from The Decimation, which saw Thanos wiping out half of all life, Avengers: Endgame will see the surviving MCU heroes gathering together and try to undo The Mad Titan’s genocide, which will require them to get their hands on the Infinity Stones. Beyond that, Marvel is still keeping a lot of plot details close to the chest, though there’s been no shortage of theories that time travel will factor into the tale. However this movie unfolds, Marvel doesn’t have to worry about gathering audiences to check it out.

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. For now, you can find out what the future of the MCU looks like in our Marvel movies guide, or you can learn what other movies are coming out this year in our 2019 release schedule.

The Cool Reason Alita: Battle Angel Moved The Movie To Panama City

The Cool Reason Alita: Battle Angel Moved The Movie To Panama City

Alita: Battle Angel went to great lengths to get some aspects of Yukito Kishiro’s manga series correct on the big screen, including the way Rosa Salazar’s eyes were enhanced for the flick. However, other details were changed, including the setting of the story, and as it turns out there’s a reason Alita: Battle Angel got switched from Kansas City, Missouri to Panama City, Panama.

In fact, it’s a really cool reason. According to Director Robert Rodriguez, the change of locale had to do with the science behind the space elevator and the best location it would have worked. He said:

The original story was set in Kansas City, but Jim early on figured out that it should be set near an equator because that’s where scientifically a space elevator would work. I thought that was fantastic, so let’s do Panama City, which is a Latin country, and we’ve never seen that in a sci-fi film before. And with all the different cultures, it’s just naturally diverse, so the diversity was actually part of the original script.

Per Robert Rodriguez, it was James Cameron who figured out that Zalem and the Iron City would be better off set in a warm location near the equator rather than in a temperate one. Then Rodriguez decided Panama City would be the best place to build the 23rd century world, set several hundred years after a great war left the Earth in ruination.

With Avatar and even Titanic, James Cameron has had an avid interest in the scientific components of those properties. (Although he notably may have gotten the Titanic sinking wrong.) So, it’s not shocking to me that if he was working on a movie with a space elevator that he would have wanted to make sure the details were at least somewhat feasible.

In addition, although the story is based on a manga novel written in Japan, Robert Rodriguez also revealed to Complex that Jim’s vision was always “more of a melting pot,” meaning setting the story in a specific place wasn’t that important to the final vision of the film.

What was cool is that that’s what Jim latched onto when he first got the rights in 1999, is that it wasn’t something as Asian-specific as Ghost in The Shell or Akira, which are set in neo Tokyo. This is something that’s much more of a melting pot, it’s not set somewhere specifically Asian. It’s a cyborg girl in the lead, and even in the manga it’s set in one of the last standing cities left, so by nature there’s multiple languages being spoken, with people from all over the world could coming there, so it was always sort of a melting pot.

It took a long time for Alita: Battle Angel to come together. Robert Rodriguez previously revealed that James Cameron had approached him with the idea a long time ago, specifically back when he was working on Sin City, which was released back in 2005. That’s a long time for a project like this to gestate, but it also assumedly means that people like James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez had plenty of time to think about details like space elevators and temperature.

If you haven’t caught it yet, Alita: Battle Angel is still in theaters now. We'll of course let you know if the flick does end up getting a sequel. For now, take a look at what else is coming up with our full movies schedule.

Casino Royale’s Eva Green Doesn’t Think Bond Should Be A Woman

Casino Royale’s Eva Green Doesn’t Think Bond Should Be A Woman

With Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond soon coming to an end with the 2020 release of Bond 25, Hollywood has been having an ongoing conversation about who should replace the actor as the next 007. As movies are seeing success enlisting female heroines for popular franchises, some have even challenged that the character should be taken on by a woman next. Don’t count former Bond Girl Eva Green in on this idea. Here’s what she said:

I’m for women, but I really think James Bond should remain a man. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a woman. Women can play different types of characters, be in action movies and be superheroes, but James Bond should always be a man and not be Jane Bond. There is history with the character that should continue. He should be played by a man.

Eva Green’s recent comments to Vanity Fair aren’t in bias to her husband's famous role; she has a powerful point here. James Bond is inherently a male character with a long history as such. To gender-swap the character isn’t necessarily a great move for inclusivity or female empowerment, because it ignores much of the roots of Ian Fleming’s literary character and has women potentially playing second fiddle to Bond’s legacy-- instead of finding their own place in the action genre.

Eva Green isn’t the first to challenge the idea of “Jane Bond”. Longtime James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli recently echoed the actress’ statement with the words “We don't have to turn male characters into women. Let's just create more female characters”, along with Rachel Weisz who questioned “Why not create your own story rather than jumping onto the shoulders and being compared to all those other male predecessors?”

Just as women may certainly be enraged to learn Wonder Woman, who is a character deeply rooted in the feminine was going to be played by a man next, people may look similarly on characters such as James Bond. Though I’d argue this certainly doesn’t apply to all gender-swap situations. The Ocean’s franchise isn’t particularly rooted in having to be “male”, so changing it up with a female-led team Ocean’s Eight was a fun way for the series to continue.

Eva Green moved on to discuss the iconic “Bond Girl”, a character that the actress is proud to be a part of evolving with her portrayal of Vesper in 2006’s Casino Royale. She is passionate about the females depicted alongside James Bond to continue developing away from the “bimbos” of the past and becoming “intelligent and sassy and fascinating” onscreen characters.

While Green will not star in Bond 25, the filmmakers are reportedly eyeing Lupita Nyong’o to be the next Bond Girl in the upcoming film helmed by Cary Fukunaga. Daniel Craig’s James Bond will return to theaters on April 8, 2020.