Charles Roven, who is certainly no stranger to producing DC movies, recently sat down with Collider to discuss his latest film, a small project called Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film that many feel is the true launch of the DC Extended Universe arrives in a year that will see the theatrical release of no less than seven superhero movies. Many, including myself, fear that so many films in this genre being released in a short span of time will cause the onset of superhero fatigue for moviegoers. This notion is not lost on Roven and he is armed with a quick-witted response.
“I think like any genre, the movies have to be good and you have to keep the audience engaged. One of the things that we’re doing when we’re bringing together the DC Justice League Universe is we’re creating not only stories that work for the individual film but they have some resonance to the other films that we’re doing. And I’m hoping that what’s also gonna keep the interest very keen is we’re telling hopefully compelling stories. I mean, one of the great things about dealing with superheroes in general, at least from our standpoint, is they’re both inspirational and aspirational characters, so you’re hoping that the audience is gonna want to be like some of them but you’re also hoping that the audience can relate to some of them, that if we make their stories compelling and relatable, interesting and emotional, that you’re going to really want to spend more time with them. So you talk about Man of Steel and I felt that Clark’s relationship with both of his fathers was pretty emotional and you can relate, certainly people who lost a loved one can relate, and we all have at some point in our lives lost loved ones. So I think even with Batman v Superman we wanna have characters that touch us, and if we can continue to make films like that, the I think they’re sort of ‘genre proof’”.
You may also be wondering when another trailer is set to drop. My guess would be December, a time when Warner Bros. usually likes to tease upcoming tentpoles. Well, Roven dangles a carrot with his next statement.
“Honestly, you’re going be seeing something very soon… I don’t know how you define soon but certainly before the end of the year, how about that?”
Told ya.
Moving on, it seems that director Zack Snyder shot a ton of footage for this movie. Not all of it will make the theatrical cut because studios know better than to keep you in your seat for too long. However, the home video market is no stranger to extended editions.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever get the 4-hour version, but there may be something that’s coming along that might be slightly less long than that.”
Of course, a 4-hour cut is a bit of a jest, but I wouldn’t mind seeing my favorite heroes do some adventurin’ for 3 hours.
Check out the video interview for more.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice arrives in theaters March 25, 2016.
