Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are in high demand.
On the heels of writing and directing the massively successful The Lego Movie and two great installments of the 21 Jump Street cinematic reboot, in addition to executive-producing Fox’s The Last Man on Earth series, Lord and Miller have had their name attached to many big projects, but it seems they are edging closer to committing to one. And it’s a big franchise.
(Image via Comic Book Movie)
Deadline is reporting that the duo are writing the treatment for the Warner Brothers film adaptation of the DC Comic superhero The Flash. The Flash, part of the Zack Snyder-helmed DC Comics’ shared universe of films, is scheduled for a 2018 release and is set to star Ezra Miller (We Need To Talk About Kevin).
This confirms rumors reported by Latino-Review’s Umberto Gonzalez (and corroborated by The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider) that the red-hot writing and directing team were expressing interest in the superhero property.
While Lord and Miller haven’t signed on to direct the project, this is a promising development. The DC shared universe has already locked up a handful of promising directors including Michelle McLaren (Wonder Woman) and David Ayer (Suicide Squad), so I imagine The Flash will be in good hands, even if the duo doesn’t direct. If they just write the treatment for the film, it’s still a great next step for the DC movie universe.
A big problem with the first DC Comics’ shared universe film, Man of Steel, was it took itself far too seriously. With Lord and Miller being involved, even if they just have a small hand in developing the film, I can’t see that being a problem at all. A fun film adaptation of The Flash is exactly what DC needs. If Warner Brothers ponies up — and I’m sure it’s going to cost them — and gets them to co-direct, it will be quite the coup. These guys are magic.
Aint It Cool News reports what might be stopping the duo from directing The Flash is their possible interest is the male-centric Ghostbusters project. That makes sense as Lord and Miller have shown they can reboot stale franchises and I’m sure they’d knock that project out of the park.
However, if they do decide to join in on the superhero fun, their biggest challenge will be trying to separate and elevate their film from CW’s great The Flash TV series, starring Grant Gustin. If anybody can do that, I’m betting on those two. Either way, I’m much more optimistic today about the future of The Flash movie.
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