Warner Bros Blinks: ‘Batman v Superman’ Moved to March 2016; 9 More Release Dates Announced from 2016 to 2020

Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

Remember how a few months back we figured out that [both DC and Marvel had movies scheduled for the same weekend in May 2016 and it turned out that it was going to be _Batman v Superman_ opening at the same time as _Captain America 3_ and neither camp said they’d consider moving their movie](https://awesomefriday.ca/2014/03/awesome-captain-america-3-and-man-of-steel-2-aka-superman-vs-batman-are-coming-out-on-the-same-day-and-nerds-of-the-world-will-have-a-field-day-arguing-who-will-win-the-box-office-that-weekend-for/)? Well turns out that Warner Brothers and DC have changed their mind and moved _Batman v Superman_ ahead two months to March 2016 and announced 9 new release dates to boot.

So basically DC and Marvel were playing chicken and DC blinked. You can make all kinds of arguments about why they moved their film to March; first and foremost of those might even be that this year _Captain America: The Winter Soldier_ opened in March and made a shit load of cash despite being well outside the normal Summer movie window. This is a fair point.

However as popular as Captain America is, and as millions of people will point out, Batman is DC’s sure-fire box office draw. Superman is the biggest superhero in the world. And DC doesn’t have the confidence to put them up against some real competition.

What I am saying here is that DC seems committed to a course –building a shared cinematic universe for all their characters to live in– without really understanding it –because they need to make good movies first and tie them together second– and without the confidence in their own properties to pull it off. They, much like Sony, seem to be scrambling to make Avengers money without really understanding how and why Avengers made all that money, and moving a Batman movie (remember when it was a Superman movie?) pretty much spells all that out if you ask me. Remember, Batman was raking in billion dollar pay days before that was the number they needed to hit.

Ugh.

I really hope that _Batman v Superman_ is good but given the pace at which they are doing things and the one movie they’ve released under this plan wasn’t very good gives me no confidence that any of their grand plan will turn out any good. Hopefully they start hiring some writers and directors who understand the characters.

And speaking of shared universe:

Justice League

DC also announced 9 more release dates from 2016 to 2020, for a total of 10 DC Comics movies in 4 years starting with _Batman v Superman_.

* 25 March 2016 – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
* 5 August 2016 – Unannounced
* 23 June 2017 – Unannounced
* 17 November 2017 – Unannounced
* 23 March 2018 – Unannounced
* 27 July 2018 – Unannounced
* 5 April 2019 – Unannounced
* 14 June 2019 – Unannounced
* 3 April 2020 – Unannounced
* 19 June 2020 – Unannounced

No one knows for sure what these might be but [thre was a rumour before Comic Con that](https://awesomefriday.ca/2014/06/warner-brothers-plan-for-dc-comics-movies-potentially-revealed/) movies for Justice League, Sandman, Green Lantern and The Flash, Shazam, and an actual Man of Steel sequel were to be announced. That’s not enough to fill out this docket but remember they’ve also cast Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Aquaman. Since it’s DC we can pretty much assume a stand alone Batman movie too.

Again, DC is going to have to do more than just announce they have a grand plan before I can get excited about this. I’m going to need to know about writers, directors, and stars before I can have any hope that the DC Cinematic Universe is going to turn out ok. That is to say: as long as all i have to go on is _Man of Steel_ and the continued involvement of David S. Goyer and Zack Snyder I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for them to figure out their characters.

Also of note, these two dates popped up:

16 November 2018 – Untitled WB Event Film
20 November 2020 – Untitled WB Event Film

No idea what they are, but they’re event films from WB that aren’t DC films and WB is developing more Harry Potter-verse movies. Completely speculation on my part but I can’t remember what else WB has the rights to that would constitute an “event” film.

(source: [Box Office Mojo](http://boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=changes&p=.htm))