The shakeups happening in the DC Extended Universe in the fallout of Batman v Superman: Dong of Justin have been swift and drastic, with things really taking shape once it was announced that Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were in charge of overseeing the entire DC Comics/Warner Bros movie consortium. This was all done in an effort to make the films less dour, and perhaps restore some of the hopefulness of the comics. (Johns explained his efforts to do this in the comic realm to us recently.) Now, another new name has been added: Dope director Rick Famuyiwa ios the new director of The Flash, The Hollywood Reporter revealed.
The film was originally to be directed by Seth Grahame-Smith from his own screenplay written from a treatment by The LEGO Movie geniuses Phil Lord and Chris Miller. It was announced at the end of April that Grahame-Smith would not be directing after all. On Thursday, the company announced Famuyiwa–whose film Dope was a major hit at Sundance in 2014–would take over, but continue to use Grahame-Smith’s script.
Prior to Dope, Famuyiwa directed the 1999 film The Wood, the 2002 film Brown Sugar, and 2010’s Our Family Wedding. Not especially the kinds of movies you’d initially think of for superhero movies, but Dope was a breakout and asserted Famuyiwa as a talent to watch. In DC/WB’s creator-driven game plan, he’s exactly what they’re going for.
The movie, starring Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, is set to be released March of 2018, a month after Ryan Coogler’s take on Black Panther hits theaters. Get ready for Black Panther v Flash: Dawn of Box Office Returns.
Let us know what you think of the director news in the comments below!
Here’s all the news about the DCEU shakeup!
Image: DC Comics/Manapul
Kyle Anderson is the associate editor for Nerdist. He’s a diehard DC fanboy, but legit hates the movies so far. Follow him on Twitter!
