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Warner’s DCEU Built On “Wholly Original And Unique” Films, According To Nightwing Helmer

Nightwing director Chris McKay has gone on record to claim that Warner's DCEU encourages "wholly original and unique" films.

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DC fans may be reeling at the sheer volume of high-profile blockbusters cramming up the pipeline (see: Wonder Woman 2, The Joker), but there’s perhaps no one more excited for a Nightwing spinoff than writer-director Chris McKay.

Fresh off his work on The LEGO Batman Movie, McKay is busy drawing up plans for what he believes will be a “f**ing badass action movie” teeming with heart and emotion. A Dick Grayson-led offshoot is just one of many DC projects currently in development, and while chatting to Metro (via CBM), Chris McKay touched base on the competition brewing between Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios.

In short, the filmmaker believes Warner’s output encourages “wholly original and wholly unique” films, as opposed to following a tried-and-tested recipe for success.

These movies are not trying to follow the Marvel model, they’re trying to do their own thing with filmmakers that they like, and produce things that are wholly original and wholly unique.

Not only that, but despite founding a new DC banner independent of its Extended Universe, Warner Bros. still intends to construct an intricate franchise – it’s just doing so takes time.

They still want to build a universe, and that’s why it takes a lot of time and a lot of people banging their heads together trying to figure out what to do. Because it’s hard. It’s hard to get all these people, and all these egos, and all this stuff in one place and get it all to work out. But they are committed to that, and that’s what’s amazing about working with Jon [Berg] and Geoff [Johns]. They’re real partners, and so is everyone at the Warner Bros. family.

Generally speaking, Chris McKay then told the outlet that WB prides itself as a “director-driven” studio, and that helps shape its approach to the DC Extended Universe.

Warner Bros. is a more director-driven studio. Period. The end. More than any other studio you’re ever going to work at. Just look at the roster of world class filmmakers that have worked at Warner Bros and made it their home. Warner Bros is a director-driven studio, and that’s exactly how they are operating these movies.

Exactly when Nightwing will take flight at Warner Bros. is yet to be determined, but it seems those unfounded rumors of a late 2018 release date were wildly off base. Next up for the DCEU is the release of Justice League on November 17th of this year.