Warner Bros. have always been notorious for getting a little too involved when it comes to shaping the direction of the studio’s comic book blockbusters. In fact, as far as we can tell, only Man of Steel, Aquaman, Shazam! and Wonder Woman 1984 managed to make it all the way through production without the executives getting their grubby fingerprints all over the finished product.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice writer Chris Terrio recently blasted WB for sabotaging the movie, while he went on to call Joss Whedon’s Justice League an act of vandalism that the boardroom was entirely complicit in. Suicide Squad, meanwhile, was essentially ripped out of David Ayer’s hands in post-production, Patty Jenkins was forced to include Wonder Woman‘s CGI-heavy climax and Birds of Prey‘s Cathy Yan admitted she didn’t have any creative control over the final cut, in addition to being replaced by John Wick‘s Chad Stahelski for the reshoots.
That’s not an encouraging history of remaining hands-off, but as one of the most powerful figures in the industry and a massively successful producer, it’s hard to imagine the execs imposing their will on Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam. The actor has been trying to bring the project to life for fourteen years, so he’s hardly going to bend over backwards to take any prospective notes on board.
According to tipster Mikey Sutton, in fact, The Rock isn’t going to let Warner Bros. get in his way, with Black Adam set to be the full realization of the dream he’s had for the project since he first attached himself to the role. “[He’s] making [it] the way he always envisioned, and nobody will stand in his way,” the insider writes.
As an A-list megastar with a proven track record of box office hits, it’s much better for the suits to simply let Johnson get on with it instead of making their presence felt on a DCEU movie once again, and we can only hope the film lives up to all the hype.
