Has The Justice League Script Been Scrapped?

When Warner Bros. released Ruben Fleischer's Gangster Squad in January there were a lot of comic book fans who muttered, "Uh oh" under their breath. Those who have been following the developing Justice League movie know that Gangster Squad writer Will Beall has been handling the project's script for a while now, and the response to his L.A. Confidential riff was hardly encouraging to those anticipating seeing Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash on the big screen together. The January release was received unfavorably by critics, many of whom faulted Beall's screenplay for the film's biggest problems.

But the time for worrying may be over as new rumors have surfaced saying that Beall's Justice League script is no longer being used and that Warner Bros. is now trying to figure out the next step. Multiple sources have told Badass Digest that that the motivation behind the reported move is that Warner Bros. was unhappy with the script's quality (which has also apparently been keeping potential directors away), but they disagree about how the project will move forward. Some suggest that "the whole movie is going to fall apart and never happen" while others are saying that the studio is determined to make the superhero team-up movie work and remain in competition with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The truth of the matter, however, is that the Justice League movie is up in the air regardless. In late January it was reported that WB is planning to wait and see how well Zack Snyder's Man of Steel does at the box office this summer. If it's a hit then it would be the boost of confidence that the studio needs, but if it's a flop it could crash and burn the whole idea. Previous reports have said that the movie is aiming to be released in 2015 - whether or not that will actually happen remains a mystery.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.