While they continue to truck along with their more traditional superhero films, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment are still very much interested in making a Justice League Dark movie. The project has already seen two directors come and go over the years, whose talents range from dark fantasy auteur Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy) to action-oriented journeyman Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow). Others have flirted with the property in the interim, such as Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe), Andres Muschietti (It), and Damian Szifron (Wild Tales), but all appear to have moved on. Now we have two more names with their hats potentially tossed into the ring.
According to , the studio is now focused on securing either Daniel Espinosa (Life, Safe House) or Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) to direct the horror-oriented superhero epic. The studio is keen to get the project going soon, so expect them to make a decision in the coming months, ahead of a desired 2018 production start. As for the plot of the screenplay screenplay, per Dark Horizons…
Michael Gilio’s script reportedly begins with a series of ancient tomes being stolen by a madman hell-bent on humanity’s end. Due to this, occult detective John Constantine seeks out a group of heroes that specialises in the mystic and arcane in order to save the world including Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna, Etrigan the Demon and potentially Madama Xanadu.
A bit straightforward in a cliched way, but it’ll work. Both directors have genre work under their belt, with Johnstone helming the aforementioned horror-comedy Housebound and Espinosa turning in the higher-end exploitation effort Life earlier this year. Johnstone’s work has primarily been in television, making Espinosa the more experienced hire of the two when it comes to studio fare. WB has honestly been all over the place with their directorial hires, so which one of these gentlemen gets the gig is anyone’s guess at this point.
