Snyder Eyes Dark Knight Returns Film Amid DC Reset — SkimNews
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- Zack Snyder told Variety he wants to adapt Frank Miller's 1986 graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, pitching it alongside his 2009 Watchmen as bookends to the superhero movie genre.
- Snyder said audiences 'would understand the why' of an adaptation now because the genre is 'down the road' — possibly in 'the twilight' — making Miller's grim retirement arc feel timely.
- DC Studios, now led by James Gunn and Peter Safran with a mandate to build something 'completely different' from Snyder's vision, is already running two Batman projects: Matt Reeves's The Batman Part II with Robert Pattinson and Andy Muschietti's The Brave and the Bold.
- Warner Bros previously spent roughly $70 million releasing two four-hour versions of Justice League — one entirely in monochrome — after the viral 'release the Snyder cut' fan campaign, an outcome the article compares to an 'AI fever dream.'
- Paramount Skydance's pending takeover of Warner Bros Discovery could trigger another DC leadership shake-up, with blog rumors that Paramount boss David Ellison might bring Snyder back once Gunn's contract allegedly expires next year.
- Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice already recreated Miller's comic 'with the serial numbers only lightly filed off,' making The Dark Knight Returns his second pass at the same source material.
Why it matters: Under Gunn and Safran, DC Studios is explicitly building away from Snyder's universe — and stacking a third live-action Batman on top of Pattinson's The Batman Part II and Muschietti's The Brave and the Bold would be commercially unprecedented. The only realistic path back for Snyder runs through the Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, which could reset DC's leadership when Gunn's contract allegedly expires next year.
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