Whenever we'd analyze the cinematic achievements by a movie studio in 2018, the one name that comes to my mind is The Walt Disney Studio, the powerhouse backing up the most successful films in 2018. With the humongous success of Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Antman & the Wasp, MCU became the first film franchise to gross over $17 billion at the box office. Also, not to forget, another addition to the superhero genre is Disney/Pixar's Incredibles 2, which became their first ever movie to gross more than $500 million domestically and a billion dollars globally. No doubt that 2018 has been Disney's most successful year yet. But one thing missing this year is Warner Bros. owned DC movies. The only one movie to be released under the DCEU this year is Aquaman, coming out in late December.

With continuous disappointment among fans because of ruining the movies containing the most iconic characters ever penned by legendary writers and going forward with the movies "nobody asked for", DC is on the path to a very risky and dangerous future.

But on a positive side, 2k19 brings to the screen three entries by WB for DCEU. With two trailers being dropped at San Diego comic con, Aquaman and Shazam! have strengthened the faith of dc fans for exciting movies next year. Along with the sequel to the only critically acclaimed movie in the dc shared universe, Wonder Woman, announced at SDCC '17. I'll share my views on each of those movies as well as Todd Phillips' Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix which will also be releasing next year but will not be set in the DCEU. So let's run through what we know about these movies so far and can 2k19 really save the sinking dceu.



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﻿ I'm pretty much sure that this movie will get everything ﻿﻿right on the ground that I have faith in director James Wan, more than Aquaman himself. He has a very impressive track record in a variety of genre and a strong desire to do justice to the character and fans. Aquaman is already one of the most anticipated movies of 2018 as the fan favorite black manta finally gets a live-action treatment. For a standalone superhero movie in a shared universe to be successful, a solid mid credit or end credit scene is vital. For one great thing about justice league was the end credits scene, remember Lex teaming up with Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke to form their own league?. I hope Aquaman has one too, to get the fans excited about the future with a tease of what's next. The success of Aquaman can bring a tide of confidence to the makers and can also serve as the 1st movie in a possible trilogy. Though the movie opens late December this year, most of its theatrical run would be in the following year. After the long-awaited trailer for Aquaman was released, it received a very positive response with many stating that the visual effects were undeniably sharp and stunning and Atlantis looked beautiful. After the disastrous failure of the Justice League, there is a lot riding on this one. Aquaman, not only needs to scare up incredible numbers on RT and Metacentric, but it also needs to turn up profitable at the box office. Aquaman would have to get a huge thumbs up from the audiences and a strong word of mouth as competition will get worse in January on the arrival of two other much-hyped superhero movies, Hellboy and Glass a week later.﻿﻿I'm pretty much sure that this movie will get everything ﻿﻿right on the ground that I have faith in director James Wan, more than Aquaman himself. He has a very impressive track record in a variety of genre and a strong desire to do justice to the character and fans. Aquaman is already one of the most anticipated movies of 2018 as the fan favorite black manta finally gets a live-action treatment. For a standalone superhero movie in a shared universe to be successful, a solid mid credit or end credit scene is vital. For one great thing about justice league was the end credits scene, remember Lex teaming up with Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke to form their own league?. I hope Aquaman has one too, to get the fans excited about the future with a tease of what's next. The success of Aquaman can bring a tide of confidence to the makers and can also serve as the 1st movie in a possible trilogy.

Well the trailers always look stunning, and we have been fooled by them quite a few times, haven't we?

2. Shazam!

trailer dropped at the sdcc this year, none other than Shazam!. When I first watched the trailer, I thought how comic book accurate is this? ...its incredibly so. And also, it was the fakest looking suit I've ever seen. When the leaked pictures from the sets of Shazam went viral, everyone thought the suit was so fake with not so convincing padding while positive responses delivered the idea of addition of significant CGI in the final draft, as it turns out, its mostly the same. There was an unexpecteddropped at the sdcc this year, none other than Shazam!. When I first watched the trailer, I thought how comic book accurate is this? ...its incredibly so. And also, it was the fakest looking suit I've ever seen. When the leaked pictures from the sets of Shazam went viral, everyone thought the suit was so fake with not so convincing padding while positive responses delivered the idea of addition of significant CGI in the final draft, as it turns out, its mostly the same.

Anyway, the trailer was hilarious, with the plot, the funny moments, charismatic Zachary, the superhero tests! There is nothing to not like about it. DC tried to make justice league more colorful and lighter in tone but I believe they should've just gone with the movie as it is for they had shazam! for lightness and fun.



Henry Cavill's Superman was scheduled to appear in a cameo in Shazam but couldn't film the scene due to schedule restraints as he was filming Mission: Impossible- Fallout. But reportedly Since Shazam is just a kid in an adult's body and with all the humor, this movie shall be popular among families and children for a wider audience reach and that's what WB's marketing strategies be. Again, an end credit scene can make this movie even more lovable, possibly a tease of the Rock's black Adam?Henry Cavill's Superman was scheduled to appear in a cameo in Shazam but couldn't film the scene due to schedule restraints as he was filming Mission: Impossible- Fallout. But reportedly Cavill has walked out from playing the Man of Hope , as he's gearing up for his new Netflix series, The Witcher

3. Wonder Woman 1984

Well, a sequel to the highest grossing superhero origin film was bound to happen and I'm glad that Warner Bros. did not waste any time to thumbs up this film like they're doing to the much-wanted Man of Steel sequel. Based on the story by Patty Jenkis and Geoff Johns, wonder woman 1984 takes place during the cold war in the 1980s with Chris Pine returning to play captain Trevor. Kristen Wiig is set to play the primary antagonist Cheetah in the film. I think making this movie a success won't put any kind of pressure on the filmmakers as the team is reuniting after the monstrous success of the first film and the studio might be making a return with 2(or 3?) potential blockbusters in their hit list.

Moreover, this past week Hans Zimmer was brought back to compose the score for the film who previously scored Man of Steel and BvS. Since there is going to be a stiff competition among the tightly scheduled movies in nov-dec of 2019, it would be interesting to see how ww84 would hold on against terminator 6, frozen 2, jumanji sequel and star wars episode 9. This reminds me of how war for the planet of the apes struggled to maintain consistency at the box office even after being critically acclaimed as a result of cut throat competition from spiderman: homecoming and dunkirk. One possible solution to this is avoid clash and move the movie to summer of 2020.

4. Joker

Irrespective of the great actors starring in this movie, I've 3 problems with this movie. Firstly, this movie is not a part of the DCEU. It's a standalone movie based on the clown prince of crime, the joker. While the DCEU still has not found the success and status as Marvel's MCU has, they're still venturing into unnecessary projects rather than the ones that might actually benefit the struggling dceu. since this movie is not set in the existing shared universe, there is no point of it helping dceu in any manner. Instead of this, WB should genuinely focus on man of steel 2, the batman, justice league 2, batgirl and 10s of other projects stuck in various stages of development. Secondly, why invest in an already existing character? The simple solution to this could have been Jared Leto's Joker in the DCEU, which could actually pave way for other suicide squad spin offs. They are anyway planning a joker and Harley Quinn movie. Thirdly, why so obsessed with the joker while there are still tons of great supervillains just waiting for a live action treatment.