David Goyer, best known for his work with Christopher Nolan on THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy and most recently with Zack Snyder‘s MAN OF STEEL and currently filming follow-up BATMAN VS SUPERMAN, has just inked a three-year first-look deal for his Phantom Four banner with Warner Bros. So, what does that mean to you? Well, it means that Goyer is keeping it in house with WB where he’s had the most success and it means that he can develop new projects that don’t necessarily involve superheroes.
Goyer’s first project under the new deal will be “an untitled Hitchockian thriller with a grounded sci-fi element that Doug Jung is writing as a potential directing vehicle for Goyer.” Goyer, who also writes, produces, and directs the Starz series Da Vinci’s Demons, wasn’t looking for a deal due to his busy schedule the last six years, but he told Deadline:
“I was perfectly happy not having a deal, and just financed the overhead myself. Warner Bros graciously offered me a deal and they’ve provided the lion’s share of my employment over the last decade, so what the hell?”
Goyer also elaborated that he would like to bring other talent into the fold with this deal, saying:
“Aside from me helping the studio break story on some of their properties and them supporting me as a director, we want to find other projects in an area I could call elevated genre, and this first project falls neatly into the category. I’ve found TV to be a more collaborative medium for writers than film, and there is a ton of terrific writers working in network TV and basic cable right now. Part of the intent of this deal is to tap that stable of writers and bring them into the feature world as well.”
I haven’t seen Da Vinci’s Demons, but hear good things. As a director, I haven’t been as impressed with Goyer (he previously helmed BLADE: TRINITY, THE INVISIBLE, and THE UNBORN), but his scripting has obviously gone a long way toward’s the success of the DCU at Warner Bros. Perhaps with this deal he’ll find a better niche for his non-comics work. Either way, it looks like Goyer has settled in at WB for the next few years (and likely for longer).
BATMAN VS SUPERMAN is set to hit theaters on July 17, 2015.