Joseph Kahn shares concept art from his Justice League Dark pitch

December 18th 2017, 10:50am

JUSTICE LEAGUE was not the money maker or critical success Warner Bros. needed it to be, and the response to it may even affect how the studio approaches their superhero movies in the future. There are plenty more movies the studio wants to crank out, and one that’s had a particularly hard time getting going is JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK.

The movie has had a hard time getting a live-action film version off the ground, with directors like Guillermo del Toro and Doug Liman on the project (the latter leaving the film most recently) with other directors like Andy Muschietti and Gareth Evans turning it down. One other director the studio considered was music video director Joseph Kahn, and he recently took to Twitter to share some early concept art from his version of the movie he pitched to the studio two years ago (working with artist Justin Goby Fields and Ironklad Studios). Actors Chiwetel Ejiofor as Jason Blood and Dan Stevens as Constantine are included, including characters, Zatanna (Natalie Dormer from GAME OF THRONES?), Swamp Thing and Deadman, There’s even an animation test for Swamp Thing so you can get a sense of how he was meant to move.

And Jason Blood. pic.twitter.com/wvdpjU0eNu

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

Deadman. pic.twitter.com/EDQJSxD2rd

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

Zatanna. She does wear a top hat with this. pic.twitter.com/v61rsS6QOM

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

Some of these have my wishlist for actors at the time. Here’s Constantine. pic.twitter.com/byFjYlhSus

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

I pitched on JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK two years ago. Here are some designs. First, Swamp Thing. pic.twitter.com/lkPODPLCXG

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

My animation test for Swamp Thing. Wanted to demonstrate the fireflies that orbited him. https://t.co/99yBv09y4C

— Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) December 16, 2017

We may not get the live action version anytime soon, but an animated version went straight to video recently. As well, WB is still trying to get a movie version made, with screenwriter Gerard Johnstone doing the latest draft of the script. So far the designs have been getting serious praise across the internet, so perhaps WB may reconsider Kahn's pitch now that the movie is director-less.

Like a lot of other people across the internet, I'm pretty blown away by the concept art for all the characters. They have that gritty realism you would expect from such an adaptation while still having a firm root in their comic book looks. Swamp Thing would probably be an epic CGI creature, and now all I want is to see these guys in a live action movie. Ejiofor has since joined the Marvel universe as Baron Mordo (DOCTOR STRANGE), so I don't know how that would work out. But, hey, do some movie business stuff, Warner Bros.

JUSTICE LEAGUE is still in theaters.

Source: Joseph Kahn