With an animated film set up recently for Justice League Dark after things seemed like they pretty much fell apart for the Guillermo del Toro live-action film, the property has now taken a fun little twist. Warner bros. is moving forward with the project once again as they’ve brought on Doug Liman to direct it. Liman is a director they definitely like working with, having had a good experience with Edge of Tomorrow, and he’s got a lot of recognition for his initial work on The Bourne Identity among others.
The film is getting a different name, however, so as to not be tied quite so much to the Justice League film itself and the confusion for mainstream audiences/marketing. It’ll be working under the name Dark Universe when it lands. No date has been set and del Toro is remaining on the project as a producer but likely with little input overall as he has his own projects going.
The feature is expected to exist in the same world as the other DC Universe movies but separate from the mainline costumed heroes so it can do its own thing but work within the references.
Liman, interestingly enough, was slotted to direct Fox’s Gambit feature film and this move looks like it’ll either keep him from it entirely or delay that project instead.
Plot concept: A series of ancient tomes stolen by a madman hellbent on the destruction of humanity. When he learns of this, occult detective John Constantine seeks out a group of heroes that specialize in the mystic and arcane in order to save the world.
