/Film got a little more info out of The Dark Knight producer Charles Rovan:
“We had hoped to be able to get a new draft going before the writers’ strike and we weren’t able to,” Rovan admitted. “And since the writers’ strike, we just haven’t been able to find the right creative compatibility between what we’re looking for and a writer and you know, we’re a little bit dragging our feet, we’re just waiting to see what’s going to happen with this actor’s strike, you know.”
On the plus side, there’s that Warner Bros/DC film summit that’s been making the rounds of comics blogs lately. Perhaps once the labor issues are resolved, we’ll see some more movement?
And yes, “looking at how best to exploit the DC Comics characters and properties” is an appropriate description, if a bit blunt. Warner Bros. is a movie studio. Neil Gaiman sums up the typical Hollywood take on source material in his short story, “The Goldfish Pool and Other Stories” (in Smoke and Mirrors):
She managed a pitying look, of the kind that only people who know that books are, at best, properties on which films can be loosely based, can bestow on the rest of us.
It’s a little disappointing. I understand how the writers strike would prevent a new script from being developed, but the strike ended months ago. I fail to see why the writers attached (Chris Brancato and Craig Wright) have not been able to do anything since. Is Roven saying they don’t share his vision for the film? I don’t get it.
That’s the impression I get. Or at least they didn’t share DC/WB’s vision. That’s what killed David Goyer’s Flash and Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman.
I’m not sure WB really knows what they want with DC’s characters.