Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that his Justice League Dark script which was once in development at Warner Bros. was, in fact, complete before the director departed the project.
Del Toro was the first director attached to write and direct the project at the studio. Rumors that a Justice League Dark film was in development first swirled in 2012 with the director developing the project. Del Toro later confirmed that he was indeed working on the film with the working title Dark Universe but he exited the project in 2015 to work on Crimson Peak and the sequel to Pacific Rim.
The director took to Twitter earlier today to list all of the scripts he’s written that remain unproduced which included scripts for Beauty and the Beast, a pilot for The Hulk, and Justice League Dark. You can check out his tweet below.
1/2 SCREENPLAYS I have developed, fully written or co-written that have gone unproduced (so far):
THE WITCHES, JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, THE COUNT OF MONTECRISTO, MEPHISTO'S BRIDGE, PACIFIC RIM 2 (very different),— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 26, 2018
Following del Toro’s exit, Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) joined the project in 2016, however, citing schedule-related conflicts, the director dropped out of the project in the spring of the following year to develop Chaos Walking starring Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland at Lionsgate.
The studio was reported to be headed back to work on the script for Justice League Dark in the summer of 2017 after executives were underwhelmed by pitches from potential directors, which included one from Andy Muschietti, the director behind last year’s adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.
Justice League Dark is being produced by Scott Rudin for Warner Bros. with a previous draft reported to be written by Michael Gilio. The project has been previously described as smaller and a more intimate character-driven piece than other superhero films, it is said to play a major role in the DC Extended Universe. The plot is expected to focus on the team members from the comics including John Constantine, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna, and Etrigan the Demon.
Justice League Dark is one of the many projects currently being developed by Warner Bros. and DC Films, including The Batman, The Flash standalone film, Green Lantern Corps, Black Adam, Supergirl, New Gods, Nightwing, a Deathstroke film, Birds of Prey, and a Joker origin movie set outside of the DCEU.
Justice League Dark does not currently have a release date. Warner Bros. currently has Aquaman slated to hit theaters December 21, 2018, followed by Shazam! on April 5, 2019, and the Wonder Woman sequel on June 5, 2020. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on the future of the DC slate as we learn it.
Source: Twitter