Warner Bros. has promoted Walter Hamada to president of the DC Films production unit, Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Content Officer, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, announced Thursday.
Hamada, a veteran executive at the studio’s New Line division who oversaw the successful “Conjuring” franchise and “It,” will oversee the DC Films unit after December’s departure of Jon Berg, Warner Bros.’s co-president of production. Berg is now a partner at Vertigo, the production banner run by Roy Lee. Hamada most recently served as EVP of Production and New Line.
Hamada will oversee DC’s upcoming slate and is set to work closely with Geoff Johns, President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment.
“Walter is creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films,” said Emmerich in a statement. “He’s a terrific production executive and served as an executive producer on two of the summer’s most popular films, New Line’s ‘IT’ and ‘Annabelle: Creation.’ I’m confident Walter and Geoff, working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences as well as DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter’s a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post.”
Before coming to New Line, Hamada served as a producer and manager with H2F Entertainment. He began his career at TriStar and later became vice president of production at Columbia Pictures. During his decade-long tenure at New Line, he worked on films including “Friday the 13th,” “Final Destination” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”
Warner Bros. started to restructure the DC Films unit after the release of “Justice League.” As TheWrap exclusively reported, “Justice League” had a lot of things going against it before its release last month: a looming corporate merger, a family tragedy, an internal clash between light and dark themes. But its greatest enemy was time.” “Wonder Woman” was a hit at the box office as well as among critics and audiences, but “Justice League” and “Suicide Squad” didn’t quite resonate with audiences as much.
“Aquaman,” directed by “Conjuring” filmmaker James Wan, will open on Dec. 21.
11 DC Comics Superheroes and Villains Who Deserve R-Rated Movies (Photos)
With R-rated films like "Logan" brutalizing the box office, an insider tells TheWrap that DC Films would "100 percent" make R-rated superhero movies with the right characters. Here are a few suggestions for characters dark enough to demand an R rating.
1. Justice League Dark
Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment released a successful R-rated "Justice League Dark" animated movie, and there's no reason they can't do the same in live action.
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2. Suicide Squad 2
The first "Suicide Squad" focused on hardened criminals, but they kept things PG-13. They could do a lot more damage with an R rating.
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3. Deadshot
Warner Bros. is looking to spin off Will Smith's hardened "Suicide Squad" character. An R-rating would make a lot of sense, given that he's a professional assassin.
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4. Gotham City Sirens
Warners is also looking to spin off Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn character from "Suicide Squad." We all know the streets of Gotham are deadly enough to deserve an R rating.
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5. Lobo
A film about DC's badass alien bounty hunter Lobo is in development, with Jason Fuchs developing a screenplay. An alien can't be expected to abide by MPAA standards.
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6. Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson is attached to star as outlaw "Black Adam" for New Line. In the comics, Black Adam rules his own nation — the fictional Middle Eastern country Kahndaq — as a beloved, if violent, dictator. R territory for sure.
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7. Nightwing
Bruce Wayne's former ward Dick Grayson set off on his own in the comics, and is expected to get his own movie as well in "Nightwing." R is for Robin.
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8. Red Hood
If DC Films is making a "Nightwing" movie, how about focusing on another Bat-underling? Ex-Robin Jason Todd came back from the dead to avenge his killing as Red Hood, and a PG-13 probably can't contain all his rage.
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9. Arkham Asylum
The video game series featuring all of Gotham City's craziest villains could easily lend itself to a film in the vein of David Fincher's "Seven."
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10. Deathstroke
DC Comics assassin Deathstroke is the villain in the upcoming "The Batman," and if he merits a spinoff, it would be hard to imagine it as anything but an R movie.
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11. The Batman
Making "The Batman" R-rated would send a signal that DC Films isn't messing around. In the "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" Ultimate Edition, Batman was at his most Frank Miller violent and brutal.
An insider tells TheWrap that DC Films would ‘100 percent’ make R-rated superhero movies with the right characters — here are few that would be perfect
With R-rated films like "Logan" brutalizing the box office, an insider tells TheWrap that DC Films would "100 percent" make R-rated superhero movies with the right characters. Here are a few suggestions for characters dark enough to demand an R rating.