Seasoned producer Charles Roven, who has had his hand in all DC Comics movie at Warner Bros. since Batman Begins in 2005, will no longer be producing certain DC movies, TheWrap has learned.
The move is another signal that Warner Bros. is putting its ducks in a row following the weak box office and bad critical response to “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” — and ahead of the launch of a whole lot more DC movies, including this August’s “Suicide Squad” and the launch of its symphony of superheroes in the “Justice League” series.
Just last week Warner Bros. put executive vice presidents Jon Berg and Geoff Johns in charge of its DC Films unit.
The specifics of Roven’s fate are still being decided, though he is still performing his duties as producer on “Wonder Woman.” He had also been named a producer on the Flash and Aquaman standalone movies, but it is not yet clear how he will serve those films.
Roven previously produced on “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad” (with filming now complete on the Aug. 5 film).
“Roven is a key member of not only the DC slate but of the Warner Bros. family,” a studio spokesman told TheWrap.
“BvS” hasn’t come close to the high billion-dollar-plus watermark set by movies in the Marvel universe. While “BvS” has grossed $870.1 million worldwide so far, that’s far short of what many analysts expected.
Sources say Roven’s role is shifting simply to provide support for the quickly multiplying slate of DC movies — a job too big for one person as it involves multiple sets being filmed in several different countries and cities around the world.
Roven is still working on the London set of Justice League: Part 1, while Berg has just been deployed to provide studio oversight.