Warner Brothers rightly gets a lot of credit for being the most progressive of the major studios, routinely supporting visionary filmmakers, and unconventional blockbusters. Is all that going to change when production head Alan Horn splits from the company and is replaced by his protege, Jeff Robinov? That’s a scary question, and the answer to which we’ll only really know after a few months or years of his decisions filtering into the momentum of the WB production cycle. That said, he’s already making waves by declaring that the Justice League will form by 2013 and be produced by Warner Brother’s favorite son, Christopher Nolan.

Coming from a profile of Robinov in the LA Times, the information was first casually dropped amidst discussion of the Batman and Superman films set to be released in 2012…

He’s then aiming to release new “Batman” and “Superman” films in 2012 and “Justice League,” a teaming of DC’s top heroes, in 2013.

The wave of “how the fuck could that work?” began and then shortly thereafter the Times’ Hero Complex managed some clarification from Robinov…

“But Robinov said a new Justice League script is in the works. Also being written for Warner are scripts featuring the Flash and Wonder Woman, who could be spun off into their own movies after Justice League…

Batman will continue to be a centerpiece property beyond next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Nolan’s departure from the franchise… ‘Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is. [says Robinov]’…”

Apparently the way he sees it is that after Batman ends he’ll be quickly be rebooted, with Nolan’s input, in a Justice League film. Scripts are apparently in the works for the Flash and Wonder Woman, with the latter being separate from the upcoming network show.

So it sounds as if Cavill’s Superman and Reynold’s Green Lantern will anchor an event film that will set-up a fresh Batman, along with Flash and Wonder woman, who would presumably follow up with individual films soon after. Looks like Robinov is ditching the WB policy of not following the Marvel mold. That said, it would be a different approach to start all of these franchises with the team-up event film, and then branch them off. The timing works much better than the original pre-writer’s strike attempt to do a JLA film (which was finally tabled in 2008), when Batman was still mid-franchise and Superman Returns was still a fresh failure.

It’s not hard to see Robinov’s (theoretical) logic at work here…

The massively successful Batman trilogy definitively ends, sealing up that particular interpretation. At the same time, Nolan’s brand continues with a clean-slate Superman reboot, which along with Green Lantern will give the JLA film two solid, freshly introduced cinematic superheroes to give it momentum. Within this newly forged universe you get to reboot Batman without waiting very long, and in a new context that doesn’t combat with Nolan’s beloved world. Follow up the next year or two with Flash and Wonder Woman, and then start a new cycle of sequels from there. Sounds exactly like a plan cooked up by an ambitious new studio-head feeling the pressure to fill the void left by the most money-making franchise in history. Of course, that’s also filtered through my OCD perception of how blockbuster puzzle pieces should cleanly line up, and studio logic often disregards the cleanly-laid-out needs of my sensibilities.

There you have it- big news from a little statement. Sure, the Nolan/Thomas-produced JLA thing is news as well, but of course Nolan’s name will be going on virtually every future WB superhero endeavor for as long as they can mange it. He’s a directorial brand now, and until something majorly flops, they’re not going to be hesitant to use it when they can.

So what do you think? Any of this make sense? Just a cynical copycatting of Marvel’s plan? Does it make sense to reboot Batman in a larger team-up film? Excited to see legitimate energy behind new heroes from DC towards the big screen? I want to know your take, and there’s plenty of space in the comments to voice it. Also hop over to the message boards and get into the conversation there…

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(via JoBlo)