After a quite controversial management and before the premiere of Black Adam, Walter Hamada leaves the presidency of DC Films. For four years, Hamada was in charge of producing films based on DC comics and characters. However, his tenure at Warner Bros spans more than 15 years, through which he brought a host of hits to the company.
Thanks to his successful work in the horror division of Warner Bros, Hamada was considered as the possible savior of DC in the cinema. He gave the company hits like The conjuring, When the lights go out, It (2017) and The nun. During his tenure at DC Films, several films were in charge, however, the results were quite bittersweet.
It all started with Aquaman, directed by James Wan. The underwater adventure became highest grossing DC Comics movie and grossed more than $1.1 billion dollars worldwide. Shazam! it conquered critics and the audience, but barely grossed $363 million dollars; either way, a sequel is coming. Joker it took DC and Warner to glory, with more than $1 billion and two Oscars. The problems started with Birds of preywhich barely covered its production costs and drew a lot of pushback for its “feminist approach.”
From there, Wonder Woman 1984 divided the audience and failed due to the pandemic, the suicide squad it disappointed at the box office, and DC’s direction became uncertain once again. It was until 2022 that Batman regained a bit of dignity for the study, although it is not part of the Extended Universe of DC (DCEU).
Another of his controversies lies in the decision not to continue with the so-called “Snyderverse”. The very vocal fans of Zack Snyder have expressed their discontent for not continuing to see the director’s stories and style on screen. Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in League of Justice, also released controversial statements against Hamada. He accused him of concealing and manipulating an investigation into Joss Whedon’s misconduct in the reshoots of the aforementioned film.
As if he was missing something else before his dismissal, Dwayne Johnson recently declared that several Warner executives (including Hamada) they had denied for years the return of Henry Cavill as Superman. These words made the British fans even more furious against the executive.
Who will be the replacement for Walter Hamada in DC Films?
Taking over DC Films is no easy task. After the disappointments of Wonder Woman 1984 Y the suicide squadadded to the bad reviews of Black Adam, the future of DC on the big screen seems complicated.
On one side are the Zack Snyder fans who, at all costs, seek the director’s return to the company and try to boycott any DC project. On the other, there are those who oppose the director’s complex and far-fetched stories. Simply put, there is no unified fan group. And the current executives don’t know where to direct DC Films either.
David Zaslav, current CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, wants Hamada’s replacement is a figure similar to Kevin Feige, that is, someone with a love for the characters and a strategic vision of what to do with so many heroes. For some time there were talks with dan lin, an experienced producer within Warner, but these went nowhere. Currently the name of Michael deLucaproducer of tapes like Captain Philips, Fifty Shades of Gray Y Social networkbut no agreement has been signed.
Do you think Walter Hamada did an outstanding job at the helm of DC? Which of his productions do you think is the most outstanding? And above all, who should take his place?
John Joseph Cruz I am one of those who always defended Robert Pattinson as Batman and can see the same movie in the cinema up to 7 times. My guilty pleasure? Low budget horror movies.