Geoff Johns Promoted to President of DC Entertainment
Warner Bros. has promoted Geoff Johns to the post of president of DC Entertainment as it continues to reorganize the executives handling its DC movies.
Johns retains the chief operating officer title and continues to report to DC Entertainment topper Diane Nelson.
The promotion of Johns to the presidency of DC Entertainment actually took place two months ago but the studio had not confirmed the move until this week.
The studio disclosed on May 17 that it had given oversight of its DC Entertainment movies to Johns and Warner’s Executive VP Jon Berg through a recently created DC Films arm. Since then, Berg has been continuing to report to Greg Silverman, the president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros. Pictures since 2013.
Johns has been a driving creative force along with Greg Berlanti behind DC’s successful television properties “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Supergirl.”
The moves are part of an evolution of the executive structure at Warner Bros., which saw mildly disappointing results from “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and has been attempting to rev up its output of movies based on the DC characters, including Aquaman, Wonder Woman and The Flash. It also announced in May that Ben Affleck had expanded his role in the DC universe by taking on the duties of executive producer on Warner Bros.’ “Justice League: Part One,” in addition to starring as Batman.
Zack Snyder began shooting “Justice League: Part One” in April with Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Amber Heard, Jeremy Irons, J. K. Simmons and Willem Dafoe. The film is scheduled to be released on Nov. 17, 2017.
Affleck also announced in April at CinemaCon that he would direct and star in a standalone Batman movie. Warner Bros. has already planned a sprawling slate of movies in the DC universe through 2020, with “Suicide Squad” slated for Aug. 5, two “Justice League” pics, “Aquaman,” “Cyborg” and “The Flash.”
Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment announced in May that they were developing a new standalone Harley Quinn movie featuring an all-star cast of female DC heroes and villains with Margot Robbie attached to reprise her “Suicide Squad” role.
During last Saturday’s presentation at Comic-Con, Warner Bros. showed footage from “Suicide Squad,” “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League.”
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” starring Affleck and Cavill, reached worldwide grosses hitting $872 million — making the $250 million tentpole only moderately profitable. Snyder directed from Chris Terrio’s script.
The news about Johns’ promotion was first reported by the Bleeding Cool site.
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