Warner Bros.'s DC Studios unveils a new slate of 10 films and TV series for the next decade.

by Thinus Ferreira

Warner Bros. Discovery's DC Studios has unveiled a new slate of 10 film and TV projects, with series including a live-action Peacemaker spinoff with Viola Davis, as well as a Lanterns, Booster Gold and Paradise Lost, shows - and on the movies side films about Supergirl, The Authority, Swamp Thing, Batman and Robin and the reboot of Superman in a set of five movies.

DC Studios now run by James Gunn and Peter Safran, announced its planned slate of TV and film projects, which they are calling "Chapter One". The plan is to release two films per year and two TV series per year on HBO Max, over the next decade.

TV SERIES

Creature Commandos

An animated series with seven episodes written by James Gunn. The Creature Commandos consist out of military superhumans with a human leader, including a gorgon, Frankenstein's monster, a vampire and a werewolf. It will be an updated take on the band of misfits originally introduced in Weird War Tales where the team of classic monsters were assembled to fight Nazis.

Waller

Viola Davis will return as task force boss in this Peacemaker spinoff series.

Lanterns

This TV series will feature the Lantern heroes Hal Jordan and John Stewart.

Paradise Lost

A TV series described as a "Game of Thrones"-type series set on Themyscira, the island where Diana (Wonder Woman) was born. The series will be filled with political intrigue, drama and a lot of scheming behind the scenes from various powerful Amazon people and is set before the events depicted in the Wonder Woman films.

Booster Gold

A new TV series for HBO Max about a superhero from the future who ends up in the modern-day world. In the 25th century Mike Carter, a disgraced former American football star uses a time-machine in the Metropolis Space Museum to travel back in time.

FILMS

The Authority

A film based on a team of superheroes protecting Earth with extreme methods. The Authority was created after StormWatch, a planetary defence force against aliens, got destroyed. Jenny Sparks, a former member of that group, created The Authority with her StormWatch Black teammates Swift and Jack Hawksmoor. The team also includes The Engineer, Jeroen Thornedike, Apollo and Midnighter.

The Brave and the Bold

A Batman and Robin film.

The Batman Part II

Robert Pattinson will reprise his role as the Dark Knight in this film which will be released in October 2025 and is directed by Matt Reeves.

"Superman Legacy"

An already-announced new Superman film which will be released in July 2025. It won't be another Superman origin story but focus on how the superhero balances his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

A take on a different kind of Supergirl who saw everyone around her day for her first 14 years and who wasn't raised on Earth by loving parents. It will be based on Tom King's 2022 comic book series.

Swamp Thing

A horror film based on the origin story of the swamp creature.

Coronavirus: Holy home-cast, Batman! e.tv News anchor Annika Larsen adds her dog to the primetime TV news bulletin - and in the process a lot of humanity.

by Thinus Ferreira

Instead of trying to keep Batman at bay, the etv News anchor Annika Larsen has given up and has now incorporated one of her dogs into her nightly TV news bulletin broadcast, bringing the Boston terrier to primetime in another first for South African television news.

The dog made his first appearance on Monday 18 May 2020 when e.tv shifted its etv News nightly TV news broadcast from its e.tv Cape Town building in the Zonnebloem suburb in Cape Town to the home of anchor Annika Larsen.

The e.tv News team was forced to craft the home bulletin broadcast plan after the death of cameraman Lungile Tom of Covid-19 that saw the eMedia Investments e.tv Cape Town building and studio complex shutter for a deep-clean.

On the first night the two dogs barked outside and were audible in the background after which Annika Larsen let them back in during a video intro with Batman who made a surprise in-bulletin cameo on the same night. 

Since then the spotlight-stealing dog has stayed, with the animal that has brought a unique touch of humanity to e.tv's national TV news broadcast while his mom secretly feeds him little biscuits to keep him quiet.

"I've got a new trick now. I give him little treats under the table so that he doesn't bark and drive us all crazy," says Annika Larsen, whose laptop is propped up on a thick book from her bookshelf with a chair for Batman on viewers' right hand side of the screen as she does the news from her living room table.

"I am not kidding when I tell you that Batman actually thinks he is getting ready for work. He thinks he is human and doesn't leave me for a minute. So he sits next to me and preps for the show like he should," says Annika Larsen.

To the dog she's said "If you bark during mommy's work time mommy's going to get fired, okay?" Mommy will get fired. No barking. Good boy, good boy."

The unplanned and unscripted addition of the dog to TV news otherwise filled with grim reports and statistics about the devastating impact of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus in South Africa and globally - something that could have gone spectacularly wrong or could have seem contrived - has brought a softer, warmer tone to the country's otherwise stark South African primetime TV news-scape. 

It's likely that several viewers are now not just tuning in to the 20:00 etv News on e.tv to find out the news but to see if the dog might appear, what Batman might do, and how the news anchor will play dog-mom. 

e.tv says that for the duration of South Africa's Covid-19 national lockdown period, the Terrier will stay in the TV news frame.


ALSO READ: Coronavirus: e.tv makes South African television history with the country's first done-from-home TV news bulletin broadcast as anchor Annika Larsen tells viewers 'We feel that you're family, and so you're welcome into our living room'.

TNT on DStv celebrates 80 years of Batman with a September film festival.

The TNT channel (DStv 137) is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the creation of Batman with a film festival in September of all of the Batman movies starting today.

"With TNT’s programming being built on an action-driven, pulse-raising slate, we are proud to be part of this emblematic occasion where our African fans can immerse themselves in the epic Batman blockbusters as they celebrate the 80th anniversary of the greatest superhero of all time," says Guillermo Farré, the head of general entertainment channels at WarnerMedia Africa.

TNT will show two Batman films per Saturday, starting today, and ending with a marathon Bat-weekend.

Tim Burton’s iconic Batman film from 1989 with Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader is up first on Saturday 7 September at 17:55 on TNT, featuring Jack Nicholson as the feared Joker.

Critics at the time praised the film although they said it might be too dark and that Nicholson might be overshadowing the lead character but viewers absolutely loved it.

The sequel, Batman Returns from 1992 will be shown on after it on Saturday 7 September at 20:00, again with Michael Keaton this time pitted against the disfigured Penguin (Danny DeVito) who wants to kills Gotham City’s firstborns and the city’s defender having a romance with Michelle Pfeiffer who dabbles as Catwoman.

On Saturday 14 September at 18:00 on TNT DStv subscribers will be able to watch Batman Forever, the 1995-film with Joel Schumacher in the director’s chair and with Val Kilmer who took over from Michael Keaton in the Batsuit after a salary dispute.

This time Batman is up against new adversaries in the form of Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey) who discover his real identity through mind-control of Gotham’s inhabitants. 

Luckily Batman gets help in the form of his sidekick Robin (Chris O’Donnell). Nicole Kidman stars as well as the psychologist Dr Chase Meridian who Bruce reveals his darkest secrets to.

On Saturday 14 September at 20:00 on TNT it’s time to watch George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in the body-hugging "nipple costumes" with 1997’s Batman & Robin, with Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. George Clooney replaced Val Kilmer after another contract dispute and this time the threesome are pitted against Mr Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).

On Saturday 21 September all four of these Batman films will be shown again starting with Batman (09:35), Batman Returns (11:40), Batman Forever (13:45) and Batman & Robin (15:45).

Thereafter will follow Chris Nolan’s Batman Begins (17:45), The Dark Knight (20:00) and The Dark Knight Rises (22:30) which together are known as "The Dark Knight Trilogy".

Christian Bale took over for The Dark Knight Trilogy donning the Batsuit as a reboot of the DC hero film franchise with Michael Caine as butler Alfred and Gary Oldmand and Morgan Freeman joining the trilogy-cast.

In Batman Begins from 2005 with Christoper Nolan as director, the Dark Knight battles Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).

In The Dark Knight (2008) he tries to outwit the Joker, now played by Heath Ledger, and in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Batman might have met his match in Bane (Tom Hardy) as his adversary plotting a nuclear explosion, with Anne Hathaway in the role of Catwoman.