UPDATE 9/29: Bigger still: our insiders now say the plan for The Dark Knight Returns is a two-part event movie.
UPDATE 9/10: How it all fits together: Ellison’s epic DC dream team is taking shape — and James Gunn isn’t on it.
UPDATE 9/10: Another name just joined the board: Christopher Nolan is a free agent, the DGA he runs backs the merger, and Warner Bros. is mending fences.
Zack Snyder’s DC return has been building for ten months. Today it added a piece at the very top of the company.
As we reported yesterday, insiders say HBO Max could be gone and Casey Bloys out after the Paramount merger, and the name floated to run the streaming consolidation is a longtime Zack Snyder friend.
Put that next to everything else we’ve been told, and the picture gets a lot bigger.
What We’ve Been Told Since November
Back in November, our insiders laid out the plan: a Saudi-backed deal to bring Snyder back to DC and complete his Justice League movies.
The Saudis want their own Avengers: Doomsday-level event to rival Marvel, and the unfinished SnyderVerse is the property that delivers it.
Then came The Dark Knight Returns. In August, our sources said Snyder’s version is ready to go with Jay Oliva for IMAX and storyboarded “as-is,” the way he shot Watchmen.
Snyder appeared with Frank Miller in LA, where the answer on The Dark Knight Returns was “when they let us.”
On September 1, an insider told us Snyder is “well prepared for a Dark Knight film.” Snyder himself said days ago: “I put weight on the rumors, because the rumors work.”
And on September 2, Gal Gadot became the first of his Justice League stars to say it on the record: “If Zack comes back to run DC, I’ll come back.”
A Snyder Friend Floated To Run Streaming
Yesterday’s report adds the executive piece.
Per our sources, Paramount needs one streaming operation — not two — and there’s talk of bringing in former Netflix film boss Scott Stuber for the consolidation, described as “much like Mike De Luca, filmmaker friendly and a comic book fan.”
We asked directly: Stuber is Snyder’s buddy, right?
“Yes, Stuber has always been a huge fan and friend of Zack, and Dan Lin inherited Rebel Moon when Stuber left Netflix,” the source replied.
Stuber is the Netflix film chief who made Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon happen. If he lands atop Paramount’s combined streaming operation, the executive deciding where DC lives on television is a Snyder guy.
And he’d be joining a fence-mending regime.
Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are already taking pitches from Snyder, Affleck, Jenkins, and McQuarrie, and already had Snyder out to the Warner Bros. lot to screen Excalibur in a hero’s return welcome.
The 300 Test
Here’s where it gets concrete.
Our August exclusive: Snyder’s 300 prequel series has a writers room going, and while Netflix and WBTV are developing it, our insiders say Paramount+ is also in talks.
Snyder’s own tease: “the Game of Thrones-ian version of 300.”
Now run the Netflix math. When Stuber walked, Dan Lin inherited Rebel Moon. The PG-13 cuts followed, and Snyder’s R-rated versions came months later, against the rule Snyder just restated: “the director’s cuts are the movie.”
Our insiders have also said fans don’t want DC ending up at Netflix.
A Paramount with Stuber at the top of streaming is the version where the 300 series lands with the executive who has backed Snyder for a decade.
TIFF Sunday, Court September 24
Snyder premieres The Last Photograph at TIFF on Sunday. The merger’s next court date is September 24.
Saudi money, a storyboarded Dark Knight Returns, Gadot on record, and now a Snyder friend floated for the top of streaming.
The return isn’t just still on. It got bigger today. Put Hallelujah on standby.
