Affleck to direct stand-alone Batman film

Oscar winner Ben Affleck played Bruce Wayne in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and had been rumoured to be Warner Bros top choice to helm another film.

Chief executive Kevin Tsujihara confirmed they were moving forward with Affleck in the director’s chair at CinemaCon, an annual gathering of theatre owners in Las Vegas. The stand-alone Batman feature is part of Warner Bros’ plans for an expanded DC Comics cinematic universe, similar to that of the Disney and Marvel collaboration.

Affleck, who is also directing Live By Night for the studio, made an appearance with Amy Adams, who plays Lois Lane. He confirmed that both would be joining Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is currently in production in London.

Rovio’s future depends on success of Angry Birds Movie

Finnish game maker Rovio Entertainment, the company behind the Angry Birds franchise, recorded an operating loss of $14.8 million in 2015.

Rovio said recently that it had expected to lose money “partly due to heavy investments in our future success,” referring to its upcoming The Angry Birds Movie.

Rovio financed the majority of production and marketing costs for the CGI feature, investing upwards of $110 million of its own money to get the film into theatres. The unconventional financing structure means that if the film performs poorly, Rovio is the company that will be impacted most directly.

Let’s hope that Angry Birds Movie’s combination of trendy yoga gags, and country music with angry birds fighting for their eggs is enough to entice audiences into theatres.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 30th, 2015