While fans are still reeling from James Gunn's new DC slate announcement, it seems as though there are two hidden movies the DC Studios executive is keeping close to the vest.
To end January, James Gunn and his DC Universe (DCU) co-CEO Peter Safran finally pulled the curtain back on their first wave of DC projects, in what they are calling DCU Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters.
The announcement came with a list of 10 new projects including names like Superman: Legacy, The Brave and The Bold, and the horror-tinged Swamp Thing. But one thing that remained clear throughout this coming out party was that these were only "a few" titles from an even more extensive slate.
So with 10 titles on the board, speculation has begun looking at how many things at DC have remained a secret.
James Gunn Has 2 Hidden DC Projects
Speaking at DC Studios' press event ahead of its public slate announcement, via Slash Film, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn noted that there are two hidden projects he has not announced as a part of the DCU Chapter 1 slate.
The first Gunn called "[his] favorite" project of the new DCU but could not reveal it now as it would "[give] away too much:"
“There’s one thing I know is my favorite, one of my favorite projects of all of this. And it’s just so totally unique that the idea itself is giving away too much when it may not come out for two or three years."
According to Gunn, the other project already has a director but "may take him a little more time" than some of the other titles:
"Also, with some other things, it’s kind of a choice. We have a director working on a really fantastic other project that may take him a little more time than some other people.”
This corroborates reports from Above the Line, who wrote, as a part of the announcement, that Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran had revealed that they are already talking to three directors for their five newly announced movies.
The duo also said though that there were two other movies being worked on, with one having a director attached who "likes to take his time."
Insider Jeff Sneider - on The Hot Mic Podcast - chimed in on these hidden projects, lamenting that "these 10 projects don’t represent all of Chapter 1:"
“That’s the thing, these 10 projects don’t represent all of Chapter 1, they represent half of Chapter 1. This is the first part of the first chapter, to quote James Gunn, and there were multiple projects that they intentionally left a mystery, one that has a director, right?
Sneider also brought up the idea of this mystery director being a male known for going at their own pace:
"Because he was like, ‘Oh, you know, this director…’ It’s a male, because I believe he said, ‘he.’ But like, you know, likes to take their time developing, didn’t want it out there early, so they’re letting that person have their anonymity or whatever. And then, I think that there was one other one that they didn’t announce, because the title would have given too much away. So again, this first chapter I think could be as many as 12 projects, possibly more depending on how many things are keeping quiet.”
What Movies Are Missing from DC's Announcement?
So now that DC devotees have their first taste of James Gunn's DCU vision, sights will quickly turn to these two hidden mystery projects. It is interesting that Gunn seems to want to keep these two films behind the curtain, but is still talking about them publicly.
But what could these two films actually be?
One of them is likely a team-up film of sorts. While probably not a full-blown Justice League outing, it could at least be the first step toward that. And that could be either of these, falling into both the category of something that would be giving away too much and something that would take a long time to come.
As for this mystery director, it is hard to determine who exactly they are talking about. At this point, all that has been given away is this filmmaker is male.
One name that it could be - while not someone who has a reputation for taking his time - is Ben Affleck. Back in December, it was reported that Affleck was in talks to direct a film for Gunn's new DCU.
Being that Affleck is the only other directing name attached to the franchise that does not have a movie to go along with him, he is the best guess at this point.
