The director reveals why 'Lobo' has not happened yet, saying Lobo wasn't one of DC's main superheroes.
- May 18, 2015
AceShowbiz - "Lobo", a story about antihero which originated from DC comic books, was in development at Warner Bros. for years but it doesn't appear to make a further step. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in talks to play the fan-favorite character while Guy Ritchie was initially attached to direct before Brad Peyton signed on to direct the film.
When Peyton was asked why the project never happened, he answered, "I think what's happening with DC is that they have prioritized what they need to make first in order to kind of lay the foundations for the DC Universe." He noted that Lobo might not be DC's priority, saying, "This is what I believe is happening just from what they've been taking about. They're talking about Justice League, Batman v Superman, and going into Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Those are kind of the pillars of that universe."
Regarding his effort to get the greenlight for the film, he explained, "It's one of those things where, creatively, you and I get it, but there's a lot of people that don't quite get that. It's a real uphill battle to talk people into spending a lot of money to do things correctly... I was really happy with the script, [though]. I talked with Dwayne about it. Joel Silver and I had a really amazing meeting about it. I did a rewrite of the script and was really, really excited for it. In their estimation, though, he wasn't one of those main guys... That's fair enough."
The director also compared DC with Marvel which also made movies for smaller characters such as those in the film "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Ant Man". "I think that, to do any kind of comic book universe correctly, you do need to establish, 'Here's the tone. Here's the main people.' Then we can grow offshoots from there. With Marvel, they're now doing smaller characters like Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. They obviously had to start, though, with their big guns and set up The Avengers. I kind of feel like that's where DC is now. They're setting that team up," he explained.
However, Peyton remained optimistic that "Lobo" would get a chance, "I think there's going to be a really amazing time for Lobo and I think people are going to realize, certainly once they revisit it, what they're sitting on. But you never know. I'm really happy with the project and where we got it and fingers crossed it comes to fruition at some point."
