JLA Deadline Looms

The ongoing Writers Guild of America strike could claim its next high-profile victim as soon as tomorrow: Warner Bros.' already delayed Justice League of America movie.

According to Entertainment Weekly, JLA filmmakers "would like another script rewrite and are now debating whether to begin shooting without one. The studio has a Jan. 15 deadline to either greenlight League for a spring production start -- meaning a summer '09 release -- or push it into the post-strike ether." The magazine also confirms that all seven main roles have been cast.

IESB.net claims they "have been hearing that certain big studio comic book adaptations may be hiring non-WGA comic book writers to come aboard as producers and/or consultants and that will allow for any minor changes to the script to be done by them or by other non-WGA production staff." If true, could that be the solution to JLA's problems? Or the start of more between the guild and the studio?

Meanwhile, Variety reports that Warners has now shifted the release date for the sequel to Superman Returns from 2009 to 2010. Superman Returns director Bryan Singer's reps at William Morris countered an earlier report in the trade that claimed he would not helm the sequel, informing Variety, "Superman is moving forward with Bryan Singer attached."

The trade, however, stresses that nothing is going on with the project inside Warners: Superman Returns screenwriters Dan Harris and Mike Dougherty are out, the writers strike is preventing any new pitches from being heard, and there's still a chance that Singer may not direct the (more action-packed and comic booky) sequel after all. And they add that whomever plays the Man of Steel next time around, whether it's Brandon Routh or another actor, "will depend on who directs Superman."