David Goyer Explains Why GREEN ARROW: ESCAPE FROM SUPERMAX Didn't Happen
Back in 2008, David Goyer was working on developing a film for Warner Bros. and DC called Green Arrow: Escape From Supermax. This movie seemed to have a lot of awesome potential, but it ultimately never happened, and at this point it doesn't look like it ever will.
The movie would have revolved around a bunch of villains from the DC universe, and that's what ultimately sealed its fate. WB executives didn't think it made sense to make a movie that focused on a bunch of villains like The Joker, Lex Luthor, and The Riddler. Now look at what they are doing! They're making Suicide Squad, and fans are really freakin' excited about it.
During an interview with Den Of Geek, Goyer explained why the studio didn't move forward with the film:
"I think if that script had come over the transom a couple of years later… it was completely ahead of its time. Everything I see about Suicide Squad looks fantastic and it’s a different story. But [ours] was absolutely ahead of its time. You know, Marvel was considering doing the Sinister Six and at the time, God, I think this was eight or nine years ago that we wrote a couple of drafts, but it certainly was like this oddball project at Warner Bros at the time, they were like - even though the script was good - 'why would we make a movie about a bunch of villains? That makes no sense.'"
It obviously makes sense to them now. This just goes to show the lack of vision and imagination of some of these studio executives. Goyer went on to say that the WB executives didn't see the point in focusing on lesser-known characters, they just wanted to "make Batman and Superman movies." Years ago, Goyer talked about the story for the film:
"He's Green Arrow for the first 10 minutes of the movie, and then he's arrested and his secret identity is revealed. They shave his goatee and they take his costume and send him to prison for life, and he has to escape. It's like ‘Alcatraz,' and he has to team up with, in some cases, some of the very same villains he is responsible for incarcerating in order to get out and clear his name. Of course, tons of people try to kill him while he's in there. We've populated the prison with all sorts of B and C villains from the DC Universe. For the fans, there will be all sorts of characters the hardcore comic book junkies will know, but they're all going to be there under their human names and no one is wearing a costume, but there will be a lot of characters with powers and things like that."
I'd still love to see this movie happen, but it just doesn't seem like it would fit into everything else that WB is doing with these DC properties right now.